Lesson 3: Native Americans on the Frontier

Question 1

Frontier Definition

Answer 1

The outskirts of a settled area, bordering on an unknown area

Question 2

Indian Removal Act Definition

Answer 2

Law passed in 1830 forcing American Indians living in the Southeast to be moved west of the Mississippi.

Question 3

Indian Territory Definition

Answer 3

a law passed by Congress in 1830 setting up territories west of the Mississippi River where Native Americans living in existing states could be relocated

Question 4

John Marshall Definition

Answer 4

He was the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801–1835. He helped shape American constitutional law and the judicial branch.

Question 5

Sequoyah Definition

Answer 5

a Cherokee who developed a writing system for the Cherokee language

Question 6

Worcester v. Georgia Definition

Answer 6

an 1832 Supreme Court ruling that proclaimed state laws do not apply within Native American territory

Question 7

What was the relationship settlers and Native Americans established on the Frontier when there was conflict?

Answer 7

Settlers, often greater in number and better armed, attacked Native Americans in efforts to force Native Americans to give up land or in response to Native American raids. Likewise, Native American groups attacked settlers who had taken their land or threatened their way of life.

Question 8

What were the conflicting views that Settlers and Native Americans had for each other?

Answer 8

On both sides, biases, stereotypes, and prejudices led to mistrust and hostility. White settlers saw Native Americans as dangerous and untrustworthy. Native Americans feared that settlers’ hunger for land could never be satisfied and that settlers meant to kill them off. These fears fueled many bloody conflicts.

Question 9

How did the Proclamation Line of 1763 influence Native American trust in the British? Which wars did they go on to fight, allied with them?

Answer 9

Before the Revolution, the British had made peace with Native American groups by drawing the Proclamation Line of 1763 through the Appalachian Mountains, roughly along the frontier, or edge, of white settlement. The British forbade whites to settle west of this line. The line gave Native Americans west of the line and east of the Mississippi River some protection. Seeing the British as protectors, many Native Americans sided with them during the Revolutionary War. Native American fears were confirmed as more and more white settlers began moving into lands west of the Proclamation Line. After the war, Native Americans attacked white settlements in the new Northwest Territory. The Battle of Tippecanoe was a major defeat for Native American leader Tecumseh and his forces during this time of unrest. When conflict between Britain and the United States broke out again in the War of 1812, many, but not all, Native American groups again sided with the British. A group of Creek Indians in present-day Georgia and Alabama formed an alliance with both Tecumseh and the British. Meanwhile, other Creeks and the neighboring Choctaw people sided with the United States. As you have learned, forces led by Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks allied with the British.

Question 10

Where did the Native American tribes live?

Answer 10

The Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee nations lived in parts of what are now Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Shawnee, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Fox nations lived in parts of present-day Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Many hoped to live in peace with their white neighbors on the frontier.

Question 11

What did the Cherokee, Choctaw, and other Native American Nations do in hope of peace with white settlers? What did this end up in?

Answer 11

Some tribes, like the Cherokee nation, had adopted European customs hoping to preserve their land. They created a legal system and government that blended European and Cherokee traditions. Others, like the Choctaw, believed they would be allowed to keep their land because they had sided with the United States during the War of 1812. In 1821, Sequoyah (suh KWOH yuh), a Cherokee man, created a writing system for his people. Using Sequoyah’s letters, Cherokee children learned to read and write. The Cherokees also published a newspaper. The efforts of Native Americans to adopt European ways failed to end the conflict with white settlers. The Native Americans’ fertile land remained attractive to white settlers, and white settlers feared more violent conflict with Native Americans.

Question 12

Why did government leaders see Native American Nations to the east of the Mississippi as a threat? What did they do to try to convince them to move? What did they hope to receive?

Answer 12

In the eyes of government leaders, Native Americans east of the Mississippi River stood in the way of westward expansion of the United States. At first, they aimed to convince Native Americans to rely less on hunting. They wanted them to start farming cash crops such as tobacco and cotton in addition to food crops. Government leaders thought that Native Americans would then sell any land that they weren’t farming to white settlers. While many Native Americans in the South did adopt cash-crop farming, they were not willing to sell their land. Meanwhile, prejudices on both sides stood in the way of white settlers and Native Americans living side by side.

Question 13

Since 1825, how has the pressure on the Native Americans grew?

Answer 13

In 1825, President James Monroe had suggested a plan to move all Native Americans living east of the Mississippi to land west of the river. At this time, nothing came of the plan. Yet, year by year, the pressure on the Native Americans living along the frontier grew. Those in the North occupied land good for growing corn and wheat and raising livestock. Native Americans in the South occupied land that was good for growing cotton. Around them, more and more white settlers arrived, many with enslaved African Americans, seeking land to grow cotton. Many white southerners were demanding that Native Americans be removed by force. In 1825 and 1827, the state of Georgia passed laws forcing the Creeks to give up most of their land. Georgia then claimed the right to make laws for the Cherokee nation in 1828.

Question 14

What was the result of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1831)? How did Chief Justice John Marshall come to these decisions?

Answer 14

Georgia’s actions were challenged in two suits that reached the Supreme Court. The decision in the first suit went against the Cherokees. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), the Court refused to stop Georgia from enforcing its law. But in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Court ruled that Georgia had no right to enforce its laws within Cherokee territory. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Court’s majority opinion in Worcester v. Georgia. He quoted treaties that the United States had signed, guaranteeing certain territory to Native Americans. Under the Constitution, treaties are the supreme law of the land. Therefore, Marshall said, Georgia had no say over Cherokee territory, and Georgia’s action was unconstitutional.

Question 15

How did Andrew Jackson react when he heard of the ruling made in Worcester v. Georgia?

Answer 15

President Jackson’s response to the ruling was stern. He wanted to remove Native Americans from their land, and was furious when he heard of the ruling in Worcester v. Georgia. “John Marshall has made his decision,” he is reported to have said. “Now let him enforce it!” In the Nullification Crisis, Jackson defended federal power. In the Cherokee case, however, he backed states’ rights. He said that the federal government should not stop Georgia from controlling Cherokee lands, and he refused to enforce the Supreme Court’s decision. This was a fateful step for the removal of Cherokees from their land.

Question 16

Remember: At this gathering in 1833, the Potawatomi people signed a treaty with the United States agreeing to give up their lands and move west.

Answer 16

At this gathering in 1833, the Potawatomi people signed a treaty with the United States agreeing to give up their lands and move west.

Question 17

What did the Indian Removal Act state and what was its influence?

Answer 17

In 1830, more than 100,000 Native Americans still lived east of the Mississippi River. At Jackson’s urging, the government set aside lands beyond the Mississippi River through the Indian Removal Act, which Congress passed in 1830. The law let the government give land west of the Mississippi to Native Americans in exchange for their lands to the east. At the time of Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson was already applying this law. Jackson believed that moving Native Americans west would bring a permanent resolution to this conflict. In the North, the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, and Fox peoples all signed treaties to move west to Indian Territories in what are now Kansas and Oklahoma. While most members of these groups moved west, a few stayed behind in what are now Michigan and Wisconsin. The Indian Removal Act resulted in the forced migration of thousands of Native Americans from lands east of the Mississippi River. Among the groups affected included the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Seminole. This human geographic factor from the 1800s has had an effect on contemporary events. As a result of Jackson’s policy, few Native Americans today live east of the Mississippi. Most live west of the Mississippi. As a result, that is where most events involving Native Americans take place in the contemporary United States.

Question 18

Why did most Native American Leaders in the South give up their lands? Why did they agree to move? What was this land called?

Answer 18

Faced with threats of military action, most Native American leaders in the South saw no choice but to sign new treaties giving up their lands. They agreed to move to what was called the Indian Territory. Today, most of that area is in the state of Oklahoma.

Question 19

What were the Choctaw’s response to the American threat?

Answer 19

The Choctaw signed the first treaty in 1830. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek stated that
the United States under a grant … shall cause to be conveyed to the Choctaw Nation a tract of country west of the Mississippi river …

—Article II, Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, 1830

The treaty allowed for Choctaw to remain in their homeland if they gave up their tribal organization and agreed to be governed as citizens of Mississippi. A few remained in Mississippi, but most agreed to leave to preserve their culture. Closely guarded by American soldiers, the Choctaw moved west between 1831 and 1833. The federal government, however, did not provide enough tents, food, blankets, shoes, winter clothes, or other supplies. Heavy rain and snow caused enormous suffering. An army lieutenant wrote that one group “walked for 24 hours barefoot through the snow and ice” before reaching shelter.

Question 20

How did the Chickasaw respond to the American threat? How ere they deceived?

Answer 20

The Chickasaw people held out for payment for their lands east of the Mississippi before they would agree to move. Finally, in 1837, the United States government agreed to pay them $3 million for these lands. Expecting to receive this money, the Chickasaw spent $500,000 to purchase land from the Choctaw in what is now Oklahoma. In fact, the U.S. government failed to pay the Chickasaw the agreed amount for 30 years. The Chickasaw set out for their new land. Along the way, as a result of hardships many became ill and died.

Question 21

How did the Cherokee respond to the American threat? How were they treated on their march westward?

Answer 21

The Cherokee also tried to hold out. They were still on their land in 1836 when Jackson left office. A small group of Cherokee agreed to become citizens of North Carolina. As a result, they were allowed to stay. Other Cherokee hid in remote mountain camps. Finally, in 1838, President Martin Van Buren forced the Cherokee who had not made agreements with North Carolina and those who were not in hiding to move. The United States Army forced more than 15,000 Cherokee to march westward. In the winter of 1838–39, they went to Indian Territory, patrolled by 7,000 soldiers. The Cherokee trekked hundreds of miles over a period of several months. Thousands perished during the march, mostly children and the elderly.

Question 22

Why did the Cherokee’s long, sorrowful journey west become known as the Trail of Tears?

Answer 22

The Cherokee’s long, sorrowful journey west became known as the Trail of Tears. A soldier’s description helps explain why:

On the morning of November 17th, we encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing temperatures, and from that day until we reached the end of the fateful journey on March the 27th, 1839, the sufferings of the Cherokee were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death.

—Memoirs of Private John G. Burnett, December 1890

Question 23

How did the Seminole Indians react to the American threat?

Answer 23

In Florida, the Seminole Indians resisted the U.S. government. Led by Chief Osceola (ah see OH luh), they began fighting the United States Army in 1817. This conflict, known as the first Seminole War, ended in 1818. The second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842. It was the costliest war waged by the government to gain Indian lands. In the end, after a third war ending in 1858, the Seminoles were defeated. The government forced the Seminole leaders and most of their people to leave Florida. In their new homes in the Indian Territory, Native Americans struggled to rebuild their lives under very difficult conditions. Meanwhile, white settlers moved quickly into lands given up by Native Americans. While Jackson’s Indian removal cleared the area east of the Mississippi River for white settlement, settlers already had their eyes on lands west of the Mississippi.