Unit 7: Creek & Cherokee
Nations (1800-1840)
Analyze the events that led to the removal of
Creeks and Cherokees, include the roles of Alexander
McGillivray, William McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross,
Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew
Jackson, John Marshall, and the Trail of Tears.
KIM Vocabulary Strategy
Alexander McGillivray, William McIntosh, New Echota, Sequoyah, Elias Boudinot, John Ross,
Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal Act, and Trail of Tears
K=Key Vocabulary Word
I= Information/Definition
M=Memory Cue or picture
Example: William McIntosh
Example: On February 12,
1825, Chief William
McIntosh secretly sold the
last of the Creek lands in
Georgia to the U.S.
government for $200,000.
Example: Creek Indian Chief
Alexander McGillivray
• Chief Alexander McGillivray led the Creek
Indian tribes in Georgia.
• In 1790, President George Washington & Chief
McGillivray signed the Treaty of New York.
• In this treaty, the Creek Indians gave up all of
their land east of the Oconee River (near
Athens, GA).
• Instead the U.S. government started removing
Creek Indians off of their land in Georgia.
William McIntosh
• As more and more of the Creek Indian land was
given to the U.S. government, Creek tribes
became separated from each other.
• There was little chance for the Creeks to talk and
trade with each other.
• On February 12, 1825, Chief William McIntosh
secretly sold the last of the Creek lands in Georgia
to the U.S. government for $200,000.
• Groups of Creek Indians beat, stabbed, & scalped
Chief McIntosh for secretly selling away the
Creeks’ land to the USA.
Gold Rush in Georgia
• White settlers continued to move into northern
Georgia, because of the attraction to:
1. Rich land
2. Timber
3. Other natural resources
• In 1828, gold was found near Dahlonega, GA.
• This caused a rush of people to arrive and caused
the Cherokee to be removed off their land.
Sequoyah
• I760-George Gist, also known
as Sequoyah was born.
• He created the Cherokee
alphabet or syllabary, which
are symbols that stand for
whole syllables.
• The Cherokee alphabet or
syllabary has 86 symbols.
Today’s Warm-Up
January 17, 2013
It is 1830. The U.S. government has given your tribe
a choice: move west to a reservation and keep your
traditional way of life, or stay and adapt. Most of
your tribal land has been sold or taken. The
remaining land is isolated and not very good for
farming.
• Would you stay or would you leave?
• How would your life change if you stayed in
Georgia?
• How would your life change if you moved west?
Worcester v. Georgia
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On December 22, 1830, the General Assembly passed a law stating that a white person
could not live on Cherokee land without taking an oath of allegiance to the governor.
11 white people refused to sign the oath, including the Reverend Samuel Worcester
(postmaster of the New Echota post office)
The 11 people were jailed…chained together and made to walk from the North Georgia
Mountains to Lawrenceville, GA.
Then they were sentenced to serve 4 years at the state penitentiary in Milledgeville.
Governor George Gilmer agreed to pardon any of them, who would sign the oath of
allegiance…Only 2 of the prisoners refused to do so.
Samuel Worcester and Elizur Butler took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court…Chief
Justice John Marshall rendered his decision ordering Worcester and Butler set free (they
won)!
However, Georgia’s Governor Gilmer refused to accept the decision of the U.S. Supreme
Court, and so did the next incoming governor (Governor Wilson Lumpkin).
Worcester and Butler gave up.
Governor Lumpkin pardoned them and banned the two men out of Georgia forever.
Governor Lumpkin took the Cherokee land in North Georgia and divided up.
In 1832, Georgia held a land lottery and distributed this land out to Georgia’s white males.
John Ross
• Chief of the Cherokee
Indians.
• He tried to save
Cherokee land from
being taken by both the
Georgia General
Assembly and the U.S.
government during the
1830s-1840s.
Andrew Jackson
• Elected president of the
USA in 1828.
• 1830-Indian Removal Act
was passed in Congress
and $500,000 was set
aside to enforce it.
• All Native Americans were
moved to western land
called reservations.
• Choctaws were removed
1st in 1831, then the
Cherokees were last to be
removed in 1838.
Trail of Tears
Anuna-da-ut-sun’y
• Army General Winfield Scott and his soldiers
were ordered to remove all (15,000+)
Cherokee from their land in North Georgia.
• In 1838, the Cherokees were forced to walk
800 miles from New Echota (Calhoun, GA) to
the new Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
• During this 3 months winter walk, many
(4,000+) of the Cherokee and their animals
died from starvation and from colds.
Trail of Tears Map
Warm-Up
January 18, 2013
• Writing Prompt Topic-Having learned about
the Cherokee Nation, would you have
supported the views of most Georgians in
1830 who wanted them to move to
reservations? Why?
• Answer the Standards-Based Assessment
questions #1-3 on page 211.
References
Blankenship, G. and Wood, V. (2009). Georgia
CRCT test prep: 8th grade Georgia studies.
Atlanta, GA: Clairmont Press, Inc.
Klein, P. and Pascoe, C. (2005). Georgia: In the
American experience. Evanston, IL: McDougal
Littell, Inc.
London, B. B. (1999). Georgia: The history of an
American state. Montgomery,
AL: Clairmont Press.