Loren Gallimore
Andrew Jackson was elected in 1829 and
served for two terms.
He was well known for his hatred towards
the Indians and he acted quickly to get
them off the land.
Jackson was intent on
removing five Indian
tribes in different
states such as North
Carolina, Tennessee,
Georgia, Alabama, and
Florida.
These tribes were the
Seminoles, Creeks,
Choctaws, Chickasaws,
and Cherokees.
In 1830, the Choctaw Indians were forced to sign
a removal treaty. Though some Indians chose to
stay under the terms of the Removal Act, “landhungry” whites pushed the Indians off the
territory.
1832-the Creeks signed a treaty that claimed
their land was protected, but whites were told
the territory was open for settlement. The
Creeks were angry and resorted to stealing
livestock and crops and committing arson and
murder.
Again in 1832-the Chickasaws signed a
treaty that promised suitable lands.
Instead, they had to pay the Choctaw
Indians to live on their lands.
In 1833, a small group of Seminole Indians
was forced to sign a treaty. They refused
to leave which resulted in the Second
Seminole War that cost Jackson 20 million
dollars.
The Cherokees were located in Georgia
where the white population was rising. In
1790, the population was only 82,548.
Forty years later in 1830 the population
was almost 820,000.
Settlers of Georgia wanted to push the
Cherokee Indians west of the Mississippi.
Unlike most Indians, the Cherokees were
willing to make changes in order to stay
in Georgia. They built roads, schools, and
churches. They became farmers and
cattle ranchers and owned more than a
thousand slaves. They had even created a
system of represented government.
Chief John Ross, Daniel
Webster, and Henry
Clay were against
Indian removal. Major
Ridge signed the
Treaty of New Echota
that sealed the fate of
the Cherokees. Major
Ridge and his son,
Elias Boudinot, led
500 of the 17,000
Cherokees to the
west.
General John Wool was ordered
to remove the Indians in 1838.
He refused and was replaced
with General Winfield Scott.
On October 1, General Scott
invaded the Cherokee
villages. He forced Cherokee
men, women, and children
from their territory and into
stockades. They were then
forced to walk a thousand
miles west.
As the Cherokee Indians moved west they
began to die of sickness, of heat, of
exposure, and of drought. Some survivors
remember the sight at the edge of the
Mississippi River, “hundreds of sick and
dying penned up in wagons or stretched
upon the ground.” This became known as
the Trail of Tears
Once the Cherokees had
arrived, four thousand
of the seventeen
thousand Indians were
dead. The president at
the time, Martin Van
Buren, described the
results of the removal
to Congress. “The
measures authorized
by Congress…have
had the happiest
effects.”
At the time, most Americans didn’t think
the United States would exceed past the
Mississippi, but some thought this was an
excuse to get rid of the Indians.
As soon as the Indians were off out of the
way, whites quickly took the territory and
settled there, destroying any evidence
that Indians had ever lived there.
Today, this episode of history is briefly, if at
all, discussed in a classroom textbook. If
the Indian removal had not occurred, if so
many Indians had not lost their lives in
journey or in battle, the U.S. population
would be at drastically higher levels than
they are today, which is about
320,000,000.
The Indians’ presence may also have kept
America from becoming as developed as
it is now. The territory the Indians
occupied would not be industrialized like
white societies, where change is
practically unavoidable.
Works Cited
“Cherokee Trail of Tears.” Cherokee Trail of Tears.
Golden Ink. 1994. Web. 22 Nov 2013.
“Indian Removal.” PBS. 1942. Web. 22 Nov 2013.
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States.
New York: Harper & Row. 1980. 22 Nov 2013.
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