The Trail of Tears: Removal in the South (Landmark Events in Native American History)

128 Pages·2007·2.78 MB·english

by  John P. Bowes

LANDMARK EVENTS IN NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
The Trail of Tears
REMOVAL IN THE SOUTH
LANDMARK EVENTS IN
NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
THE APACHE WARS
Th e Final Resistance
BLACK HAWK AND THE WAR OF 1832
Removal in the North
CODE TALKERS AND WARRIORS
Native Americans and World War II
KING PHILIP’S WAR
Th e Confl ict Over New England
LITTLE BIGHORN
Winning the Battle, Losing the War
THE LONG WALK
Th e Forced Navajo Exile
RED POWER
Th e Native American Civil Rights Movement
THE TRAIL OF TEARS
Removal in the South
LANDMARK EVENTS IN NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY
The Trail of Tears
REMOVAL IN THE SOUTH
JOHN P. BOWES
Assistant Professor of History
Eastern Kentucky University
SERIES EDITOR: PAUL C. ROSIER
Assistant Professor of History
Villanova University
Cover: Known as the Trail of Tears, the forced march of the Cherokees in
1838–39 is depicted in this oil painting by American artist Robert Lindneux.
THE TRAIL OF TEARS: Removal in the South
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bowes, John P., 1973-
Th e Trail of Tears : removal in the south / John P. Bowes.
p. cm. — (Landmark Events in Native American History)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7910-9345-0 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7910-9345-X (hardcover)
1. Trail of Tears, 1838. 2. Cherokee Indians—Relocation. 3. Cherokee
Indians—Government policy. 4. Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma. Treaties, etc.
United States, 1835 Dec. 29. I. Title.
E99.C5B746 2007
975.004’97557—dc22 2006102274
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Series design by Erika K. Arroyo
Cover design by Ben Peterson
Illustrations by Sholto Ainslie

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CCoonntteennttss
1
Th e Context of Indian Removal
North and South 7
2
Th e Cherokees and Georgia 20
3
Cherokees and the Supreme Court 37
4
Th e Treaty of New Echota and
the Aftermath 52
5
On the Trail of Tears 68
6
Th e Price of Cherokee Reunion
in Indian Territory 83
7
Removal and Memory 97
Chronology and Timeline 110
Notes 115
Bibliography 117
Further Reading 119
Index 122

1
ThTh ee CCoonntteexxtt ooff
IInnddiiaann RReemmoovvaall
NNoorrtthh aanndd SSoouutthh
On a cold December day in , President Andrew
Jackson spoke to Congress and celebrated the passage of the
Indian Removal Act. Six months earlier, Congress had voted
in favor of that landmark bill. It gave authority to the president
and his representatives to negotiate for Indian lands as well as
the removal of all Indians living east of the Mississippi River.
Jackson supported the bill and made sure that it overcame
any opposition in Congress. But Indian removal was not his
idea. Th e seeds of this legislation had been planted years ear-
lier. Ideas about land, civilization, and American Indians in
the early 1800s helped lead to the Indian Removal Act.
Th e desire for land was the primary reason for Indian
removal. In the early 1600s, English settlers established colo-
nies at Jamestown, Plymouth, and other locations. Th ey even-
tually fought with local Indian populations over the presence
and extension of those settlements. Periods of peace did
occur during the next two centuries. Europeans and Indians
lived near each other and traded food, animal skins, and other
material goods. But still, the forceful extension of European
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7
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8 THE TRAIL OF TEARS
colonies and Indian resistance to that expansion continued.
By the time the American colonists rebelled against the Brit-
ish government in the 1770s, most eastern Indians had been
pushed farther inland. In the early 1800s, the United States
negotiated numerous treaties with Indian tribes. Under these
agreements, the Indians gave up even more of their land. All
told, these treaties arranged for the transfer of millions of
acres from Indian to American ownership.
Th e Louisiana Purchase of 1803 marked an important
turning point. Th is event drastically changed Americans’
visions of their country and the eastern Indian communities.
For $15 million, the Jeff erson administration bought from
the French a vast region of land west of the Mississippi River,
thus more than doubling the size of the United States. Presi-
dent Th omas Jeff erson believed that this western territory
provided a solution to the problem confronting the U.S. gov-
ernment and its citizens. Tens of thousands of Indians con-
tinued to occupy lands between the Appalachian Mountains
and the Mississippi River. Jeff erson proposed that the Louisi-
ana Territory could provide a new home to these people, who
in his mind represented an obstacle to American expansion.
In public statements, the president even stated that removal
would be a noble policy. Th e federal government would be
helping the Indians, who had already suff ered so much from
the presence of white Americans on their lands.
Jeff erson was not the only one who spoke about removal
as a positive development for American Indians. In the early
1800s, most white Americans were convinced that the Indi-
ans could not survive the changes brought about by coloni-
zation. Tens of thousands of Indians had died from smallpox
and other diseases the colonists had brought with them from
Europe. Indian men and women continued to resist attempts
by Christian missionaries to change their way of life. Th e
introduction of alcohol, declining animal populations, and
colonial trade goods had increased Indian dependence on
dd
The Context of Indian Removal North and South 9
During Thomas Jefferson’s fi rst term as president, the United
States purchased the 828,000-square-mile (2,145,000-square-
kilometer) Louisiana Territory from France for less than three
cents per acre. Jefferson believed that this vast territory
was an ideal home for the Indian tribes of the East and thus
supported their removal from their traditional lands.
white Americans and hurt their ability to survive in tradi-
tional ways.
As a result, most Americans believed that both the Indi-
ans and their way of life were destined to disappear. With the
removal legislation, government offi cials gave the Indians a
choice of fates. Th ey could adopt a lifestyle more similar to