Ever
since settlers came to America,
Native Americans were being pushed out of their land. Amazingly, many Native
Americans still lived east of the Mississippi
in the 1800's, 100,000 in the southeast alone. Most of the Native Americans
belonged to the tribes of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and
Seminole. Overtime, the tribes had adapted to some of the white
culture. They dressed in a similar way, had prosperous farms and cattle
ranches, sent their kids to missionaries, published their own newspapers,
and some even drew up their own constitution. Still whites weren't happy. They
believed that the only way to avoid conflict over land was for the
Native Americans to absorb the whites’ culture completely. It was as if the
Native Americans were unruly animals. Eventually, states began to making
treaties to force tribes out of their land. The Native American tribes
protested greatly, but President Jackson supported the states. He presented a
proposal to Congress that stated the government would negotiate treaties
with the Native Americans that required them to move west of the Mississippi;
it was called the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The act was passed the same year.
As
the removal act stated the government began to negotiate treaties with the
Native Americans. Whites also invaded their land leaving many tribes with no
choice but to sign the treaty that handed over their land. One tribe, the
Cherokee flat out refused to give up their land and appealed their case to the
Supreme Court. The chief justice declared that only federal laws would apply to
the Cherokee tribe. As a result, Jackson
decided to force them out himself. Still most of the Cherokees opposed the
treaties so Jackson
sent federal troops to force them to leave. The Native Americans that were
forced out of their land were given nothing but the clothes on their backs for the
journey. They were then taken on a forced march later called the Trail of Tears
because over one fourth died during the journey. This was probably because the
march took place in the fall and winter.
Now the Native Americans did not go easy, they put up a hard
resistance. An example of their resistance is the Second Seminole
War. The Second Seminole War was a war between the Americans and the Seminoles.
It started after the Seminoles refused to leave their land in Florida.
The war ended in 1842. Another rebellion was when Tsali, a Cherokee Indian, and
his family escaped from the soldiers that were coming to take him away. He and
his family hid in the mountains near their land and there they found many more
escaped Cherokees. Eventually, Tsali and his sons were caught or turned
themselves in. They were hung, but by turning themselves in (or being
captured) allowed many Cherokees to remain in their native land. A third
example of resistance is the Black Hawk War. The Black Hawk War was when a Saux
chief led a group of Native Americans back to their lands. The uprising
was immediately crushed.
