Indian Removal
Unit #2 – Western Expansion
Read through the information provided
Answer all questions on a separate piece of
paper in COMPLETE SENTENCES
Lesson Essential Question – How did the diffusion of America impact, positively
or negatively, the Native Americans?
Indian Peace Medals
Indian Peace medals were produced by the United States government
and given to Indian leaders in the course of our nation’s negotiations
with the multitude of tribes that owned the land coveted by the
national and state governments. It is interesting to study the different
designs of these peace medals are they evolved. Dr. Jack Campisi
states:
Nearly every president from George Washington through Benjamin
Harrison had medals issued with his likeness engraved on the front or
obverse side; however, it is the reverse side that draws our interest. Here
was emblazoned in pewter, bronze, or silver the central justification for
our nation’s policy toward Indian tribes. This policy contrasted a EuroAmerican definition of civilization with a perceived Native condition of
savagery. The components of this perception are presented on the medals
in bas relief as bipolar: agriculture versus hunting, settlement versus
nomadism, war versus peace, and ultimately assimilation versus tribalism.
Peace Medals
George Washington Indian Peace Medal - Red
Jacket smoking long pipe, George Washington
on left with right hand extended
James Monroe Indian Peace
Medal
• Explain the difference between the reverse
side of the two peace medals.
Indian Removal Policy
"The evil, Sir, is enormous; the inevitable suffering
incalculable. Do not stain the fair fame of the country. . . .
Nations of dependent Indians, against their will, under
color of law, are driven from their homes into the
wilderness. You cannot explain it; you cannot reason it
away. . . . Our friends will view this measure with sorrow,
and our enemies alone with joy. And we ourselves, Sir,
when the interests and passions of the day are past, shall
look back upon it, I fear, with self-reproach, and a regret
as bitter as unavailing."
Edward Everett, "Speeches on the Passage of the Bill for the Removal
of the Indians Delivered in the Congress of the United States"
Indian Tribes Map
Key:
1. Seminole
2. Creek
3. Choctaw
4. Chickasaw
5. Cherokee
6. Quapaw
7. Osage
8. Illinois
Confederation
Indian Removal Policy
Answer for map on previous slide
1. Even after ceding, or yielding, millions of acres of their
territory through a succession of treaties with the British
and then the U.S. government, the Cherokees in the 1820s
still occupied parts of the homelands they had lived in for
hundreds of years. What modern states are included
within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation? How large
is the territory compared with the modern states?
2. What other tribes lived near the Cherokees? Whites often
referred to the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and
Seminole as the "Five Civilized Tribes." What do you think
whites meant by "civilized?"
President Andrew Jackson
• President Andrew Jackson defended Indian
Removal in his first, second, and seventh
annual address. Read through the annual
addresses listed below. Did his opinion change
between 1829 and 1834? Why or why not?
Cite specific examples.
– First Annual Address (1829)
– Second Annual Address (1830)
– Fifth Annual Address (1833)
– Sixth Annual Address (18340
Chief John Ross on Relocation
• Chief John Ross and other leaders of the Cherokee
nation wrote a letter to Congress to protest the 1835
Treaty of New Echota. This treaty, signed by a group of
Cherokees claiming to represent their people, stated
that the tribe would relocate west of the Mississippi.
The majority of Cherokees, over 15,000, opposed the
treaty.
• Read Ross’ letter. In this letter, Chief Ross and the
others state the case for the Cherokee majority.
• Make a case for the Cherokee Tribe to not be relocated.
Cite specific examples.
Political Cartoon
• Answer the following three questions for the
political cartoon –
1. What is going on in this picture? (1 point)
2. Who or what is represented by each part of
the drawing? (1 Point)
3. What point is the cartoonist making? (3
Points)
The Human Meaning of Indian
Removal
What went wrong on the Trail of Tears?
This photo shows a segment of road believed to have
been used during the Cherokee removal of 1838.
The Human Meaning of Removal
• Compare General Winfield Scott's letter and
general order, statements about what should
have happened, with Private John G. Burnett's
narrative of what he saw. Since soldiers did
not, routinely ignore general orders, the vast
discrepancy between these primary sources
calls Scott's sincerity into serious question.
The fact that the army did not investigate
what happened also suggests that the general
order was never supposed to be taken literally.
– General Winfield Scott
– Private John G. Burnett
Cherokee Removal Routes – Trail of Tears Map
Questions for the Trail of Tears Map
1. How many different routes are shown? Why do you think
there might have been so many?
2. Find the water route. What rivers does it follow? What
advantages to you think it might have over an overland route?
What difficulties might it present?
3. Locate the land route. How does it compare with the other
main routes? What major rivers did it cross? What advantages
and what disadvantages might the Land Route have?
4. The largest group of Cherokees followed the land route.
They left Tennessee in the late fall of 1838 and arrived in
Indian Territory in March. What problems do you think they
might have encountered on the journey?
The Human Meaning of Removal
• Read the following documents and describe
the hardships and dislocations that the
Indians faced along the Trail of Tears. Cite
specific examples
– Eliza Whitmire
– Elizabeth Watts
– Lt. L. B. Webster
– Jane Bushyhead
EXIT TICKET
The Diffusion of the Cherokee
• Study the maps that follow to complete the
following on an index card –
– Create a definition for the term DIFFUSION
– What patterns do you see in the maps? How do
they represent the term DIFFUSION?