NATIVE AMERICANS1815-1848

Philly Krebs and Nick Scanlan

BEFORE 1815

Jefferson starts the policy of “Assimilation”, yet doesn’t believe that both Native Americans and the US can live peacefully in the same world

Jefferson thought of Native Americans as the “Noble Savage”

Assimilation-Policy of integrating a smaller culture into the dominant one

Tribes of the Ohio Valley unite under leadership of Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh, try to stand up to white settlers but are defeated

Creek Indians try to resist and their warriors are defeated by Andrew Jackson’s militia at Horseshoe Bend

THE “FIVE CIVILIZED NATIONS”

Southern Native American tribes in modern day Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida

Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek and Seminole

Population totaled about 60,000 Referred to as “Civilized” because they

adopted many aspects of the white, U.S. society

MAP OF THE SOUTHERN TRIBES

http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/preservation-services/trail-of-tears/images/ahpp_map_area_southeast.gif

THE CHEROKEE

Cherokee are largest of the five Of all Tribes Cherokee adopt U.S. society the most Shift from traditional matriarchal, combined hunting

and farming to a highly Agrarian Americanized society

Even adopt slavery and white racism, even pass multiple laws against blacks, about 8% owned slaves

Sequoyah invents the written Cherokee language Cherokee have high levels of education and

economic success Cherokee create highly US modeled Constitution

HOWE ON THE CHEROKEE

“The half century following 1785 might be called the golden age of the Cherokee nation. As defined by 1819, the Nation occupied…gathering. Trade with whites flourished and permanent towns grew up. Decades of evolution in the direction of more centralized and formalized political institutions reached their climax with the adoption of a written constitution for the nation in 1827. In these and other ways, the Cherokees showed an ability to synthesize elements borrowed from Western Civilization with their native culture.” (Howe, 343).

THE SEMINOLES

Smallest of the five tribes Located in Northern Florida Fleeing groups of Indians and African-Americans

make alliance and become known as Seminole which means “runaway” in Creek native language

Of five tribes, most different from the Cherokee Did eventually adopt slavery, but used more like

sharecroppers, the slaves operated on their own land and paid one yearly wage to their master

TREATIES AND COURT CASES

Treaty of Moultrie Creek: removed the Seminole from their fertile lands in Northern Florida to swampland. Signers were bribed. Helped initiate later wars.

Worcester vs. Georgia: Samuel Worcester is arrested by Georgia for lack of license, Worcester takes case to supreme court and Court decides in favor of Worcester

Cherokee vs. Georgia: Georgia tries gain control of Cherokee and strip them of their rights in attempt to make them move west. Cherokee appeal the actions in the supreme court but are not successful

ANDREW JACKSON

Pro Indian Removal This belief helped him get elected Southern states such as Alabama,

Georgia and Mississippi are eager for him to take action

During his time at office, attempted to move Indians into new territories west of the Mississippi such as Oklahoma

BEFORE JACKSONS INAUGURATION

Georgia made Cherokee inside Georgia state borders under state laws

Mississippi and Alabama put Native Americans under state law who lived within state borders

Broke many treaties and against parts of the constitution

Constitution said federal government had jurisdiction over Indian affairs

NORTHWEST INDIANS FINAL STAND

Alliance of Sac and Fox Indians come together under Chief Black Hawk refusing to give up their lands east of the Mississippi, almost get completely annihilated

Conflict lasted from 1831-1832

FIVE NATIONS MAKE A LAST STAND

Many of the nations tried to assimilate into modern culture

Some ceded land in hopes of retaining a portion or getting new territory

In the end most end up moving west of the Mississippi River

CHEROKEE

Took a diplomatic stand Declared themselves a sovereign

nation In former treaties Indians had been

called sovereign nations to be able to legally give the government land

The Cherokee were able to get the case to the Supreme Court but it went against them

SEMINOLE WARS

1st, 2nd, and 3rd

2nd was the biggest and lasted from 1835-1842

Led by Osceola Jackson spent 40-60 million dollars on

the war Seminoles used runaway slaves to help

fight At the end most of Seminoles were

moved to lands beyond the Mississippi

TRAIL OF TEARS

15,000- 16,000 Cherokee forced by the US government, while under military supervision, to walk to present day Oklahoma and give up land East of the Mississippi River

4,000 Cherokee died Andrew Jackson made the order but

Van Buren was president when the forced march occurred

WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT “Starting in May 1838, the majority of the tribe were

rounded up by the U.S. Army and sent to detention camps to await Removal; others fled to neighboring states. Widespread bloodshed at this point was averted by the moderation and good sense of Chief Ross and General Winfield Scott.10 But incompetence, indifference, and policy disagreements among civilian authorities had frustrated the efforts of General John Ellis Wool to prepare properly for the massive evacuation. Conditions in the unsanitary detention camps and the harsh weather along the notorious “Trail of Tears” westward in the fall and winter of 1838–39 led to a tragically high death rate”(Howe 416).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2010 Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought : The

Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Oxford University Press USA, 2007. 10 November 2010 <http://lib.myilibrary.com?ID=227069>

 Brands, H.W. American Stories. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print.

"assimilation." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

"Cherokee." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2010.

"Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010.