Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears

Jackson -William Henry Harrison

Civilizing the Tribes• 125,000 Native Americans still remained east of

Mississippi• Whites attempted to civilize the Natives– Promote literacy– Private property– Alphabet– Agriculture– Cotton– Slaveholding– Constitution

• 5 Civilized Tribes – Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Cherokees

Changing the Lines

• 1790s – tribes were separate nations and land was acquired by treaties

• By the early 1800s – whites redrew boundaries whenever they wanted

Cherokee Indians

• Lived peacefully in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia and Tennessee

• Adopted culture of whites - wrote and spoke English

• Had own written language and newspaper

• Based their government on the U.S. Constitution

Worchester v. Georgia

• Supreme Court ruled the Cherokee were a Domestic Dependent Nation

• They didn’t have to listen to the state, but they did have to listen to the federal gov’t

• Marshall ruled that GA couldn’t take Cherokee Lands

• Jackson “Marshall can rule, but let’s see him enforce it.”

President Andrew Jackson

“Chief Justice John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”

1) What is the job of the Supreme Court?

2) What is the job of the President?

3) What should happen if a government official refuses to do his job?

Black Hawk War• 1827 - US govt says all Native

Americans must leave Illinois• Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk

refuses, saying no one can own land

• US settlers moved into village when they were away hunting

• After Sauk attacks, US troops drive out Indians

Indian Removal Act• President Jackson

pushes Congress to force Indians to move west of the Mississippi

• Congress established Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) as the new Indian homeland

• US govt creates Bureau of Indian Affairs

John C. Calhoun

“One of the greatest evils to which they (Indians) are subject is the incessant (constant) pressure of our population.”

1) According to John C. Calhoun, why is the US government forcing the Native Americans to move off of their homelands?

2) What is wrong with this statement?

Trail of Tears• Georgia govt. smashes in

Cherokee printing press • US troops move 15,000-

18,000 Cherokee at gunpoint 800 miles from 1838-1839

• 25% of Cherokee died - most elderly and children

WAS THE TRAIL OF TEARS AMERICA’S GENOCIDE?

King Andrew v. Whigs

• Whig Party – anti Jackson; chose name to recollect American opposition to a monarch

• Members:– Anti Jackson– Support Clay’s American System– Southerners who wanted nullification– Northern industrialists and merchants– Evangelical Protestants of the Anti Masonics

• Sectionalism?

Whigs

• Progressive Thinkers– Support active gov’t– Internal improvements– Institutions (prisons and schools)

Martin Van Buren v. WhigsElection of 1836

• Martin Van Buren – Walking in Jackson’s boots

• Whigs – couldn’t nominate a single presidential candidate

Van Buren As President

• Democrats resented him• Couldn’t fill Jackson’s boots• Wanted to remain neutral

Panic of 1837

• Speculation• Wildcat Banks• Jackson’s finance• Failure of crops• “Martin Van Ruin”

Election of 1840

• William Henry Harrison• War Hero• Old Tippecanoe• “Log Cabin and Hard

Cider” • FFV of Virginia

• Martin Van Buren• Current President of

hard times