A Timeline of Events

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Guns
Disease: smallpox, chicken pox, measles
Starvation
Enslavement
Government Policies: war, genocide, removal

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How did Native Americans believe they were connected to plants, animals, and other natural objects?
Why did they believe this?
If each object in nature has its own spirit, what is each person’s responsibility to these spirits?
Do Native Americans believe people can own land as private property?
Do Native Americans believe in damaging the environment?

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 formed agreements and treaties with Native
Americans relied on the Native Americans’ knowledge of the land
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Puritans: Massasoit and Squanto
Jamestown: Chief Powhatan and Pocahontas both sides were interested in peaceful co-existence
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Puritans: let’s work together and help each other
Jamestown: stay out of our way and we’ll stay out of yours

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Native Americans had divided allegiance
 supported both the French & British
British defeated the French and left the Ohio Valley
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Native Americans had no more allies against the Americans
British/U.S. took control of lands that weren’t really theirs, made decisions about what to do with that land

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Native Americans were divided over who to support
Most opposed the colonists
 settlers were constantly moving in on native land
13,000+ aided the British, including the Iroquois those who fought with the British did so to protect their own interests, not to support the British empire

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Signed by leaders from 12 tribes
 Chippewa, Delaware, Eel-River, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Shawnee,
Miami, Ottawa, Piankashaw, Potawatomi, Wea, Wyandot
Established “Greenville Treaty Line”
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 boundary between native territory and land for white settlers from Ohio to Kentucky settlers ignored the line and moved where they wanted anyway…just like the Proclamation Line of 1763!!
Native Americans gave up land in Ohio, Illinois,
Michigan to U.S.

Native American Land
(north of line)
Settlers’ Land
(south of line)

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 settlers pushed Shawnee out of their tribal lands in
Ohio/Mississippi Valleys
Chief Tecumseh & Prophet tried to unite with other
Native Americans along the Mississippi River
Used British guns to fight the Indiana militia led by
Governor William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe
Creek led to declaration of war against Britain

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British tried to keep U.S. out of Canada, fought alongside Native Americans to attack the Americans
Native Americans believed U.S. took lands that it didn’t have a claim to
Tecumseh killed while fighting for the British in
Canada against Americans
Native Americans helped Gen. Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans

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Results of War of 1812 (Treaty of Ghent)
 Weakened Native American resistance
 primary leader was dead—Tecumseh
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British wouldn’t help them now that war with the U.S. was over completely forced them out of the Ohio Valley
American promised to stop attacking Native
Americans and to give back their property and possessions

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 more conflicts between Georgia settlers and Seminoles over land and trade
 Seminoles raided settlements on the
Florida/Georgia border
 Escaped slaves were protected by Seminoles
General Andrew Jackson invaded Florida resulted in conflicts with Spain, and later in the Florida
Cession via the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819
U.S. gov’t continued its attempts to remove the
Seminoles during the 1830s

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 created as part of the Department of War later became part of the Department of the Interior

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How had the U.S. government attempted to keep peace between settlers and Native Americans following the
American Revolution?
How were Native Americans compensated for their land?
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When Jackson was elected, how many Native Americans still lived east of the Mississippi?
Which tribes made up the “five civilized tribes”? What made them “civilized”?
What impact did the expansion of the “cotton kingdom” have on Native American lands?

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Passed by Congress, allowed federal gov’t to pay Native
Americans if they moved west
DID NOT say that the Native Americans should be forcibly removed
Pres. Jackson sent various gov’t officials to negotiate treaties with tribes in the southeast U.S. for them to leave
Congress created the “Indian Territory” in 1834 to be set aside for transplanted Native Americans
 “Indian Territory” located in present-day Oklahoma
Cherokee Nation refused to give up their land and leave

 Since the 1790s, the federal gov’t had recognized Cherokee Nation and other native tribes as sovereign nations with their own laws
Worcester
 Samuel Worcester was a missionary working with the Cherokee o Arrested for “failure to have a license”—Georgia required non-
Native Americans to have licenses to live on Cherokee lands o Arrested for resisting the
Georgia militia’s order to leave o Claimed Georgia had no authority in native territory because the Cherokee were recognized as a separate nation
Georgia
 Georgia refused to acknowledge the
Cherokee Nation’s sovereignty

Supreme Court Ruling: Georgia had no rights on Cherokee land
• Native Americans were protected by the Constitution and their treaties with the federal government
• Chief Justice John Marshall
Problem: Jackson disagreed with the court, ignored the ruling
• “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.”

Cherokee
 Cherokee adopted a written constitution declaring themselves to be a sovereign nation (1827)
 1784 Treaty with the Six Nations acknowledged sovereignty of the tribes
Georgia
 State of Georgia did not recognize their independent status o The Cherokee were just tenants on Georgia land
 Gold was found on Cherokee land, giving Georgia further motivation to get the Cherokee out (1829)
Supreme Court Ruling:
AGAIN, the Supreme Court ruled that the state had no rights on Cherokee land
Problem:
AGAIN, President Jackson disagreed with the court, so he ignored the ruling

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Seminoles continued to resist relocation, led by
Osceola
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Effectively used guerilla tactics for over two years
Four military leaders failed in their attempts to force the Seminoles out
 Major Dade; Generals Gaines, Clinch, and
Winfield Scott
Major General Jesup brought in to turn things around for the U.S.
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Waged a campaign designed to wear down the tribe
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Col. Zachary Taylor defeated Seminoles at Lake
Okeechobee

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Then Col. Worth is called in to wage search-and-destroy missions
 many Seminoles surrendered rather than face starvation most expensive war with Native Americans, longest war in
U.S. history before Vietnam—estimated at $40-60 million— ten times more than what the gov’t had allotted for the whole removal!
Seminoles gave up over 100 million acres of land

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U.S. agreed to give the Cherokee new land in
Oklahoma and pay them $5 million to relocate in exchange for all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi not signed by an official Cherokee Council representative, so the Cherokee Nation elders declared it invalid asked Congress to not approve the treaty, but it passed by 1 vote
Results in the Trail of Tears (1838)

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U.S. agreed to give the Cherokee new land in Oklahoma and pay them
General Winfield Scott forced 20,000 Cherokees to leave their land and walk 1,200 miles to their new
“home” in the Oklahoma Territory
4,000-8,000 Cherokees died between 1836 and 1838
 23-47% of relocated Cherokee died very controversial decision—not all Americans supported the removal