“Why
did you leave?” she asked.
“We
didn’t leave, well we did, but not by choice. Are homes were taken away. We
were in war. We had to surrender our land to “our” country, and leave. We had
to watch several of our family members die as we walked to the west to start
our new lives. We couldn’t fight back, we tried. We couldn’t win war, we tried.
We couldn’t defeat them they were to strong, but we tried. We, my tribe and I,
we just wanted our land, it was our home. We didn’t want control, we just wanted our home.” He said.
“But,
I don’t understand, why did they do this to you and your family?” she asked.
“In the early 19th century, the
United States was expanding rapidly, growing into the lower South and westward.
Settlers faced what they considered "an obstacle" the area was home
to many different Indian tribes. These Indian nations, in the eyes of the
settlers and many others, were standing in the way of progress. The settlers
were eager for land to raise cotton, so the pressured the federal government to
acquire Indian territory (Judgement Day) The years were long,
and for those who made it, it was hard. The land we had to work with wasn’t
good and everyone was out of their element.” He said.
…
“It was a long time ago that this
happened, and as much as we didn’t know it we were scared. Just imagine having
peace in your own town destroyed because certain people didn’t like you. There
was this one tribe, The Cherokee, they used legal means in their attempts to save
their rights. They tried to find protection from "land-hungry"
settlers, who continually harassed them by stealing their livestock, burning
their towns, and squatting on their land. In the early 1800's the Cherokee
adopted a written constitution declaring themselves to be a sovereign nation.
They based this on United States policy; in former treaties, Indian nations had
been declared sovereign so they would be legally capable of ceding their lands.
Now the Cherokee hoped to use this status to their advantage. The state of
Georgia though did not recognize their sovereign status, but saw them as
tenants living on state land. They took their case to the Supreme Court, which
ruled against them (Judgement Day). Just imagine…” He
stuttered.
As the little
girl sat there thinking of what was going on back in these times, what her
grandpa had gone through. Where she could live. She couldn’t even begin to
imagine, but what she did see was scarier than your worst nightmare.
As her grandfather kept talking she started to think about what it
may have been like to be told that you had to leave. Everything…behind.
“In 1814, Jackson led an expedition against the Creek
Indians climaxing in the Battle of Horse Shoe Bend, this is where Jackson's
force defeated the Creeks and destroyed their military power. He then forced
upon the Indians a treaty whereby they surrendered to the United States over
twenty-million acres of their traditional land--about one-half of
present day Alabama and one-fifth of Georgia. Over the next decade, Jackson led
the way in the Indian removal campaign, helping to negotiate nine of the eleven
major treaties to remove Indians. In 1830, just a year
after President Jackson took office, he pushed a new piece of
legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of
Congress. It gave him the power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian
tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were
to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for land to the
west. Those wishing to remain in the east would become citizens of their home
state. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but many others
further north. The removal was supposed to be voluntary and peaceful, and it
was that way, for those who agreed to Jackson's treaties. But for the
southeastern nations, who resisted, Jackson forced them to leave… (Judgement
Day) (Office of the
Historian )”
He didn’t want to but he continued on.
“Indian leaders were pressured to sign treaties that would give up
ancestral lands in exchange for much smaller parcels in the West. The removal
policy was eventually refined into the "reservation" system, with
tribes being confined to specific areas of land. The area that became Kansas
was considered prime space for these "emigrant" American Indians who
were forced to move west. Between the years 1825 and 1850, treaties were made
with more than 25 tribes to "remove" them to the region that
ultimately became Kansas (Office of the Historian ).”
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“It is now, but it wasn’t then.”
“Oh. What is the “Trial of Tears” then.”
“Trials 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 tribes were given
a right to all of Oklahoma except the Panhandle. 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. Plus, 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. Although , not all tribes moved as a unit. Indian Removal policy
often led to divisions within tribes. In 1800 the Potawatomi claimed land in
Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois. However, between 1836 and 1841, the
tribe was forced to sell these lands and to be removed beyond the Mississippi
River. A large number of those living in Indiana refused to move and eventually
fled to Canada to avoid military conflict. Some of the tribe stayed in Michigan
and Wisconsin and only a portion of the Pottawatomi’s settled on a reservation
in Kansas by 1846. In 1868 a number of the Potawatomi were removed to Indian
Territory, and became known as the Citizen Band. Other portions of the tribe
remained on a small reservation in Kansas, which still exists today, and is known
as the Prairie Band. No matter the experiences, the various tribes were
all moved into environments different than their traditional tribal lands. The people
from woodlands and Great Lakes regions had maintained lifestyles based on
hunting or fishing. The resources they found in Kansas were foreign to them (Indian
Removal Act ).
But don’t ever not be proud of who you are. You are an American Indian, and you
should be proud of all your family has come through, you are the next
generation of American Indians and you should be proud of that.”
“Thanks for letting me interview
you for my paper Grandpa.”
“No problem!”
