Learning Goals
The students will understand how and
why the Chickasaws ceded all of their land
north of the Tennessee River and its
effects on them.
 The students will understand the role that
trading posts played in forcing the indian
nation to cede land.
 The students will understand the
Chickasaw removals.
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Trail Of Tears
Before the coming of whites, Indians enjoyed a
kind of freedom that thrived on immense regions
of fields and forests. Other than raids and
battles between tribes, it was an idyllic
existence.
 The white’s insatiable (never satisfied) appetite
for land urged them westward.
 In 1830, after long and deliberate
consideration, the government of the United
States decreed the exile of all surviving eastern
Indians to the plains of the Far West.
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Trail of Tears
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Most tribes in the portions of land in Tennessee,
Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi had adopted
the ways and manners of their white neighbors.
They had become farmers instead of hunters.
Some had even developed prosperous plantations and
owned slaves.
They educated their children and dreamed of equal
opportunities and peaceful co-existence.
This was crushed by the removal decree requiring them
to abandon all that they had accomplished and to start
over, forced to endure unrelenting hardship in the barren
Far West.
The Choctaws
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The Choctaws were the first to move. In the fall of 1831,
approximately 13,000 Choctaws undertook the dreaded
journey.
There were more than 20,000 Choctaws to be moved.
President Andrew Jackson, who favored removal, gave
the army the responsibility of supervising and organizing
the exodus.
Wagons pulled by oxen provided transportation for the
old, the sick, the very young, and those unable to walk,
as well as for some personal property. Anyone who had
horses could ride them, but all others had to walk.
The Choctaws
The removal decree had allotted one blanket for
each family, but hardly anything else.
 They had to buy food at very high prices on the
open market.
 Bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption delayed
government funding for supplies.
 There were many instances when the exiles
would have starved had it not been for
compassionate white settlements and
communities along the way.
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The Chickasaws
The Chickasaws were the aristocrats among the
Indian tribesmen. They were shrewd bargainers
and would gain every possible advantage
 The Chickasaws were kinsmen of the Choctaws
and lived in northern Mississippi and reached a
high level of civilization.
 Reluctantly, they agreed to cede their homeland
to the United States if a satisfactory location
could be found in the Territory. For two years,
their leaders sought to find comparable land.

The Chickasaws
Chicasaw and Choctaw sign the treaty of
Doaksville.
 This provided that the Chickasaws would
purchase a large portion of land on the
western part of the Choctaw Nation.
 They also agreed that members of both
tribes were to have the right to settle in
any part of the Choctaw Nation and that
their governments would be combined
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Treaty of Pontotoc
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Signed in 1832 the
Treaty of Pontotoc
ceded all Chickasaw
land east of the
Mississippi in
exchange for lands in
the west. More than
six million acres of
Chickasaw land was
to be sold.
The Chickasaws
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There were plains of native grass for cattle and horses,
tree-covered hills and valleys for homes, and abundant
running streams as well as the Arbuckle Mountains. It
was a land where they could prosper.
Although the exodus ended in hardship and tragedy,
they began their migration in comfort, well-supplied with
equipment, food, and money.
They were exposed to smallpox, and the disease
reached epidemic proportions after their arrival.
Although the exodus of the Chickasaws was also a hard
one with many infants and elderly dying along the way,
they still fared far better than other tribes.
Reduction of Chickasaw Lands
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Most Chickasaws had turned to farming only after
reduction of tribal lands had made hunting unprofitable.
The government had used various tactics to gain the
lands.
In 1802 the federal government had set up “factories” or
trading posts through which tribesmen could buy their
goods on credit. The Chickasaws were encouraged to
use the credit method to build up debts, so that pressure
could be put exerted against them to cede their lands in
payment.
In 1805 the Chickasaws ceded all their lands north of the
Tennessee River in payment of their $12,000 debt to the
government
Chapter 7 Quiz
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1.) What happened to Indians when they were given credit
at Trading Posts?
a.) They bought white land
b.) They refused to use the credit
c.) They piled up huge debts
2.) What treaty was signed that ceded all Chickasaw land
east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands in the west?
a.) Treaty of Pontotoc
b.) Treaty of Paris
c.) Treaty of Doaksville
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3.) In what treaty did the Choctaws sell a portion of their
land to their land to the Chickasaws?
a.) Treaty of Pontotoc
b.) Treaty of Doaksville
c.) Treaty of Paris
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4.) Which natives were moved out in the first removal?
a.) Chickasaws
b.) Choctaws
c.) Seminoles
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5.) Where did the Natives move from and where did they
move to in the first removal?
a.) From Tennessee to Oklahoma
b.) From Memphis to Arkansas
c.) From Memphis to Oklahoma
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6.) Where were the Chickasaws placed before they were
removed?
a.) In jail
b.) On reservations
c.) In emigration camps
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7.) How were the Chickasaws in the second removal going
to be removed initially?
a.) By foot
b.) By Riverboat
By Train
8.) Who gave the removal the name “The trail where they
cried”?
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a.) The Choctaws
b.) The Chickasaws
c.) The Seminoles
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9.) What estimate has been given in accordance to the
death toll of the Native Americans who died during the
removal?
a.) about ¼
b.) about ½
c.) about ¾
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10.) What happened to the Native Americans after they
arrived on their new land?
a.) They found the land lush and easy to farm
b.) They found that Western tribes were already living on
the land
c.) They found that the land did not exist
11.) What was the main disease killed several Chickasaws
and Choctaws?
a.) Smallpox
b.) Cancer
c.) Chicken Pox
12.) How long after the Treaty of Doaksville were
preparations being made for the first emigration?
a.) about a year
b.) about a week
c.) about a month
Chapter 7 Quiz
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1.) What happened to Indians when they were
given credit at Trading Posts?
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•
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2.) What treaty was signed that ceded all
Chickasaw land east of the Mississippi in
exchange for lands in the west?
a.) Treaty of Pontotoc
b.) Treaty of Paris
c.) Treaty of Doaksville
3.) In what treaty did the Choctaws sell a portion
of their land to their land to the Chickasaws?
a.) Treaty of Pontotoc
b.) Treaty of Doaksville
c.) Treaty of Paris
4.) Where did the Natives move from and where
did they move to in the first removal?
5.) Where were the Chickasaws placed before
they were removed?
a.) In jail
b.) On reservations
c.) In emigration camps
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6.) How were the Chickasaws in the second
removal going to be removed initially?
a.) By foot
b.) By Riverboat
By Train
7.) Who gave the removal the name “The trail
where they cried”?
a.) The Cherokees
b.) The Chickasaws
c.) The Seminoles
8.) What estimate has been given in accordance
to the death toll of the Native Americans who
died during the removal?
a.) about ¼
b.) about ½
c.) about ¾
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9.) What happened to the Native Americans
after they arrived on their new land?
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10.) What was the main disease killed several
Chickasaws and Choctaws?
a.) Smallpox
b.) Cancer
c.) Chicken Pox
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