Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

Native Americans in the Southeast

- by the 1820’s, about 100,000 Native Americans remained east of the Mississippi River

- the major tribes were the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

The Cherokee Nation

- no other Native American tribe tried to adopt the white customs more than the Cherokee

- they dressed, spoke, wrote, owned slaves, sent their children to missionary schools, & had laws like the whites

- after gold was found on their lands in Georgia, the U.S. Gov. came up with a plan to remove all of them

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

Jackson’s Removal Policy

- Jackson viewed Native Americans as conquered subjects who could adopt our policies & become citizens, or move out onto the Western territories (absolutely NO individual governments within our borders!)

- in 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which called for the government to negotiate treaties forcing the Natives west

- Jackson hoped this would allow them to save their cultures, but instead it caused many terrible hardships on the Natives

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

The Trail of Tears

- many Natives gave in to the whites and signed treaties allowing them to move to an area called Indian Territory

- in 1838, after unsuccessfully appealing to the Supreme Court the Cherokee were forced from their homes in the winter

- they were forced to march in the cold, rain, and snow without proper clothing and nearly ¼ died on the journey

- the harsh journey of the Cherokee from their homeland to Indian Territory became known as the Trail of Tears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np-TYoZE5NM

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

The Trail of Tears – Winter of 1838 to 1839

Ch.12, Sec.2 – Jackson’s Policy Toward Native Americans

Native American Resistance

- in 1835, the Second Seminole War was fought as a result of their refusal to leave their homes in Florida

- Osceola, a great Seminole warrior, led the Seminoles successfully against the U.S. army until his capture in 1837

Osceola

- other Native American tribes resisted north of the Ohio River during this time as well: Shawnee, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, & Fox (all unsuccessfully)