Choctaw People:Indian Policy 1801-1830

Ryan L. Spring, GIS/GPS SpecialistHistoric Preservation Department

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

Choctaw Society

Matriarchal Society• Society centered around the

Women.• Kinship based on the

mother’s Moiety & Clan• Boys raised by the mother’s

uncle• Revenge Law

– Punishment

Moieties (iksa)• Kashapa Okla (Divided People)

– Kush iksa (Reed Clan)– Law Okla (?)– Lulak Okla (probably Fire People)– Limoklasha/Itimoklasha (There

People are There)• Okla Inholahta (Beloved

People)– Chufan iksa (Beloved People)– Isketani (Small people)– Chitto (Big people)– Shakchi Okla (Crawfish People)

Givers of Life

• Foundation of the Community

• Property Owners• Agricultural producers• Domestic – Pottery– Basketry– Cooking– Clothing

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450

Bushnell 1909

Takers of Life

• Hunters• Protected the

Community• Played Stickball• Interacted with Other

Groups• Did the Heaviest Work• Served as Orators &

Historians

Bushnell 1909

Choctaw Government

• Choctaw Government– Three Districts

• Okla FalayaChief Apukshunnubbee

• Ahepvt OklaChief Mushulatubbe

• Okla HannaliChief Pushmataha

– Village• Chief

– Council– Squirrel Chief– War Chief

District

Takers of Life

Community

Givers of Life

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

Creation of Indian Policy

• 1801: Thomas Jefferson Elected President

• Cultural Imperialism– American Culture– Assimilation

New York Historic Society 1805

Trade, Debts, and Treaties• 1801 Treaty of Fort Adams

– Natchez Trace– Protect Mississippi

• 1802 Treaty of Fort Confederation– Protect the Mississippi

• 1803 Treaty of Hoe Buckintoopa– Defense of Mobile

• 1805 Treat of Mount Dexter

Yakni Awehli (The Taking of Land)

After DeRosier 1970:29

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

Changes in Choctaw Society

• Pressure from Settlers• Changes in Choctaw Society– Mixed Bloods– Men: Property & Trade

• Allies of the United States

War of 1812: The First Choctaw War• United States is at war with Great Britain. Tensions peak

between Muscogee people and whites.

• Summer 1813: Muscogee Chiefs (Red Sticks) hold council with Choctaw Chiefs to decide on the issue of war against the United States. Choctaw Chiefs decline and settle for neutrality.

• Fall 1813: War erupts, Red Sticks begin to attack American settlements. Fort Mims is attacked. Choctaw villages attacked.

• Choctaw Chiefs meet with the United States. Pushmataha is granted a field commission as Lt. Colonel in the US Army under Andrew Jackson.

• Winter 1813: Pushmataha and his warriors join Jackson’s Army. They defeat the Red Sticks at Battle of Holy Ground. 1814 Pushmataha enlist more warriors for Jackson’s Pensacola Campaign. Choctaw Troops go unpaid.

• January 1815: Pushmataha’s warriors under Jugeat help defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

1816: Treaty of Choctaw Trading House

• Allies of the United States• 1816: Choctaw eagerly ceded a small amount

of lands east of the Tombigbee with their new Ally.

Yakni Awehli (The Taking of Land)

After DeRosier 1970:29

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

Calhoun-Monroe Indian Policy

• Cultural Imperialism– Indian Territory– Removal

Choctaw Adaptation: Education

• Educate the Youth– Missionaries– Schools

• Choctaws “Sharp Businessmen”

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

Treaty of Doak’s Stand• Rumors of Removal• Indian Commissioner • Bribery, exaggeration,

threat of the settlers, and loss of friendship.

• Treaty Signed– Goods & Supplies– Education– No more lands to be

ceeded– Lighthorsemen

1825 Treaty of Washington City

• Arkansans Protest• Pushmataha &

Apukshunnubbee• Treaty Signed– Warriors paid– Continued Friendship

Topics

• Choctaw People: Society & Government• 1801: Early Indian Policy• 1812: Allies of the United States• 1817: Removal Policy & Choctaw Education• 1820: Doaks’ Stand and Washington City• 1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha

in bvshpo

1830: Chukfi ahihla bok: Chahta ohoyo micha in bvshpo

• Lands Ceded– 34,000 sq mi

• Sept 22nd– Killihota

• Choctaws 59, Killihota 1

• Sept 23rd

– Rejected– Threats: State would seize lands, US Military would

destroy resistance, Choctaws taken by force to the West.

• Sept 24th

– Greenwood Leflore• Article 14

• Sept 25th– Voted down– Okla Falaya: 2/3 voted down

• Sept 27th

– Rejected– Threats: cease relations, lands given away to other

Tribes, forced into labor and military conscription, state taxes, children destitute, Choctaws would be utterly destroyed

Treaty Signed• 17,000 sq mi• Friendship• Removals Scheduled 1831,

1832, 1833– Transportation , Supplies, &

Reimbursements• Choctaw Nation would remain

Autonomous• Protection by the United States• Choctaw who fought in

Revolution and Northwest Indian War receive annuity.

Yakni Awehli (The Taking of Land)

After DeRosier 1970:29

Recommended BooksThe Removal of the

Choctaw IndiansDeRosier

Choctaws and Missionaries in

Mississippi, 1818-1918Clara Sue Kidwell

Indian RemovalGrant Foreman