Editing Indian removal (section)

==Indian Removal Act==
{{Main|Indian Removal Act}}
{{See also|Presidency of Andrew Jackson#Indian removal}}
[[File:Five-Civilized-Tribes-Portraits.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Representatives of the Five Civilized Tribes: ''(clockwise from upper left)'' [[Sequoyah]], [[Pushmataha]], Selecta, [[Osceola]], and a typical [[Chickasaw Nation|Chickasaw]]]]

When Andrew Jackson became president of the United States in 1829, his government took a hard line on Indian removal;<ref name="SatzApfelbeck1996" /> Jackson abandoned his predecessors' policy of treating Indian tribes as separate nations, aggressively pursuing all Indians east of the Mississippi who claimed constitutional sovereignty and independence from state laws. They were to be removed to reservations in Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi (present-day [[Oklahoma]]), where they could exist without state interference. At Jackson's request, Congress began a debate on an Indian-removal bill. After fierce disagreement, the Senate passed the bill by a 28–19 vote; the House had narrowly passed it, 102–97. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law on May 30, 1830.<ref name="KaneSharynKeeton1994" />

That year, most of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]]—the [[Chickasaw]], [[Choctaw]], [[Creek people|Creek]], [[Seminole]], and [[Cherokee Nation (19th century)|Cherokee]]—lived east of the Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act implemented federal-government policy towards its Indian populations, moving Native American tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west of the river. Although the act did not authorize the forced removal of indigenous tribes, it enabled the president to negotiate land-exchange treaties.<ref name="Magoc2015" />

===Choctaw===
On September 27, 1830, the [[Choctaw]] signed the [[Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek]] and became the first Native American tribe to be removed. The agreement was one of the largest transfers of land between the US government and Native Americans which was not the result of war. The Choctaw signed away their remaining traditional homelands, opening them up for European–American settlement in [[Mississippi Territory]]. When the tribe reached [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], a chief called its trek a "trail of tears and death".<ref name="crossroads" />

In 1831, French historian and political scientist [[Alexis de Tocqueville]] witnessed an exhausted group of Choctaw men, women and children emerging from the forest during an exceptionally cold winter near [[Memphis, Tennessee]],<ref name="Smith2007" /> on their way to the Mississippi to be loaded onto a steamboat. He wrote,
{{blockquote|In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving their country. "To be free," he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We&nbsp;... watch the expulsion&nbsp;... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples.<ref name="Pierson1938" />}}

===Cherokee===
{{Main|Cherokee removal}}

While the Indian Removal Act made the move of the tribes voluntary, it was often abused by government officials. The best-known example is the [[Treaty of New Echota]], which was signed by a small faction of twenty [[Cherokee]] tribal members (not the tribal leadership) on December 29, 1835.<ref name="French2007" /> Most of the Cherokee later blamed the faction and the treaty for the tribe's forced relocation in 1838.<ref name="Sturgis2007" /> An estimated 4,000 Cherokee died in the march, which is known as the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref name="Thornton1992" /> Missionary organizer [[Jeremiah Evarts]] urged the Cherokee Nation to take its case to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]].<ref name="III2007" />

The [[John Marshall|Marshall court]] heard the case in ''[[Cherokee Nation v. Georgia]]'' (1831), but declined to rule on its merits; the court declaring that the Native American tribes were not sovereign nations, and could not "maintain an action" in US courts.<ref name="Hoxie1984" /><ref name="Hobson2012" /> In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall in ''[[Worcester v. Georgia]]'' (1832), individual states had no authority in American Indian affairs.<ref name="Malone2010" /><ref name="Remini2013" />

The state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] defied the Supreme Court ruling,<ref name="Malone2010" /> and the desire of settlers and land speculators for Indian lands continued unabated;<ref name="Civics2012" /> some whites claimed that Indians threatened peace and security. The Georgia legislature passed a law forbidding settlers from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state; this excluded missionaries who opposed Indian removal.<ref name="Satz1974" /><ref name="BlackLybecker2008" />

===Seminole===
The [[Seminole]] refused to leave their [[Florida]] lands in 1835, leading to the [[Second Seminole War]]. Osceola was a Seminole leader of the people's fight against removal. Based in the [[Everglades]], Osceola and his band used surprise attacks to defeat the US Army in a number of battles. In 1837, Osceola was duplicitously captured by order of US General [[Thomas Jesup]] when Osceola came under a flag of truce to negotiate peace near [[Fort Peyton]].<ref name="Wickman2006" /> Osceola died in prison of illness; the war resulted in over 1,500 US deaths, and cost the government $20 million.<ref name="TuckerArnold2011" /> Some Seminole traveled deeper into the Everglades, and others moved west. The removal continued, and a number of wars broke out over land.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}In 1823, the Seminole signed the [[Treaty of Moultrie Creek]], which reduced their 34 million to 4 millions acres.

===Muskogee (Creek)===
In the aftermath of the Treaties of [[Treaty of Fort Jackson|Fort Jackson]], and the [[Treaty of Washington (1826)|Washington]], the Muscogee were confined to a small strip of land in present-day east central [[Alabama]]. The Creek national council signed the [[Treaty of Cusseta]] in 1832, ceding their remaining lands east of the Mississippi to the US and accepting relocation to the Indian Territory. Most Muscogee were removed to the territory during the [[Trail of Tears]] in 1834, although some remained behind. Although the [[Creek War of 1836]] ended government attempts to convince the Creek population to leave voluntarily, Creeks who had not participated in the war were not forced west (as others were). The Creek population was placed into camps and told that they would be relocated soon. Many Creek leaders were surprised by the quick departure but could do little to challenge it. The 16,000 Creeks were organized into five detachments who were to be sent to Fort Gibson. The Creek leaders did their best to negotiate better conditions, and succeeded in obtaining wagons and medicine. To prepare for the relocation, Creeks began to deconstruct their spiritual lives; they burned piles of [[Fatwood|lightwood]] over their ancestors' graves to honor their memories, and polished the sacred plates which would travel at the front of each group. They also prepared financially, selling what they could not bring. Many were swindled by local merchants out of valuable possessions (including land), and the military had to intervene. The detachments began moving west in September 1836, facing harsh conditions. Despite their preparations, the detachments faced bad roads, worse weather, and a lack of drinkable water. When all five detachments reached their destination, they recorded their death toll. The first detachment, with 2,318 Creeks, had 78 deaths; the second had 3,095 Creeks, with 37 deaths. The third had 2,818 Creeks, and 12 deaths; the fourth, 2,330 Creeks and 36 deaths. The fifth detachment, with 2,087 Creeks, had 25 deaths.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Haveman|first1=Christopher D.|title=Rivers of Sand : Creek Indian emigration, relocation, and ethnic cleansing in the American South|year=2016|publisher=University of Nebraska|isbn=978-0-8032-7392-4|location=Removal of the Creek Indians from the Southeast|pages=200–233}}</ref> In 1837 outside of [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana]] over 300 Creeks being forcibly removed to Western prairies drowned in the Mississippi River.<ref>Meares, Cecil. "Western Lore: When the steamboat Monmouth sank in the Mississippi, Creek Indian passengers paid the price." ''Wild West'', 11, no. 3, Oct. 1998, p. 10.</ref><ref>Bethencourt, Daniel. [https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_6b281ca6-4308-5292-a5e8-c7ee560c197f.html BR researcher explores Monmouth steamboat disaster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825183548/https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/article_6b281ca6-4308-5292-a5e8-c7ee560c197f.html |date=August 25, 2022 }}''The Advocate''. November 17, 2004</ref>

{{Blockquote|Friends and Brothers – By permission of the Great Spirit above, and the voice of the people, I have been made President of the United States, and now speak to you as your Father and friend, and request you to listen. Your warriors have known me long. You know I love my white and red children, and always speak with a straight, and not with a forked tongue; that I have always told you the truth ... Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is destroyed, and many of your people will not work and till the earth. Beyond the great River Mississippi, where a part of your nation has gone, your Father has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live upon it you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever. For the improvements in the country where you now live, and for all the stock which you cannot take with you, your Father will pay you a fair price&nbsp;...|President Andrew Jackson addressing the Creek Nation, 1829<ref name="KaneSharynKeeton1994" />}}

===Chickasaw===
Unlike other tribes, who exchanged lands, the Chickasaw were to receive financial compensation of $3&nbsp;million from the United States for their lands east of the Mississippi River.<ref name="BurtFerguson1973" /><ref name="Clark1996" /> They reached an agreement to purchase of land from the previously-removed Choctaw in 1836 after a bitter five-year debate, paying the Chocktaw $530,000 for the westernmost Choctaw land.<ref name="Pate2009" /><ref name="Gibson2012" /> Most of the Chickasaw moved in 1837 and 1838.<ref name="Clark2012" /> The $3&nbsp;million owed to the Chickasaw by the US went unpaid for nearly 30 years.<ref name="Minahan2013" />

===Aftermath===
The Five Civilized Tribes were resettled in the new Indian Territory.<ref name="Gibson1984" /> The Cherokee occupied the northeast corner of the territory and a {{convert|70|mi|km|adj=mid|-wide}} strip of land in Kansas on its border with the territory.<ref name="Williams2016" /> Some indigenous nations resisted the forced migration more strongly.<ref name="Oakley2005" /><ref name="Anderson2014161" /> The few who stayed behind eventually formed tribal groups,<ref name="Adams2016" /> including the Eastern Band of Cherokee (based in North Carolina),<ref name="Finger1984" /><ref name="Christie2009" /><ref name="SarmientoHitchner2017" /> the [[Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians]],<ref name="WellsTubby2010" /><ref name="LittlefieldParins2011" /> the Seminole Tribe of Florida,<ref name="Weisman1989" /><ref name="HeidlerHeidler2003" /><ref name="Sturtevant2008" /> and the Creeks in Alabama<ref name="Barnett2012" /> (including the [[Poarch Band of Creek Indians|Poarch Band]]).<ref name="Sturtevant2008123" /><ref name="Parins20118" /><ref name="Hébert2017" />