Download Removal of the Creeks and Cherokee Indians

Removal of the
Creeks and
Cherokee Indians
1783-1838
Chief Alexander McGillivray led
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The Creek tribes.
He sent warriors against some of the
pioneer settlements.
The Indians burned houses, stole horses
and cattle, and killed or captured over two
hundred settlers.
The Georgia settlers
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Got some men together and told them to
kill on sight any Creek who were not
members of friendly tribes.
The name of this conflict was the Oconee
War due to the fact that pioneers were
pushing into Creek lands along the Oconee
River.
McGillivray meets Washington
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Chief McGillivray called to New York by President
Washington
McGillivray signed the Treaty of New York
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The Creek gave up all their land east of the Oconee River.
The Creek promised to honor an earlier treaty in which
they gave up other lands
The United States government promised that no whites
would go into land west of the boundary.
The United States government also agreed to help the
Creek start farms by giving them tools and farm animals.
Was the Treaty of New York
honored?
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Neither the Creek nor the Georgians paid
any attention to the treaty
Bad feelings between the tribes and the
whites until both groups accepted other
treaties.
This occurred during the time of the Yazoo
land fraud
The murder of Chief William
McIntosh
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Due to Creek land given up to the U.S.
government, Creek tribes became separated from
each other.
Little chance to talk or trade with each other.
Groups of Creek sometimes signed treaties
without asking the tribes to agree.
February 1825, Creek Chief William McIntosh and
his first cousin, Governor George Troup, had
worked out the the terms of the Treaty of Indian
Springs
The Treaty of Indian Springs
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U.S. government paid McIntosh and a large
group of Lower Creek chiefs $200,000 to
cede(give up) the last Creek lands in
Georgia to the federal government.
The government gave the use of that land
to Georgia.
The murder of Chief William
McIntosh
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According to Creek law, groups of Creek agreed
that McIntosh should die.
Menawa(a rival chief) was sent to execute McIntosh
The Creek set fire to McIntosh’s home
Allowed the women and children to leave before
dragging him from his house and stabbing him in
the chest.
McIntosh’s scalp was taken as a warning to others
who might want to give Creek land to white men.
Sequoyah
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Also known as George Gist
Sequoyah means: “lonely lame one”
Sequoyah was crippled
Was a silversmith and blacksmith
Made his own syllabary, which is a group of symbols
that stand for whole syllables
His completed syllabary consisted of 85 symbols.
Sequoyah’s syllabary led to the first Indian
newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix in Cherokee and
English.
It brought together the tribes of the Cherokee Nation.
Chief John Ross
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Supported the Cherokee Nation
Made several trips to Washington to ask
Congress for help to protect the Cherokee Nation
and to have terms from past treaties honored.
Took a petition to Congress with 15,000
signatures, 90% of all Cherokee, to protest the
Indian removal.
No help was given…
December 1835
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The Cherokee were told to come to their capital,
New Echota.
Forced to sign a treaty giving up all Cherokee
land that remained in the Southeast.
Any member of the tribe who did not come was
considered to have agreed with the treaty.
The treaty also stated the Cherokee would move
west, and Georgia would give them a little money
and food for the trip.
Dahlonega gold rush
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Gold was discovered in Dahlonega which
prompted the state of Georgia to get rid of
the Cherokee to mine the gold.
Benjamin Parks was given credit for
discovering gold in the hills of Dahlonega.
A problem for the Cherokee because their
land was now sought after.
Laws passed by Georgia
Legislature
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1st law
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Placed part of the Cherokee land under state
control.
Declared Cherokee laws null and void and would
not let the Cherokee speak against white men in
a court of law.
2nd law
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Refused the Cherokee any right to gold mined in
the Dahlonega area.
Worcester v. Georgia
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Supreme Court case against Rev. Samuel
Worcester, postmaster at New Echota
A new law was created: A white person could not
live on Cherokee land without taking an oath of
allegiance to the governor.
Rev. Worcester was arrested, found guilty in
court, and sentenced to four years at the state
penitentiary in Milledgeville.
Worcester took his case to the U.S. Supreme
Court(Appellate Court)
Worcester v. Georgia
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Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the decision of
the Georgia court could not stand because Cherokee
territory was not subject to state law.
Worcester ordered set free!
The Georgia judge refused--The Executive branch of
Georgia refusing to listen to the Judicial branch of the
United States.
President Andrew Jackson refused to honor the
Supreme Court order.
“John Marshall has rendered his ‘decision’; now let
him enforce it.”
What happened to the Cherokee
land?
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Cherokee lands were divided into lots of 40
and 160 acres.
1832 the government held a state lottery to
give the Cherokee lands to white men.
The Cherokee refused to leave their home
Worcester’s fate
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Gave up and told the governor that he
would abandon litigation(legal court action)
The governor pardoned Worcester and was
forced to leave the state and never return.
Americans who supported the
Cherokee Nation
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Henry Clay
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Daniel Webster
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Represented Kentucky in both the Senate and the House
of Representatives, where he served as Speaker.
Leading American statesmen during the nation’s
Antebellum Period
Davy Crockett
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Represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of
Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died
at the Battle of the Alamo.
Trail of Tears 1838
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After the treaty was signed forcing the Cherokee to
moves west…
General Winfield Scott was ordered to remove the
15,000 or more Cherokees who refused to leave their
home.
Hundreds of men, women, and children died of cholera,
dysentery, and fever while in the stockades(pens).
During the summer the army loaded several thousand
Cherokee onto crowded boats and sent them on the
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers to their
new homes.
Trail of Tears 1838
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By the time the Indians arrived in Indian
Territory, nearly 1/3 of the group had died.
Winter winds, snow, and too little food led
to the deaths of thousands of Cherokee.
U.S. response
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“The measures of the removal have had
the happiest effect… the Cherokees have
emigrated (moved out) without apparent
reluctance.” --President Martin Van Buren,
December 1838 address to Congress