Indian Removal
Background
• Near the end of the 18th century, Georgia was home to
European settlers, as well as Cherokee and Creek
Indians.
• Many settlers became rich growing cotton on
plantations.
• The settlers viewed the Native Americans in Georgia as
a barrier to further exploitation of the region’s land.
• The Creek and Cherokee Indians viewed settlers as
intruders who were stealing their land.
• The struggle between the two groups for control of the
Georgia lasted from 1789-1840.
The Creek Indians- Alexander
McGillivray
• The son of a European settler and a Creek
Indian, Alexander McGillivray represented the
Creek Nation throughout the Revolutionary
War.
• McGillivray worked to centralize power within
Creek society and to protect Creek lands more
effectively.
Alexander McGillivray
• In 1790, the Treaty of New York was signed by George
Washington.
• It ceded Creek Indian lands east of the Ocmulgee River to
the US government in exchange for government defense of
Creek territorial rights.
• The treaty created a formal relationship between the US and
the Creek Nation, giving the Creek Nation authority to
punish non-native trespassers in their territories.
• In return, the Creeks agreed to return enslaved people who
had fled and turn in Creeks who committed federal crimes.
• The agreement officially recognized the leadership of
McGillivray.
The Creek Indians-William
McIntosh
• From 1810 to 1820, another son of a European
settler and a Native American led the Creek
Nation.
• William McIntosh helped to create a police
force, establish written laws, and create a
National Assembly for the Creek Nation.
Compact of 1802
• Meanwhile, settlers in Georgia tried to
persuade the U.S. government to remove the
Native Americans.
• In the Compact of 1802, the U.S. government
agreed with the state of Georgia to end Native
American ownership of lands in Georgia.
• In the next few years, settlers expanded into
Creek Indian lands.
Andrew Jackson
• In response, Creek tribes stole livestock and
crops from the settlers.
• In 1814, General Andrew Jackson led U.S.
troops against the Creek Indians.
• Eventually, the Creeks handed over 23 million
acres to the settlers in defeat.
End of the Creeks in Georgia
• In 1825, Georgia agents bribed McIntosh into
signing away all the Creek land in Georgia.
• He was later executed under the authority of the
National Assembly for the Creek Nation, by the
same police force he helped create.
• Realizing that the Georgia government would not
give in to Creek territory demands,
representatives from the Creek Nation ceded all
remaining land to the Georgia government.
• By 1837, 20,000 Creeks were forced to move
west, to Indian Territory in Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Indians-Sequoyah
• The Cherokee were the quickest of the Native
American tribes to take on European ways.
• Urged by U.S. officials, the Cherokee
abandoned their traditional way of life.
• They adopted a republican government, and a
Cherokee named Sequoyah created the
Cherokee syllabary, a writing system that
allowed the Cherokee to read, write, record
laws, and publish newspapers.
The Cherokee Indians- Dahlonega
Gold Rush
• In 1827, John Ross became the principal chief of
Cherokee. Using the syllabary, he established a written
constitution for the Cherokee Nation.
• Gold was discovered in 1829, in Georgia.
• A flood of prospectors then began arriving in Georgia
during the Dahlonega Gold Rush.
• The intruding prospectors paid no attention to Cherokee
land ownership.
• The Dahlonega Gold Rush brought more whites into
Georgia and increased the desire of the settlers for the
removal of Native Americans from the region.
The Cherokees and Andrew
Jackson
• In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of
the United States.
• A major issue of his campaign was the removal of
Native Americans to Indian Territory to the west.
• Two years later, Georgia representatives pushed
an Indian Removal bill through congress.
• The Indian removal act gave the president
authority to negotiate removal treaties with Native
American tribes.
Worcester v. Georgia
• With the help of a handful of white missionaries,
John Ross was able to appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court to protest the removals.
• In 1831, John Marshall, chief justice of the
Supreme Court, wrote in a court decision that the
Cherokee were a “domestic dependent nation” of
the U.S.
• In a case a year, Worcester v. Georgia, the
Supreme Court decided that the Cherokee were a
sovereign nation, which should be allowed to rule
itself.
The Cherokees and Andrew
Jackson
• They should also have federal protection from
other states’ laws.
• Georgia refused to recognize the supreme
Courts ruling.
• President Jackson chose not to enforce the
ruling.
• President Jackson continued to pressure the
Cherokee to move west.
Trail of Tears
• In 1835, a rebellious Cherokee group signed a
removal treaty without the approval of Ross or
other Cherokee leaders.
• The treaty required the Cherokee to give up their
land in Georgia for a piece of land in Oklahoma
and money for relocation.
• Ross protested the treaty to the US government,
but President Martin Van Buren responded by
sending troops into Indian Territory.
• .
Trail of Tears
• The army rounded up most of the Cherokee
people and forced them to leave the state of
Georgia
• The force march of the Cherokee Indians from
Georgia to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838 to
1839 is known as the Trail of Tears.
• It is estimated that 4000 people, one-fifth of the
Cherokee population at that time, died from the
cold or from starvation during the long march.
Summary
• Explain 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.