Native Americans 1815-1848

Libby and Carol

Natives in the Constitution

Only mentioned three times in the Constitution

Article 1: excluded Indians “not taxed’ from being counted in the population

Article 1: gave Congress power to regulate trade with Indians

Article 4: treaties made before the Constitution had to be honored after its writing

Pre-existing Conflicts with the Natives

Battle of Fallen Timbers- 1794: final battle of the Northwest Indian War

Treaty of Greenville- 1795: Indians gave up claim to most of land in Ohio Valley

Battle of Tippecanoe- 1811: Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa tried to stop American expansion into Indiana and Illinois

Assimilation of the Natives

Jefferson had encouraged assimilation and promised Natives citizenship if they could coexist

Between the years of 1819 and 1829, Cherokees had an independent nation within the U.S. boundaries

Indians became farmers

Sequoyah created Cherokee Alphabet

“Five civilized nations”

“Five Civilized Nations”

Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole found in modern day GA, AL, MS, FL

Adopted agricultural economy, republican form of government, institution of slavery because Jefferson had promised citizenship

Cherokee had even created a government with bicameral legislature, election system, court system, and by adopting a Constitution

Cherokee’s relationship with Jackson

“…Cherokee nation never again made war against the United States. Indeed, the tribe allied with Andrew Jackson against their old enemies the Creeks and played a major part in his victory at Horseshoe Bend in 1814” (Howe, 343).

Tried to get on Jackson’s good side

Jackson’s opinions about Natives

Favored removing eastern Indians to lands beyond Mississippi

Even before he became president, he was involved in persuading and coercing groups to emigrate

“His own attitude toward Indians was that they were children when they did the white man’s bidding and savage beasts when they resisted” (American Stories, 276)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiVXJSXlptY

Indian Removal Act

1830

Mainly focused on Indians in SE because Indians in the West were under the control of the Spanish

Situation became aggravated when natives found gold on their land in Georgia

Georgia annulled the Cherokee Constitution and had their lands seized.

Alabama and Mississippi follow suit; Unconstitutional

Cherokee vs. Georgia

1831

Marshall ruled that Georgia could not enter Cherokee lands and remove Indians

Supreme Court sided with Indians but the ruling was not enforced

“John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it” –Jackson

Ruling made the Supreme Court look inferior to the executive.

Worcester vs. Georgia

1831-1832

The idea that prohibiting non-Indians from being present on Indian lands without a license was unconstitutional

Samuel Worcester and other non-Natives were indicted in the supreme court for residing within the limits of the Cherokee without a license and without pledging to support the constitution and laws of GA

Georgia sues them for trying to live under the Cherokee provisions

Worcester argues that the statute violated the Constitution, treaties between the US and the Cherokee nation

Only the federal government can decide what the interaction between the whites and the natives can be so the Georgia act was unconstitutional.

Trail of Tears

1832-1838

Funds were granted for the relocation of the Cherokee

Given two years to vacate their lands and move to a new territory in modern day Oklahoma

All the tribes in the SE except the Cherokee agreed to evacuate; military force had to be used with Cherokee

Travels of the Five Civilized Nations

Effects of Trail of Tears

Approximately four thousand out of sixteen thousand died along the way

Cherokee re-established agrarian society in NE Oklahoma, set up new government and signed constitution in 1839

By 1842, most of the 5 civilized tribes had been moved from their lands and settled in Oklahoma

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/e/europe/cherokee_20051713.html (Song: “Cherokee” by Europe)

Anti-Indian Removal

Natives had to rely on white government officials to fight their battles because they weren’t allowed in government.

Protestant women and clergy were the most vocal against Indian Removal.

Jeremiah Evarts creates ABCFM whose purpose is to counter Indian Removal.

Catherine Beecher led women’s opposition to the removal

“…defenders of morality, charity, and family values, women were free to ‘feel for the distressed’” (349, Howe)

People to Note William Henry Harrison: a

victor in Battle of Tippecanoe and a representative of the Whigs

Henry Clay: Great Compromiser and a representative of the War Hawks (later becomes a Whig)

John C. Calhoun: secretary of State for Monroe and vice president for John Q. Adams and Jackson (distrustful of minorities and pro-slavery)

John Eaton: Jackson’s secretary of War

Picture Sources

http://bookexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/andrew-jackson.jpg

http://www.knowledgerush.com/wiki_image/d/d6/JohnCCalhoun.jpeg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FqFDV-L66EI/SZ7Ku9zYSMI/AAAAAAAATa4/N6ZMtXsbMiE/s400/Sequoyah.jpg

http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/trail_of_tears.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Trails_of_Tears_en.png

Information Sources

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406400954.html (Nov. 8)

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h321.html (Nov. 11)

http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/johnccalhoun.html (Nov. 11)

Howe, Daniel Walker. What Hath God Wrought : The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. Oxford University Press USA, 2007. 14 November 2010 http://lib.myilibrary.com?ID=227069

Brands, H.W. American Stories. New York: Pearson, 2009. Print.