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Lesson 6: What Land Belonged to the Americans and What Belonged to the Native Americans?

LONG BEFORE the white man set foot on American soil; or rather the Native Americans had been living in America. When the Europeans came here, there were probably about 10 million Indians populating America north of Mexico. And they had been living in America for quite some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last ice-age, approximately 20,000 - 30,000.
It is believed that the Indians originated in Asia, few if any of them came from India.
The Natives regarded the white visitors as something of a marvel, not only for their bizarre dress and beards and winged ships but even more for their wonderful technology - steel knives and swords, cannon, mirrors, hawkbells and earrings, and so on.
However, conflicts eventually arose. The issue came to a head with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forcibly deported thousands of Indians to an area west of the Mississippi River (present day Oklahoma).
Indian Removal

On May 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the Twenty-First Congress of the United States of America. After four months of strong debate, Andrew Jackson signed the bill into a law

This period of removal first started with the Cherokee Indians in the state of Georgia. In 1802, the Georgia legislature signed a compact giving the federal government all of her claims to western lands in exchange for the government's pledge to extinguish all Indian titles to land within the state.

Similar incidents happened between the other "civilized" tribes and white men. The Seminole tribe had land disputes with the state of Florida. The Creek Indians fought many battles against the federal army so they could keep their land in the states of Alabama and Georgia. The Chickasaw and Choctaw had disputes with the state of Mississippi. To ensure peace the government forced these five tribes called the Five Civilized Tribes to move out of their lands that they had lived on for generations and to move to land given to them in parts of Oklahoma

Andrew Jackson was quoted as saying that this was a way of protecting them and allowing them time to adjust to the white culture. This land in Oklahoma was thinly settled and was thought to have little value. Within 10 years of the Indian Removal Act, more than 70,000 Indians had moved across the Mississippi. Many Indians died on this journey.

The term "Trails of Tears" was given to the period of ten years in which over 70,000 Indians had to give up their homes and move to certain areas assigned to tribes in Oklahoma.

The government promised this land to them "as long as grass shall grow and rivers run."

Unfortunately, the land that they were given only lasted till about 1906 and then they were forced to move to other reservations.

The Trails of Tears were several trails that the Five Civilized Tribes traveled on their way to their new lands.
Many Indians died because of disease.

Sometimes a person would die because of the harsh living conditions. The tribes had to walk all day long and get very little rest

In 1930 the Indians were made citizens which made it illegal to hold any tribal office.

The Five tribes gave all of their Eastern lands to the United States and agreed to migrate beyond the Mississippi by the end of the 1830's.

The land retained by the Five Civilized Tribes was known as the Indian Territory.

The 19,525,966 acres were divided among the five tribes. The Choctaws received 6,953,048 acres in the southeast part of Oklahoma; the Chickasaw received over 4,707,903 acres west of the Choctaws reservation; the Cherokees received 4,420,068 acres in the northeast; the received 3,079,095 acres southwest of the Cherokees; and the Seminoles purchased 365,852 acres which they purchased from their kin, the Creeks.

The Luce-Celler Bill signed by President Truman on July 3, 1946, gave citizenship rights to the Indian immigrants in the US. President Roosevelt also had supported the bill and wanted an end to “statutory discrimination against Indians” but he died before the bill could be enacted into law.