Unit 7: Creek & Cherokee Nations (1800-1840)

SS8H5d: Analyze the events that led to the removal of Creeks and Cherokees, include the roles of Alexander McGillivray, William

McIntosh, Sequoyah, John Ross, Dahlonega Gold Rush, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson, John Marshall, and the Trail of Tears.

KIM Vocabulary Strategy

K=Key Vocabulary Word Example: William McIntosh

I= Information/Definition Example: On February 12, 1825, Chief William McIntosh secretly sold the last of the Creek lands in Georgia to the U.S. government for $200,000.

M=Memory Cue or picture Example: Creek Indian Chief

Alexander McGillivray, William McIntosh, New Echota, Sequoyah, Elias Boudinot, John Ross, Worcester v. Georgia, Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal Act, and Trail of Tears

Alexander McGillivray

• Chief Alexander McGillivray led the Creek Indian tribes in Georgia.

• In 1790, President George Washington & Chief McGillivray signed the Treaty of New York.

• In this treaty, the Creek Indians gave up all of their land east of the Oconee River (near Athens, GA).

• Instead the U.S. government started removing Creek Indians off of their land in Georgia.

William McIntosh• As more and more of the Creek Indian land was given to

the U.S. government, Creek tribes became separated from each other.

• There was little chance for the Creeks to talk and trade with each other.

• On February 12, 1825, Chief William McIntosh secretly sold the last of the Creek lands in Georgia to the U.S. government for $200,000.

• Groups of Creek Indians beat, stabbed, & scalped Chief McIntosh for secretly selling away the Creeks’ land to the USA.

Gold Rush in Georgia

• White settlers continued to move into northern Georgia, because of the attraction to:

1. Rich land2. Timber3. Other natural resources• In 1828, gold was found near Dahlonega, GA.• This caused a rush of people to arrive and caused

the Cherokee to be removed off their land.

Sequoyah

• I760-George Gist, also known as Sequoyah was born.

• He created the Cherokee alphabet or syllabary, which are symbols that stand for whole syllables.

• The Cherokee alphabet or syllabary has 86 symbols.

Today’s Warm-UpJanuary 17, 2013

It is 1830. The U.S. government has given your tribe a choice: move west to a reservation and keep your traditional way of life, or stay and adapt. Most of your tribal land has been sold or taken. The remaining land is isolated and not very good for farming. • Would you stay or would you leave? • How would your life change if you stayed in

Georgia? • How would your life change if you moved west?

Worcester v. Georgia• On December 22, 1830, the General Assembly passed a law stating that a white person

could not live on Cherokee land without taking an oath of allegiance to the governor.• 11 white people refused to sign the oath, including the Reverend Samuel Worcester

(postmaster of the New Echota post office)• The 11 people were jailed…chained together and made to walk from the North Georgia

Mountains to Lawrenceville, GA.• Then they were sentenced to serve 4 years at the state penitentiary in Milledgeville.• Governor George Gilmer agreed to pardon any of them, who would sign the oath of

allegiance…Only 2 of the prisoners refused to do so.• Samuel Worcester and Elizur Butler took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court…Chief Justice

John Marshall rendered his decision ordering Worcester and Butler set free (they won)!• However, Georgia’s Governor Gilmer refused to accept the decision of the U.S. Supreme

Court, and so did the next incoming governor (Governor Wilson Lumpkin).• Worcester and Butler gave up.• Governor Lumpkin pardoned them and banned the two men out of Georgia forever.• Governor Lumpkin took the Cherokee land in North Georgia and divided up. • In 1832, Georgia held a land lottery and distributed this land out to Georgia’s white males.

John Ross

• Chief of the Cherokee Indians.

• He tried to save Cherokee land from being taken by both the Georgia General Assembly and the U.S. government during the 1830s-1840s.

Andrew Jackson• Elected president of the USA in

1828.• 1830-Indian Removal Act was

passed in Congress and $500,000 was set aside to enforce it.

• All Native Americans were moved to western land called reservations.

• Choctaws were removed 1st in 1831, then the Cherokees were last to be removed in 1838.

Trail of TearsAnuna-da-ut-sun’y

• Army General Winfield Scott and his soldiers were ordered to remove all (15,000+) Cherokee from their land in North Georgia.

• In 1838, the Cherokees were forced to walk 800 miles from New Echota (Calhoun, GA) to the new Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

• During this 3 months winter walk, many (4,000+) of the Cherokee and their animals died from starvation and from colds.

Trail of Tears Map

Warm-UpJanuary 18, 2013

• Writing Prompt Topic-Having learned about the Cherokee Nation, would you have supported the views of most Georgians in 1830 who wanted them to move to reservations? Why?

• Answer the Standards-Based Assessment questions #1-3 on page 211.

References

Blankenship, G. and Wood, V. (2009). Georgia CRCT test prep: 8th grade Georgia studies. Atlanta, GA: Clairmont Press, Inc.

Klein, P. and Pascoe, C. (2005). Georgia: In the American experience. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, Inc.

London, B. B. (1999). Georgia: The history of an American state. Montgomery,AL: Clairmont Press.