Historical Question:
Were Native American ways incompatible with white ways?
Author: Jennifer H. Marganski
School: Amity Middle School - Orange
District: Region Number 5
Overview:
In the early 19th century, the United States was ready to expand as a nation. Citizens eagerly desired
the expansion of their territories, years before Manifest Destiny a coined phrase. With Andrew
Jackson - a man of the people and a hero for his feats in the War of 1812 - sitting as the president,
the idea of Native American rights was a nonissue. However the issue of Native American land rights
was in the forefront of the political scene. In order for Jacksonian philosophy and American society
to prosper, many politicians and citizens believed that Native Americans had to be removed.
However not all documents are so concrete in their conclusions about the relationship between
Native Americans and whites from the period. Some even seem to offer proof that in fact harmony
could be found amongst the two nations.
Document Summary:
In the excerpt of Jackson’s State of the Union Address in Document One the complex President
paints a picture of harmony amongst certain Native American tribes with certain US states. However
even in this scene of supposed harmony, words such as “limits” are used frequently. A trained eye
looking at this primary source will pick up on the restrictions of Jackson’s words.
The words of Tecumseh in Document Two clearly demonstrate to the reader that while peace was
attempted on the part of the Indians, it is not upheld by US treaties or actions. In eloquent fashion
Tecumseh’s words portray the heart of the issue of Native American plight in the 19 th century: our
homes have been stolen. We have been forced to fight back.
Document Three clearly supports the idea that Natives and whites could not live amongst each
other. In fact it even leads the observer to believe that helping or “civilizing” the Indian was never the
US government’s intention. Machiavellian in nature, the print suggests that the 19th century mentality
was equal to the ends justify the means.
While Document Four shows that Natives and whites could not live at peace together, it hints at the
idea of separate but equal amongst the races. The document shows the father figure mentality of the
United States at the time towards Native Americans, in first blaming them for savage behavior but
then attempting to be peaceful with them, as long as chiefs are “friendly” in return. A “permanent
peace” can be reached, providing each side (that is the Indian side) abides by the rules.
In Document Five we have evidence that can be used to support either side of the argument.
General Scott talks of his “friends” the Cherokee and obeying a common leader in the President. He
talks of troops and soldiers as friends to the Indian people, who are dispatched to carry out a job of
relocation quite mercifully. However, with all the kind words striped away, Scott is still talking about
the forced relocation of the Cherokee people into the westward lands considered barren and
uninhabitable. While they may be going to be with their “brethren”, they did not want to be there
either.
The peace medal/coin found in Document Six serves as a superficially straightforward example of
white and Native American harmony throughout American history. Issued time and again throughout
the 19th century, by itself this primary source can lead the observer to believe that compatibility could
be found amongst tribe and US citizen.
Procedure (80 minutes):
1. Introduction of lesson, objectives, overview of SAC procedure (15 minutes)
2. SAC group assignments (30 minutes)
a. Assign groups of four and assign arguments to each team of two.
b. In each group, teams read and examine the Document Packet
c. Each student completes the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2), and works with
their partner to prepare their argument using supporting evidence.
d. Students should summarize your argument in #3.
3. Position Presentation (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 2
records Team 1’s argument in #4.
b. Team 2 restates Team 1’s position to their satisfaction.
c. Team 2 asks clarifying questions and records Team 1’s answers.
d. Team 2 presents their position using supporting evidence recorded and summarized on
the Preparation part of the Capture Sheet (#2 & #3) on the Preparation matrix. Team 1
records Team 2’s argument in #4.
e. Team 1 restates Team 2’s position to their satisfaction.
f. Team 1 asks clarifying questions and records Team 2’s answers.
4. Consensus Building (10 minutes)
a. Team 1 and 2 put their roles aside.
b. Teams discuss ideas that have been presented, and figure out where they can agree or
where they have differences about the historical question
5. Closing the lesson (15 minutes)
a. Whole-group Discussion
b. Make connection to unit
c. Assessment (suggested writing activity addressing the question)
DOCUMENT PACKET
Document 1
Andrew Jackson’s State of the Union Address in 1829 includes a great deal of remarks about the
relationship with Native Americans in various parts of the country. He focuses here on some success
and failures.
The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the limits of some of our
States have become objects of much interest and importance. It has long been the
policy of Government to introduce among them the arts of civilization, in the hope of
gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been
coupled with another wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to
civilize and settle them, we have at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase
their lands and thrust them farther into the wilderness. By this means they have not
only been kept in a wandering state, but been led to look upon us as unjust and
indifferent to their fate. Thus, though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject,
Government has constantly defeated its own policy, and the Indians in general,
receding farther and farther to the west, have retained their savage habits. A portion,
however, of the Southern tribes, having mingled much with the whites and made
some progress in the arts of civilized life, have lately attempted to erect an
independent government within the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These States,
claiming to be the only sovereigns within their territories, extended their laws over the
Indians, which induced the latter to call upon the United States for
protection….Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by
destroying the resources of the savage doom him to weakness and decay, the fate of
the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast over-taking the Choctaw,
the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within
the limits of the States does not admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honor
demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity….There the
benevolent may endeavor to teach them the arts of civilization, and, by promoting
union and harmony among them, to raise up an interesting commonwealth, destined
to perpetuate the race and to attest the humanity and justice of this Government….
Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other citizens, protection in
their persons and property, they will ere long become merged in the mass of our
population.
Vocabulary
Ulterior: Lying beyond a specified boundary
Erect: Raised or directed upward
Avert: To turn away or aside
Calamity: A great misfortune or disaster
Benevolent: Expressing goodwill or kind feelings
Endeavor: To make an effort or to strive
Source: "State of the Union Address." By Andrew Jackson. Web. 28 May 2012.
<http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1231>.
Document 2
Tecumseh was a strong Shawnee chief during the War of 1812. He built a confederacy in the
Northwest territory that united with the British against US forces. He attempted to battle the American
government by uniting various tribes. Here, he writes a letter to President Harrison.
“You wish to prevent the Indians from doing as we wish them, to unite and let them
consider their lands as the common property of the whole. You take the tribes aside
and advise them not to come into this measure.... You want by your distinctions of
Indian tribes, in allotting to each a particular, to make them war with each other. You
never see an Indian endeavor to make the white people do this. You are continually
driving the red people, when at last you will drive them onto the great lake, where they
can neither stand nor work.
Since my residence at Tippecanoe, we have endeavored to leave all distinctions, to
destroy village chiefs, by whom all mischiefs are done. It is they who sell the land to
the Americans. Brother, this land that was sold, and the goods that was given for it,
was only done by a few.... In the future we are prepared to punish those who propose
to sell land to the Americans. If you continue to purchase them, it will make war
among the different tribes, and at last I do not know what will be the consequences
among the white people. Brother, I wish you would take pity on the red people and do
as I have requested. If you will not give up the land and do cross the boundary of our
present settlement, it will be very hard, and produce great trouble between us.
The way, the only way to stop this evil is for the red men to unite in claiming a
common and equal right in the land, as it was at first, and should be now--for it was
never divided, but belongs to all. No tribe has the right to sell, even to each other,
much less to strangers.... Sell a country! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as
the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them for all the use of his children?
How can we have confidence in the white people?
When Jesus Christ came upon the earth you killed Him and nailed Him to the cross.
You thought He was dead and you were mistaken....
Vocabulary
Distinctions: A discrimination made between things noted as different.
Endeavor: To make an effort or to strive.
Allotting: To divide or distribute by share or portion.
Source: Benjamin B. Thatcher, Indian Biographies (New York, 1832), 234 ff.
"Digital History." Digital History. Web. 28 May 2012.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=35>.
Document 3
Hunting Indians in Florida with Bloodhounds. Zachary Taylor leads US forces against the Seminole
Indians in the Second Seminole War (1835-1842).
The bubble reads: "Hurra! Captain, we've got them at last, the dogs
are at them--now forward with the Rifle and Bayonet and "give them Hell
Brave Boys", let not a red nigger escape-, show no mercy-, exterminate
them, -this day we'll close the Florida War, and write its history in the
blood of the Seminole--but remember Captn., as I have written to our
Government to say that the dogs are intended to ferret out the Indians,
(not to worry them) for the sake of consistency and the appearance of
Humanity, you will appear not to notice the devastation they commit."
Vocabulary:
Ferret: to drive out
Source: "Hunting Indians in Florida with Blood Hounds." Hunting Indians in Florida with Blood
Hounds. Web. 28 May 2012. <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b36096/>.
Document 4
Excerpted from "The Creek War of 1813 and 1814" by H. S. Halbert and T. H. Ball, this
piece of the Treaty of Fort Jackson describes the sentiments of the American
government towards the role of the Creek Nation.
"Whereas, An unprovoked, inhuman, and sanguinary war, waged by the
hostile Creeks against the United States, hath been repelled in conformity with
principles of national justice, be it remembered that prior to the conquest of that part of
the creek nation hostile to the United States, numberless aggressions have been
committed against the peace, the property, and the lives of citizens of the United
States and those of the Creek nation in amity with her, at the mouth of Duck River, Fort
Mims, and elsewhere, etc., etc., wherefore:
Article 1. The United States demand an equivalent for all expenses incurred in
prosecuting the war to its termination by the cession of all territory belonging to
the Creek nation within the territory of the United States lying west, south, and
southwestwardly of a line to be run and described by persons duly authorized, etc. ,
beginning at a point on the easterly bank of the Coosa River where the south boundary
line of the Cherokee nation crosses the same, etc., etc.
Provided friendly chiefs are entitled to their improvements, land, etc.
Article 2. The United States guarantee the Creek nation all their territory east and north
of said lines.
Article 5. The United States demand a surrender of all persons, property,
friendly Creeks, and other Indians, etc., taken.
Article 7. The Creeks being reduced to extreme want, etc., the United States, from
motives of humanity, will continue to furnish the necessities of life until crops of corn
can yield the nation a supply, and will establish trading posts.
Article 8. A permanent peace shall ensue from the date of these presents forever
between the Creeks and the United States and between the Creeks and the Cherokee,
Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations.
Vocabulary
Unprovoked: to not stir or rise up
Sanguinary: murderous, cruel, savage
Conformity: to go along with set social
standards
Source: "The Creek Documents 10." The Creek Documents 10. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cmamcrk4/crkdox10.html>.
Document 5
In May of 1838, General Winfield Scott, who fought in the Black Hawk War and was commissioned
under President Jackson to work in South Carolina during the nullification crisis amongst many other
important military undertakings during his lifetime, addressed the Cherokee Nation about leaving
Northern Georgia.
"Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army,
to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835 [the Treaty of New Echota], to join
that part of your people who have already established in prosperity on the other side
of the Mississippi. Unhappily, the two years which were allowed for the purpose,
you have suffered to pass away without following, and without making any
preparation to follow; and now, or by the time that this solemn address shall reach
your distant settlements, the emigration must be commenced in haste, but I hope
without disorder. I have no power, by granting a farther delay, to correct the error
that you have committed. The full moon of May is already on the wane; and before
another shall have passed away, every Cherokee man, woman and child in those
states must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West.
My friends! This is no sudden determination on the part of the President, whom you
and I must now obey. By the treaty, the emigration was to have been completed on
or before the 23rd of this month; and the President has constantly kept you warned,
during the two years allowed, through all his officers and agents in this country, that
the treaty would be enforced….I am come to carry out that determination. My troops
already occupy many positions in the country that you are to abandon, and
thousands and thousands are approaching from every quarter, to render resistance
and escape alike hopeless. All those troops, regular and militia, are your friends.
Receive them and confide in them as such. Obey them when they tell you that your
can remain no longer in this country. Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave, and the
desire of every one of us is to execute our painful duty in mercy. We are
commanded by the President to act towards you in that spirit, and much is also the
wish of the whole people of America….This is the address of a warrior to warriors.
May his entreaties [be] kindly received and may the God of both prosper the
Americans and Cherokees and preserve them long in peace and friendship with
each other!
Vocabulary
Prosperity: A successful, flourishing or thriving condition
Solemn: Grave or sober
Determination: The act of coming to a decision, or fixing or settling a purpose
Entreaties: Earnest requests or petitions
Source: Source: Edward J. Cashin (ed.), A Wilderness Still The Cradle of Nature: Frontier
Georgia(Savannah: Beehive Press, 1994), pp. 137-38.
"Gen. Winfield Scott's Cherokee Address." Gen. Winfield Scott's Cherokee Address. Web. 28 May
2012. <http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/scottadd.htm>.
Document 6
Known as the Indian peace medal and created for multiple presidents both before and
after Jackson as well, this 1829 version was given to Indian tribal chiefs.
Source:
"Museum Open." Andrew Jackson Indian Peace Medal. Web. 28 May 2012.
<http://www.nyhistory.org/node/24636>.
"Presidential Exonumia, Tokens , Medals." Presidential Exonumia, Tokens , Medals.
Web. 28 May 2012.
<http://www.rivercitycoins.com/exonumia/Presidents/President.html>.
CAPTURE SHEET
Were Native American ways incompatible with white
ways?
Preparation:
1. Highlight your assigned position.
Don’t forget the rules of a successful
academic controversy!
1. Practice active listening.
2. Challenge ideas, not each other
3. Try your best to understand the other
positions
4. Share the floor: each person in a pair
MUST have an opportunity to speak
5. No disagreeing until consensusbuilding as a group of four
Yes: Native Americans and US citizens could find ways to live side by side.
No: Native American and US citizens in the 19th century could not live side by side.
2. Read through each document searching for support for your side’s argument. Use the
documents to fill in the chart (Hint: Not all documents support your side, find those that do):
Document
#
What is the main idea of this document?
What details support your position?
3. Work with your partner to summarize your arguments for your position using the supporting
documents you found above:
Position Presentation:
4. You and your partner will present your position to your opposing group members. When you
are done, you will then listen to your opponents’ position.
While you are listening to your opponents’ presentation, write down the main details that they
present here:
Clarifying questions I have for the opposing partners:
How they answered the questions:
Consensus Building:
5. Put your assigned roles aside. Where does your group stand on the question? Where does
your group agree? Where does your group disagree? Your consensus answer does not have
to be strictly yes, or no.
We agree:
We disagree:
Our final consensus: