The Indian Removal act

1. The Indian Removal act

2. The United States Philosophy…. • Every person is equal, has an equal opportunity, will be treated the same • Looking for justice, liberty, and opportunity

3. Please think about this! • Is every white person the same? • Do we all speak the same language? • Do we go to the same church? • Are we all related?

4. If you said no to any of the questions………… • Then think about the same concepts as they applied to the Native Americans “Indians” • The meaning of the word Indian generally means a native of India. Why did the first people to arrive in America call the people they saw Indians?

5. Native American Means……. • An Indigenous people that inhabit a certain region, at that time, North America • Indians usually refer to themselves as “The People” • Oldest Indian bones date back 12,000 years

6. We wanted something that wasn’t ours! • This means the people were living here for thousands, even millions of years, long before it was conquered and settled. THIS WAS THEIRLAND • Migrated across the Bering Straight • Moved south for food

7. Why were Native Americans such a problem for newcomers? • They had the land, settlers wanted it! Immigrants brought horses and mules, change way of life • No other way to get the land in North America than to take it from who was already here

8. What happened at first?????? • Worked very hard to get along with the Native Americans, need information they had to learn to survive in this new land • Things went well for a few years • Remember Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!

9. As more and more people arrived from Europe • More and more land was needed for them to settle • Interfered with European settlers way of life • Result: War with the Indians for their land and rights

10. The beginning of the Indian Removal Act • The Indian Removal Act was part of the U.S. government policy • Native Americans felt they need to prevent more war with the army, agreed to relocate • It was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830

11. Indians could occupy land: • Could never have title to the land • Cherokee appealed to the Supreme Court • Made many efforts to hold on to some dignity and land

12. Sequoyah: Developed Cherokee Alphabet • Knew Native Americans had to learn to communicate if they were going to survive • Developed an alphabet all could read, but he could not read anything prior to this Cherokee alphabet

13. Cherokee Alphabet • It is not really an alphabet, but a syllabary. This means each symbol represents a syllable, not just a consonant or a vowel. • Cherokee symbols are usually arranged in chart form with one column for each Cherokee vowel and one row for Cherokee consonants.

14. The Talking Leaves • The Cherokee alphabet has 85 symbols and many resemble Latin letters but the sounds are completely different • Sequoyah originally tried to create a symbol for every word, this did not work due to difficulty • He worked on the syllabary for twelve years and dropped or modified most of the characters he originally created • By 1824, most Cherokee Indians could read and write their newly developed orthography (study of correct spelling)

15. Example…… • Using the English alphabet, ama (water in Cherokee), is written with the letters a,m, and a. Using the Cherokee syllabary, the same word is written with only two characters D and a symbol. • Every Cherokee syllable begins with a consonant and ends with a vowel. • Just like English, Cherokee is written from left to right.

16. Where it was supported • The South strongly supported the Removal Act because there were states that were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole • Considered civilized because they had adopted many European ways including building churches, roads, dressing like Europeans. • The state of Georgia, the largest state at the time, was involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee nation. • Why do you think Georgia grew so rapidly?

17. The beginning of removal • President Jackson hoped that removal would resolve the crisis in Georgia • Described Indians as “children in need of guidance” • Even though Indian removal was supposed to be voluntary, instead great pressure was put on American Indian leaders to sign removal treaties

18. What people thought about the Act • Whether people were for the Indian Removal policy or not they realized that it meant permanent removal of most Indians from the states • Because of this some Native American leaders began to reconsider their positions, especially after Jackson’s landslide reelection in 1832

19. Continued… • Most white Americans were in favor of the Indian Removal Act, even though there was significant opposition • There were many Christian missionaries that were agitated against the passage of the Act in particular Jeremiah Evarts, the most notable missionary organizer

20. The Removal Act being passed • There were two congressmen that spoke out against the legislation, New Jersey Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen and congressman David Crockett of Tennessee • After a bitter debate the Act was passed • The Removal Act lead to the emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West, this was called the Trail of Tears • Indians had two years to volunteer to move

21. Worcester V. Georgia • Gold was discovered in Georgia making the land more appealing to white settlers • The Cherokee Indians sued the state of Georgia claiming the state had no legal power over their lands • John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court agreed. • Ruled the Cherokee nation was a distinct community in which no laws of Georgia had no force.

22. Georgia ignored the court’s ruling! • Jackson said in regards to the ruling, “John Marshall has made his decision now let him enforce it.” • This set the Trail of Tears in motion.

23. The Trail of Tears • The trail of tears was the forced relocation in 1838 or the Cherokee Native American tribe to the Western United States, west of the Mississippi River • Had no time to pack their belongings, whites looted their homes • Indians marched from North Carolina to Oklahoma • This resulted in the deaths of approximately 4,000 Cherokees died of hunger, cold, and disease

24. Trail of Tears

25. What it means • The Cherokee Indians called it Nunna dual Isunyi meaning “the Trail Where We Cried” • The Cherokees were not the only Native Americans forced to emigrate as a result of the Act, therefore the Trail of Tears is sometimes used to refer to similar events other Indians went through

26. Other Native Americans Resist…. • Chief Black Hawk, leader of the Fox and Sauk Indians tried to fight removal, failed 1850. • Osceola attempted to lead the Seminole Indians in Florida but also failed when he died in prison. • President Jackson supported the removal of thousands of native Americans.

27. Osceola’s Capture • He went for peace talks in St. Augustine, Florida, and was taken prisoner. • He then was held at Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina until his death. • His betrayal captured national attention because of the deceit.