US History I - Cherokee Trail of Tears

1. Cherokee & Trail of Tears

2. French and Indian War, 1754-1763
aka Seven Years’ War
• 1758+ British started to win – because of Iroquois &
Cherokee assistance & other nations switched
alliances from the French to the British

3. The Iroquois Confederacy
• The Iroquois created a
Confederacy - the
Mohawks, Senecas,
Onondagas, Oneidas,
& Cayugas… later
adding the Tuscaroras
& Delewares.
• They played a key role
in containing white
settlementHiawatha Wampum Belt

4. Chippewa Chief Minevavana
“although you have
conquered the French,
you have not yet
conquered us. These
lakes, these woods and
mountains… are our
inheritance; and we will
part with them to no one.”
Chippewa are the fourth largest native
american nation in the U.S.

5. 1759-61 Cherokee-English Conflicts
• Cherokee only defeated because of
smallpox and lack of ammunition/food.
• Opened more Native American land to
British colonial settlement

6. British North America,
1763-1774
Proclamation Line of 1763
•British North American
victory
•French & Spanish
concessions
•Native Americans
allowed to keep
territories,
•upset white settler
colonists

7. Three Cherokees in London- 1762 – to meet King
George III regarding Cherokee security
•(p. 179)
One of Britain’s
staunchest Indian
allies in the Seven
Years’ War
1759 - open
warfare with the
British, because of
too many broken
promises
Resulted in
Cherokee
decimation.

8. The French and Indian War
The Consequences of War
• French humiliation - Fall of Quebec & Montreal
• English win, but English national debt doubled, from
75-145 million pounds
• Incredibly expensive! Who pays?
• Economic depression, (some made a killing)
• Paved the road for larger conflict
• Local colonial legislative assemblies with political
power
• New colonial military leadership
• New colonial sense of identity after the war

9. Native
Americans
After the American
revolution, they lost their
most powerful diplomatic
weapon – ability to play off
rival European powers
against each other

10. Forced Indian
Cessions,
1790–1820
“Five Civilized Tribes”
•Cherokees
•Creeks (Muscogees)
•Choctaws
•Chickasaws
•Seminoles

11. Cherokee Nation – 1827?

12. Cherokees
Georgia claimed jurisdiction over the
Cherokee nation and her land

13. Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
Worcester v. Georgia (1832) – Cherokees would
be entitled to federal protection from states
attempting to infringe on tribal sovereignty
Remember the hint? What is the President’s
job?

14. Cherokee Phoenix
First Native American (Cherokee)
newspaper in the United States. The
General Council of the Cherokee Nation
established a printing office in New
Echota, Georgia in the 1820s, to integrate
themselves into American society. They
used the newspaper in the 1830s to protest
and gain public support against the
removals.

15. John Ridge, traitor to Cherokees
• Signed the Treaty of
New Echota, 1835,
ceding all Cherokee
land east of the
Mississippi.
• assassinated because
of his betrayal to his
people.

16. John Ross
• Youngest Cherokee
chief, at the age of
38.
• Half-white, and
sophisticated in the
American legal
system
• Appeals to Congress

17. President Andrew Jackson
1829-1837
Known for his role in the forced
Indian removals
Defies the Supreme Court, even
though the position of President
is to carry out the laws,
especially Supreme Court
Decisions

18. Removal of American Indians

19. Nunna daul Isunyi—“the Trail Where They Cried” –
1838 Cherokee Forced Removals: Trail of Tears
850 Miles, 15K Cherokees – ¼+ or ~4000 died en route
One of the coldest winters

20. “King Andrew”

21. Forced Indian
Cessions,
1790–1820
“Five Civilized Tribes”
•Cherokees
•Creeks (Muscogees)
•Choctaws
•Chickasaws
•Seminoles

22. Seminoles
George Catlin, Seminolee, 1838, pencil drawing (captured with Seminole leader Osceola
near St. Augustine, Florida, after the U.S. violated a truce agreement.

23. Native and African American Resistance on
the Frontier: Seminoles
• 1812 – First Seminole War –
US invades Florida
• 1818 – Spanish/Seminoles
invaded by U.S.
• 1819 – Spain cedes Seminoles
to the U.S.
• 1832-35 Seminole nation
resettled in Oklahoma &
other western territories
• 1835 Seminoles & African
Americans under Osceola vs.
the United States.

24. American Indians Seek Justice
Supreme Court Decisions challenged the
constitutionality of the Removal Act
• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) - dependent
status rather than as a sovereign nation
• Worcester v. Georgia (1832) – Cherokees would
be entitled to federal protection from states
attempting to infringe on tribal sovereignty

25. Cherokee Phoenix
First Native American (Cherokee)
newspaper in the United States. The
General Council of the Cherokee Nation
established a printing office in New Echota,
Georgia in the 1820s, to integrate
themselves into American society. They
used the newspaper in the 1830s to protest
and gain public support against the
removals.