7: As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs

Question 1

Fill in the blanks: George Washington’s Secretary of War, Henry Knox, said “The Indians, being the prior occupants possess the _____ __ ___ ____”

Answer 1

Right of the soil

Question 2

Indian removal was necessary for the development of what?

Answer 2

The modern capitalist economy

Question 3

Future president Andrew Jackson was known as the most aggressive what in early American history?

Answer 3

Enemy of the Indians

Question 4

When the Creek War ended in 1814, Andrew Jackson was appointed treaty commissioner and took away half the land of the Creek nation (some of whom fought for him) in a cession described as this

Answer 4

The largest single Indian cession of Southern American land

Question 5

Jackson’s 1814 treaty granted Indians this

Answer 5

Individual ownership of land

Question 6

Describe one tactic used by Jackson to get Indian land

Answer 6

Encouraged whites to squat on Indian land, then told Indians they couldn’t remove the whites, so they’d better cede the land or be wiped out

Question 7

Jackson’s land grabs provided space for these

Answer 7

Slave plantations

Question 8

Andrew Jackson justified raids into Florida by claiming that it was a sanctuary for these (bonus: what secondary argument bears similarity to modern justifications for US imperialism)

Answer 8

Escaped slaves; bonus: Florida was essential to the defence of the United States

Question 9

Which war led to the American acquisition of Florida, and what is the event referred to as in U.S. classrooms?

Answer 9

The Seminole War of 1818; the “Florida Purchase”

Question 10

Which bill came before congress and was called “the leading measure” of the Jackson administration

Answer 10

The Indian Removal bill

Question 11

Fill in the blanks: (This argument was made by Secretary of War and governor of Michigan Lewis Cass), “We must not regret the ________ of civilization and improvement, the triumph of industry and art, by which these regions have been reclaimed, and over which freedom, religion, and science are extending their sway”

Answer 11

Progress

Question 12

True or False: The editor of the “North American Review” told Lewis Class that despite his statement that Indians would be safe beyond the Mississippi, in a few years this would be a lie

Answer 12

True

Question 13

As soon as Andrew Jackson was appointed President, these three states passed laws doing away with the tribe as a legal unit, outlawing tribal meetings, taking away chiefs’ powers, making Indians subject to militia duty and state taxes, denying them the right to vote, bring suits, or testify in court, and diving up Indian land to be distributed by state lottery

Answer 13

Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi

Question 14

Andrew Jackson promised Indians possession of their own land beyond Alabama and Mississippi for this amount of time

Answer 14

“as long as Grass grows or water runs”

Question 15

Was the removal of the Indians instigated by the white frontiersmen or industrialization/capital expansion?

Answer 15

The latter

Question 16

What was the 1832 ruling in “Worcester v. Georgia” that both Georgia and President Andrew Jackson ignored?

Answer 16

That the law which put Worcester in jail violated the treaty with the Cherokees, which was constitutionally binding

Question 17

What showed evidence of Andrew Jackson’s hypocrisy when it came to state rights? (hint: 1832)

Answer 17

He let Georgia decide when it came to Indian removal but attacked South Carolina’s right to nullify a federal tariff

Question 18

How long did it take the U.S. to violate the Treaty of Washington in 1832 and loot and violently force Indians off the land given to them as individuals?

Answer 18

Days

Question 19

What excuse did governments use to force Creeks off of their lands in 1836?

Answer 19

That they had made “war” - i.e. a few random attacks had occurred by desperate Indians likely needing food or other supplies from settlers

Question 20

What happened to the families of the 800 Creeks who agreed to fight for the U.S. against the Seminoles in return for shelter and safety for the former in Alabama?

Answer 20

They were attacked, robbed, raped, and driven from their homes, then removed by the government “for their safety” to a concentration camp on Mobile Bay where hundreds died of starvation and illness.

Question 21

What happened to the aged steamer Monmouth carrying 611 crowded Indians across the Mississippi?

Answer 21

It went down and 311 Indians died, including the children of the Indian commander of Creek forces in Florida

Question 22

True or False: Whig Daniel Webster staunchly opposed the war with the Seminoles and tried to block funds for it

Answer 22

True and False, he “opposed” the war but claimed that because of National defence reasons the bill should pass (in other words: party unity during wartime)

Question 23

What happened to Seminole Chief Osceola upon waving a flag of truce during the Seminole war?

Answer 23

He was seized, put into irons, and died of illness in prison.

Question 24

True or false: Despite the agreement of only 1/3 of Cherokees, a removal treaty was signed and ratified by the Georgia Senate

Answer 24

False, only 500/17,000 Cherokee showed up to sign it, but they were still forcibly removed from their land

Question 25

The Trail of Tears refers to what event

Answer 25

The forced migration of the Cherokees from Georgia to west of the Mississippi, in which 4,000/17,000 died en route

Question 26

Fill in the blanks: (President Van Buren) “It affords sincere pleasure to apprise the Congress of the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their homes west of the Mississippi. The measures authorized by Congress at its last session have had ___ _________ ______”

Answer 26

The happiest effect