A significant and catastrophic event in history was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, initiated and enacted by Andrew Jackson. Standing in the way of white settlers and their path to greater prosperity were the sizable number of Native Americans. The so-called Five Civilized Tribes, which included the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles occupied the land, especially in the South, which threatened the expansion of the land-hungry Americans. President Andrew Jackson promised to resolve this issue with the Indian Removal Act, by the volunteer exchange of Indian lands and their removal east of the Mississippi for land west of the Mississippi (Boyer et al, 255). The result of his policy was anything but humane and devastating
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The first tribe to leave was the Choctaw, realizing they did not have the means to combat the United States federal government. The Treaty of Doak’s Stand was their first treaty with the government, ceding five million acres in Mississippi for thirteen West of the Mississippi River, along with annual annuities and assistance in the move. Congress never ratified this treaty and Southern states continued to pass oppressive laws that restricted tribal government. Many Choctaws, seeing the writing on the wall, pressed for negotiations, which eventually led to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. Choctaws gave up more than ten million acres for a similar amount of land in Indian Territory, allowed three years to move, assistance with moving, money for new buildings, education, and supplies and basic needs, as well as protection on their new lands. The journey, known as the Trail of Tears, was done incrementally, in which the Indians experienced a grueling trek in which many died from starvation and disease. It got harder with the second and third parties upon hearing of the brutal treatment and death of those before them and by 1833, the majority of Choctaws were removed from their land in Mississippi (Calhoun et al, …show more content…
Mixed-bloods attended white schools, had farms, converted to Christianity and were skilled in commerce. They set up trading posts that were very successful. The more they tried to assimilate, the harder it got. By 1826, they had sold off most of their land in Kentucky and Tennessee to the U.S. government and reduced to lands in northern Mississippi and northwest Alabama. In 1832, the Chickasaws signed the Treaty of Pontotoc ceding all their land and later signed the Treaty of Doaksville to purchase land from the Choctaws in order to migrate. Again, the Indians were forced through heat, muddy swamps, unsanitary conditions, given spoiled rations, in which many died from dysentery and fever (Calhoun et al,
The first tribe to leave was the Choctaw, realizing they did not have the means to combat the United States federal government. The Treaty of Doak’s Stand was their first treaty with the government, ceding five million acres in Mississippi for thirteen West of the Mississippi River, along with annual annuities and assistance in the move. Congress never ratified this treaty and Southern states continued to pass oppressive laws that restricted tribal government. Many Choctaws, seeing the writing on the wall, pressed for negotiations, which eventually led to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. Choctaws gave up more than ten million acres for a similar amount of land in Indian Territory, allowed three years to move, assistance with moving, money for new buildings, education, and supplies and basic needs, as well as protection on their new lands. The journey, known as the Trail of Tears, was done incrementally, in which the Indians experienced a grueling trek in which many died from starvation and disease. It got harder with the second and third parties upon hearing of the brutal treatment and death of those before them and by 1833, the majority of Choctaws were removed from their land in Mississippi (Calhoun et al, …show more content…
Mixed-bloods attended white schools, had farms, converted to Christianity and were skilled in commerce. They set up trading posts that were very successful. The more they tried to assimilate, the harder it got. By 1826, they had sold off most of their land in Kentucky and Tennessee to the U.S. government and reduced to lands in northern Mississippi and northwest Alabama. In 1832, the Chickasaws signed the Treaty of Pontotoc ceding all their land and later signed the Treaty of Doaksville to purchase land from the Choctaws in order to migrate. Again, the Indians were forced through heat, muddy swamps, unsanitary conditions, given spoiled rations, in which many died from dysentery and fever (Calhoun et al,