Chapter 3
The Road to Statehood
1. Early Native Americans
i. Chickasaw, Choctaw, Natchez were the largest tribes in MS
when Europeans and Africans first arrived.
ii. Spanish and French were the first to explore MS
iii. Hernando de Soto discovered the MS river, but died searching
for treasure
iv. French used this river to trade furs and introduce Christianity
to the native Americans
v. French 1st settled in Natchez, then British, Spanish and
Americans
vi. 1798 U.S. created the MS territory to encourage orderly
settlement of this frontier
a. Generally divided into 4 periods
b. Paleo
a. 1000s of years ago N. America covered in ice
b. Land bridge
c. Followed animals like the mommoths and mastodons hunted
for food and clothing
d. Few traces of Paleo Indians in MS
c. Archaic
a. Climate changed, warmer and drier
b. Large animals died out
c. Native Americans were forced to adjust to new environment
d. Hunted deer and smaller
e. Fished
f. Gathered food from plants
g. Know very little because they had no writing system
h. They did use stone tools
d. Woodland
a. Developed highly organized societies in the ohio and MS
valleys
b. Many locations in MS
c. Built burial mounds over tombs
d. Lived along rivers or streams and learned to farm
e. Produced pottery and used stone and copper tools
f. The presence of copper so far from it’s source suggests
mounduilders were part of a wide ranged trading system.
g. As their villages gradually grew larger and tied together
politically
h. Toward the end of this period they began using the bow and
arrow
e. Mississippian
a. 1000-1600 ad
b. Burials on flat rectangular mounds
c. The second largest in the U.S. is Emerald Mound located near
Natchez
d. Several notable mounds around the state
i. Nanih Waiya- Choctaw, 22 feet high 218 long 140 wide
ii. Great village- Natchez, layers
1. One mound is base for temple and bones of
leaders were kept here
2. The Great Sun lived atop another mound
e. Built villages surrounded by wooden defenses
f. Located near rivers or creeks
g. Fertile and easy to plow by hand for crops
h. Crop was Maize AKA corn, beans, squash
i. Used bow and arrow
j. By the 1600s the moundbuilders were replaced by the Native
Americans
f. Native American Societies
a. Most of the N.A. (Native American) societies in MS were fairly
small
b. Largest, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Natchez
c. NAs across the Southeast U.S. spoke very similar languages
d. And had very similar religious beliefs
e. NA’s in MS were well organized
i. Each village governed itself and sent reps to tribal
councils
f. Within each village were several clans
i. Served as protection, revenge, and arranged marriages
ii. When married, children were considered part of
mother’s clan
iii. In this society the closest male relative to a boy was not
father, but mother’s brother
iv. Occasionally a man would have more than one wife
v. Near rivers and creeks
vi. Men cleared land, constructed buildings, hunted, and
fought
vii. Women planted, harvested, made pottery, gathered
food
viii. Religion focused on the sun and sacred fires
1. Believed in many spirits assoc. animals and nature
2. Explain, ishtohbohl and chunky
ix. The Natchez and Great Sun
1. Continued more of the practices of the MS culture
than their neighbors
2. Great sun rode in a litter with his wives and when
he died some of his wives and other members of
the tribe were burred with him.
2. European Explorers
1. Christopher Columbus’s voyage in 1492 sparked European
Exploration of North and South America.
2. Explorers told stories and settlers followed
3. The people emigrating into the U.S. had to have both courage and
endurance to survive the trip and once here.
4. With this new arrival, NAs had to defend the land they had lived in
for thousands of years
a. Spanish Explorers
i. The first Europeans in MS
ii. 1539-1542 Hernando de Soto explored the Southeastern part
of N. America in search of silver and gold
1. 600 soldiers mostly on horses
2. Brought hogs as source of food
3. Both horses and hogs were introduced to America by
the Spanish
iii. Started near Tampa Bay and went north as far as north
Carolina, until he turned west and south
iv. He obtained guides, supplies and people to carry things by
holding Indian chiefs hostage
v. 1540 a surprise Indian attack near Mobile almost ended his
expedition
vi. He needed something to show for his troubles so he continued
NW entering MS
vii. 1541 another attack forced de Soto to go further west
viii. In May the tired soldiers reached the MS river, built boats and
crossed it.
ix. He died in 1542, his men buried him secretly and tried to walk
to Mexico.
x. They changed their minds, came back, built barges and sailed
down the MS river
1. Pursued by Indians in dugout canoes
xi. The survivors reached the Gulf and sailed to Mexico
xii. Less than half that started survived
xiii. Killed 4000 or more Native Americans during this expedition
xiv. Spanish did not return, because there was no silver or gold
found
xv. The most important result was the spread of disease from
Spanish to Native Americans, who had no immunity to them
xvi. Because of trade routes the NAs took the diseases to places far
from where de Soto travelled
xvii. Studies show that the NA population decreased around 50% in
the South east after this
b. French Explorers
i. French were the next to come to MS
ii. Quebec and looking for a water route to the Pacific
iii. Found the Great Lakes and went south trading furs and
spreading Christianity
iv. La Salle, Tonti, and Cavelier travelled all the way down the MS
river to the Gulf, and claimed for France
v. La Salle later returned and tried to establish a settlement at
the mouth of the MS
vi. He died
3. European Settlements
i. England, Spain, and France
ii. Rivals in Americas and fought a series of wars
iii. This caused things to change
1. Territories controlled by each country changed
2. Colonies sought allies with NAs
3. MS went from French, to British, to Spanish
4. U.S. finally gained control in 1798
b. French Settlement
i. From their base in Quebec they wanted to control the interior
of the North America
ii. Wanted to dominate the fur trade and keep the English
confined to the coast
iii. Needed firm grip on Ohio and MS river valleys
iv. 1699 French sent d’Iblerville to establish a settlement on the
coast, he chose Ship Island off the coast of MS
1. Built Fort Maurepas on present site of Ocean Springs
2. 1st European Settlement in MS
3. Later he also established settlement at Mobile
4. Abandoned Fort Maurepas because of poor water
supply, few people to trade with, no easy access to
interior.
v. Bienville established a new base and called in New Orleans at
the mouth of the MS
1. He also built Forts Rosalie at modern Natchez and Fort
St. Pierre where the Yazoo river meets the MS, present
day Vicksburg
2. Fort Rosalie prospered until demanded neighboring
Natchez village surrender to them
a. Natchez responded by attacking, killing over 200
white people and setting all of the black slaves
free
b. French then wiped out the Natchez Tribe with the
help of Choctaws and the survivors of Natchez
fled to the Chickasaw.
c. The Native Americans and Europeans
i. Main problem for the NAs was there lack of unity
ii. Never solid unified and before Europeans, fought themselves
iii. French and British were always at war with themselves
1. Bought NA allies with trading guns and gunpowder
2. Choctaw sided with French
3. Natchez, Chickasaw and Creek sided with British
4. Chickasaw raided Choctaws and sold POW into slavery
5. French and Choctaws in return attacked Chickasaws
near Tupelo but were defeated
iv. French and Indian war eventually erupted between British and
French
v. A civil war between the Choctaws ensued between those
siding with French and others siding with British
vi. In MS the French Choctaws won, but the British defeated the
French and forced the treaty of 1763
1. French lost all territory east of MS river except New
Orleans
2. MS was now British
d. British Mississippi
i. After the treaty of 1763, MS became part of the west Florida
territory and was unimportant to England
ii. England encouraged the settlement of the Natchez district
giving war vets land grants
1. By 1774 about 3000 black and whites lived in the
Natchez district
2. During the American Revolution, after the Spanish
declared war on England, the Spanish captured Natchez
3. The treaty of Paris gave U.S. land east of MS River, an
North of 31 degrees, but Spanish refused to give up the
Natchez district and kept it
e. Spanish Mississippi
i. Under Spanish rule the district prospered
ii. Triple in size in 13 years
iii. The governor encouraged immigration to this district by giving
land and accepting protestant denominations
iv. The land proved to be quite fertile and began farming first
tobacco and indigo, but later cotton increased.
v. By 1800 they were exporting 3 million pounds of cotton, 1/6 of
the total cotton export of the Americas
vi. The Pinckney’s treaty of 1795 gave U.S. ability to deposit good
in New Orleans and gave the U.S. the Natchez district
vii. U.S. did not take the district until 1798
4. Mississippi Territory
i. When the U.S. began to govern MS, NAs were the largest
portion of the population
ii. MS was a frontier, full of deer, turkey, and bear
iii. Roads were really just trails for walking or horses, not wagons
iv. The Natchez trace, the route from Natchez to Nashville was
little better
v. Gradually, establishments known as “stands” dotted the trace.
Motels
vi. Natchez was the main town and port to get supplies in and out
a. Territorial Government
a. NW ordinance prohibited slavery north of the Ohio river
b. Not below it
c. 3 stages to being admitted as a state
i. The President appointed a territorial governor, 3 judges,
and a secretary to the governor
1. When the population reached 5,000 adult free
men, the second stage began
ii. Voters could pass laws and elect a territorial delegate to
represent them in congress
iii. Began when a territory had 60,000 people (excluding
Indians b/c they were not taxed)
1. At that point voter elected delegates to a
constitutional convention, which wrote the state
constitution.
2. After congress approved the constitution the
territory became a state with the same privileges
of any original 13 states.
d. When President Jefferson appointed the second Governor of
MS territory, W.C.C. Claiborne, he moved the capital from
Natchez to Whatington, a small town
i. This was an attempt to relate to farmers
b. Land
a. Disputes began to arise about MS’s land
b. Choctaws and Chickasaws owned most of the land
i. And even though they had ceded and sold some land the
pressure was mounting for the U.S. to gain the rest of it
c. Land Titles over-lapped from England, France, Spain and even
Georgia, and on top of this were Squatters
i. Resolving this took years
d. Land Ordinance of 1785
i. Divided land into townships and sections
ii. Townships were 6 miles square with 36 sections
iii. Each section was 640 acres
iv. Section 16, was given to the people to rent or sell to pay
for public education
e. Sectionalism
i. West/slave owners vs. eastern who thought wealth was
running gov
f. 1804 territory was extended to Tennessee after Georgia gave
up its claims.
g. In 1812 MS extended to the Gulf Coast when the Spanish lost
their claims on west Florida
h. Territorial period lasted less than 20 years
i. Personal conflicts often led to duels and deaths
j. During the war of 1812 Andrew Jackson led soldiers to defeat
the Creek Indians and opened more land in modern day
Alabama to be settled
c. Statehood
a. Congress divided the MS territory into 2 states in 1817
b. Alabama Territory would become a state in 1819
c. Once the new MS boundaries were set a constitution had to be
written
i. The political elites met in Washington, MS to write it
d. The 1st State constitution was cautious and conservative
i. Legislative branch was given more power than the
executive branch
ii. Only legislators, governor and lieutenant governor were
elected
1. The rest of the state officers were appointed
2. Judges were appointed for life
3. Senators were based on the number of taxpayers
of that county
4. Blacks and non-paying whites were not counted
5. The constitution was not sent to the voters, but
straight to Federal government
6. On December 17, 1817 MS became the 20th state
in the U.S.