DSG - Removal of the Creeks and Cherokee from Georgia (Lesson)

Removal of the Creeks and Cherokee from Georgia

Introduction

In the early 1800s, as Georgia’s prosperity and population grew, concern about relations with the Native Americans did as well. The positive relationship that had been established during the colonial years no longer existed. Georgia’s population expanded rapidly and white settlers and the state and federal governments wanted to push the Native population out of the state, while the Native American tribes fought to keep their land.

 

Yazoo Land Fraud and Its Impact

The State of Georgia was weak after the American Revolution and was unable to defend its western lands (called the Yazoo lands) which extended to the Mississippi River (present-day Alabama and Mississippi.)

The Georgia legislature listened to proposals from greedy land speculators who wanted to acquire the Yazoo lands for very low prices and then sell them at much higher prices to make a huge profit for themselves.By the summer of 1794 a majority of members of the legislature favored the sale of the Yazoo lands; on January 7, 1795, Georgia’s governor, George Mathews, signed the Yazoo Act which shifted 35 million acres in present-day Alabama and Mississippi to four land companies for only $500,000.

To facilitate the sale of the Yazoo lands, the leader of the project, one of Georgia’s U.S. Senators, James Gunn, who was a Federalist, arranged the distribution of land to influential, well-to-do Georgians like legislators, state officials and newspaper editors.

Citizens protested that the deal was corrupt and made charges of bribery when they held demonstrations in the streets and protested in newspapers around the state.The deal went through anyway.

Georgia’s other United States Senator, James Jackson, a Jeffersonian Republican, resigned his seat in the Senate and went home to Georgia to fight to overturn the sale of the Yazoo lands. Jackson coordinated to gain control of the legislature and they then held hearings about the corruption and bribery charges.

Finally, Jackson and his allies in the legislature passed the Rescinding Act of 1796 which

• nullified the sale of the Yazoo lands.
• ensured that the politicians involved in the Yazoo Land Fraud were not eligible for re-election.
• made sure that the state’s constitutional revision in 1798 included the substance of the Rescinding Act of 1796.
• arranged for the destruction of the records related to the Yazoo Land Fraud.

The U.S. government paid the State of Georgia $1.2 million for the Yazoo lands that eventually became Alabama and Mississippi.

Georgians quickly began settling the land they acquired in the land lottery system and they were impatient with the government’s attempts to remove the Native Americans living there. The Georgians continuously pushed the government to complete the Indian removal. So it can be argued that the Yazoo Land Fraud case actually accelerated Indian removal and the Trail of Tears in 1838.

 

Removal of the Creeks

When Georgia ceded the Yazoo land in 1802, the national government promised to remove the Creek and Cherokee Indians still in Georgia. Georgians grew impatient at the United States Government did not take action immediately. Governor Troup pressured the national government to negotiate a deal with the Creeks. Creek Chief William McIntosh (who was actually Governor Troup’s first cousin) signed the Treaty of Indian Springs in 1825. The Creeks were enraged and murdered McIntosh and several others who signed the treaty because McIntosh and the others sold the land to the government for personal profit without consulting the tribal elders. Ultimately by 1827 the Creeks had relocated across the Mississippi River.

 

Removal of the Cherokee

The Cherokees remained in the northwest corner of Georgia after the Creeks relocated. Their society had an independent government, capital city and a constitution. Sequoyah, a Cherokee, published the Cherokee alphabet that enabled the tribe to read, write and even publish its own newspaper called “The Cherokee Phoenix”. In 1791, a treaty with the United States government promised that the Cherokee Nation would be recognized as its own independent nation. In 1828, Georgia lawmakers reversed the agreement, saying that state laws now govern the Cherokee Nation. At the same time gold was discovered in the Cherokee lands, which led to the Dahlonega Gold Rush of 1828, bringing thousands of settlers and pressuring the Cherokee to cede their lands.

 

President Andrew Jackson pushed Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that allowed for the removal (voluntarily or by force) of the Native Americans still east of the Mississippi River. The removal of all the indigenous people was an 8 year process that culminated in the “Trail of Tears” in 1838 after Andrew Jackson had left the presidency.

Court Action: The Cherokee Nation went to the Supreme Court to argue this forced removal. Cherokee Chief, John Ross, argued the case in front of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. John Marshall and the court ruled in favor of the Cherokee in the infamous case, Worcester v. Georgia. He stated that Georgia laws could not be enforced in Cherokee lands. Unfortunately President Jackson ignored the ruling and ordered all tribes to be removed.

Trail of Tears: In 1838, 14,000 Cherokees were rounded up by federal soldiers and marched 800 miles to modern day Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died from harsh weather, disease and malnutrition. This journey is known as the Trail of Tears.

 

 

Indian Removal

Please watch the presentation below.

 

 

Review

Review what you've learned by completing the activity below.

 

 

 

 

Take the time to look through the National Parks website Links to an external site. on the Trail of Tears. While you look through reflect on the following questions:

• Did President Jackson have the authority to ignore the Supreme Court ruling?
• Do you feel the fact that Governor Troup was related to the Creek leader impacted the result of the treaty?
• What else should be done to commemorate the Trail of Tears?

 

  PAINTINGS OF THE CREEKS AND THE CHEROKEES COURTESY OF NEW GEORGIA ENCYCLOPEDIA. ALL OTHER IMAGES ARE CITED DIRECTLY OR CREATED BY GAVS