Chapter 6, Section 4
Indian Removal
p. 229-233
Despite a Supreme Court ruling in
their favor, Native Americans of the
Southeast are forced to move.
6.4 Section Focus Question
Why did President Jackson use force to
remove Indians from the Southeast?
Native Americans of the Southeast
Many Cherokee
adapted white ways.
• 100,000 Native Americans
live east of the Mississippi
River when Jackson becomes
president in 1829
- Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Cherokee, Creek, & Seminole.
• The Cherokee adopt many
white customs:
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Sequoyah - developed Cherokee
alphabet (see p. 234-235)
Farming
Trade
Schools
Some converted to Christianity
Had a written constitution
• Sequoyah creates a written
alphabet for the Cherokee
language
Question for Discussion:
Why did government leaders want to remove
Native Americans from the Southeast?
CONFLICT OVER LAND
They stood in the way of
westward expansion.
White farmers wanted their
fertile land for growing cotton.
They weren’t white.
Conflict Over Land
• U.S. government hopes
Native American tribe’s move
West will be voluntary (done
willingly).
- Georgia passes laws in 1825 &
1827 forcing Creek & Cherokee
tribes to give up their lands.
• Led by their Chief John Ross,
the Cherokee sue the state of
Georgia
– In case Worcester v. Georgia
(1832): Chief Justice John
Marshall ruled that Georgia
law had no force in Cherokee
territory.
• Andrew Jackson’s response:
"John Marshall has made his
decision, now let him enforce it."
Cherokee Chief John Ross
The Trail of Tears
• 1838: U.S. Army forces 16,000 Cherokee from their lands in
Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina & Georgia
– Sent to the “Indian Territory” (modern day Oklahoma)
– Over a ¼ of the Cherokee die on the trip.
– Of 4,000 that die most are women, children, the sick, or the elderly.
Heartbreak of the Cherokee
John Ridge
Chief John Ross
Major Ridge
Elias Boudinot
Indian Removal Act (1830)
• Not only the Cherokee
were forced off their
land...
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Chickasaw
Choctaw
Creek
Seminole
Fox
Sauk
Trail of Tears
Shadow of the Owl
By Cherokee artist John Guthrie
Does Oklahoma honor Native Americans?
Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK
“Sacred Rain Arrow”
(Photos taken 2010)
6.4 Section Focus Question
Why did President Jackson use force to
remove Indians from the Southeast?
They didn’t leave voluntarily. They were in the
way of our move west. Whites wanted their
excellent farmland (and gold). Jackson used force
because American citizens wanted them out.