This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, documents, maps, images, and activities to help students and teachers understand an important and difficult chapter in the history both of Native Nations and the United States. Scroll to begin an exploration of the vast scope and effects of American Indian removal.
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This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members, documents, maps, images, and activities to help students and teachers understand an important and difficult chapter in the history both of Native Nations and the United States. Scroll to begin an exploration of the vast scope and effects of American Indian removal.
Cherokee, Eastern Band of Cherokee, Kickapoo, Muscogee, Potawatomi, Seminole, Shawnee
U.S. History, Civics, Geography
Removal, Indian Removal, American Indian Removal, Osceola, Andrew Jackson, Treaties, treaty, Trail of Tears, John Ross, Menominee, Catahecassa, Black Hoof
East, Midwest, Southeast
Building on the ten themes of the National Council for the Social Studies' national curriculum standards, NMAI's Essential Understandings reveal key concepts about the rich and diverse cultures, histories, and contemporary lives of Native peoples. Woven throughout the lesson, the following Essential Understandings provide a foundation for students to thoughtfully approach the complex story of American Indian removal.
This resource addresses the following Essential Understandings: Essential Understanding 1: American Indian CulturesInteractions with Europeans and Americans brought accelerated and often devastating changes to American Indian cultures.
Essential Understanding 2: Time, Continuity, and ChangeAmerican Indian history is not singular or timeless. American Indian cultures have always adapted and changed in response to environmental, economic, social, and other factors. American Indian cultures and people are fully engaged in the modern world.
Hearing and understanding American Indian history from Indian perspectives provides an important point of view to the discussions of history and cultures in the Americas. Indian perspectives expand the social, political, and economic dialogue.
Essential Understanding 3: People, Places, and EnvironmentsThroughout their histories, Native groups have relocated and successfully adapted to new places and environments.
Essential Understanding 5: Individuals, Groups, and InstitutionsExternal educational, governmental, and religious institutions have exerted major influences on American Indian individuals, groups, and institutions. Native people have fought to counter these pressures and have adapted to them when necessary. Many Native institutions today are mixtures of Native and Western constructs, reflecting external influence and Native adaptation.
Essential Understanding 6: Power, Authority, and GovernanceA variety of political, economic, legal, military, and social policies were used by Europeans and Americans to remove and relocate American Indians and to destroy their cultures. U.S. policies regarding American Indians were the result of major national debate. Many of these policies had a devastating effect on established American Indian governing principles and systems. Other policies sought to strengthen and restore tribal self-government.
A variety of historical policy periods have had a major impact on American Indian peoples' abilities to self-govern.
Overarching Standards/Summative Performance Task
Anchor Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Supporting Question One: What Was the Muscogee Nation's Experience with Removal?
Anchor Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1.B
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.A Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.A Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences the claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.
STAGE OF INQUIRYSupporting Question Two: How did the Cherokee Nation Resist Removal?
Anchor Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.1
Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
STAGE OF INQUIRYSupporting Question Three: How Did Six Different Nations Try to Avoid Removal?
Anchor Standard
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1.B
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
CCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.9-10.1.B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form and in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level and concerns.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.1.B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant data and evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both claim(s) and counterclaims in a discipline-appropriate form that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.
College, Career & Civic Life–C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards STAGE OF INQUIRY Overarching Standards/Summative Performance TaskDetermine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.
Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
Staging the Question: Agency and ActionDistinguish the powers and responsibilities of local, state, tribal, national, and international civic and political institutions.
Supporting Question 1: How Did People Take Action During the Fish Wars? D2.Civ.14.9-12Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
D2.Civ.12.9-12Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
Supporting Question 2: What Happened After the Fish Wars Went to Court? D2.Civ.12.9-12Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
Supporting Question 3: Were the Fish Wars Resolved?Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
D2.His.14.9-12 Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past. Mapping Informed Action Foods TBDDetermine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and supporting questions, taking into consideration multiple points of view represented in the sources, the types of sources available, and the potential uses of the sources.
D2.His.14.9-12 Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
Instructions
Find out what people say about removal: hear from students, read a historian's viewpoint, and interpret quotes from two nineteenth-century leaders. Explore a map to see how many Native Nations were impacted.
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Introduction Video
Watch this video and think about what it means to remove a people.
Historian's Perspective
Read what a Smithsonian historian has to say about American Indian removal.
Removal Map
Take a close look and consider how many Native Nations were forced to leave their homes. Think about the land they lost.
Opposing Perspectives
Read what two opposing leaders had to say about American Indian removal almost two hundred years ago.
Portrait of Osceola - short version" /> 
Portrait of Osceola - long version" /> 
Portrait of Osceola - very long version" />
George Catlin, Os-ce-o-lá, 1838. Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1985.66.301. Thomas Sully, Andrew Jackson, 1845. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1942.8.34.
Indian Removal Act of 1830.
President Andrew Jackson to Congress, On Indian Removal, December 6, 1830. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Record Group 46.
Intrusions of land-hungry settlers, treaties with the U.S., and the Indian Removal Act (1830) resulted in the forced removal and migration of many eastern Indian nations to lands west of the Mississippi.
Native Nations Removed West, 1817–58. Map by Gene Thorp/Cartographic Concepts, Inc. © Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian.
Dr. Mark Hirsh National Museum of the
American Indian
President Thomas Jefferson was one of the first advocates for Indian removal. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 gave the United States the opportunity to explore and buy vast lands west of the Mississippi River from American Indian Nations that owned them. President Jefferson then hoped to persuade the eastern Indian Nations to sign treaties and exchange their lands for territory west of the Mississippi.
Land-hungry Americans saw economic opportunity in American Indian lands, and the pressure to remove Indians grew. Americans tried to justify their actions by saying that Indians were uncivilized people who made little use of their vast tribal lands. They believed that the United States somehow had a "manifest destiny" to occupy the entire continent from coast to coast. Most American Indian Nations flatly rejected the idea of removal, and they tried every strategy they could imagine to avoid it.
Indians were not alone in opposing removal. The country was deeply divided about the idea. Thousands of citizens signed petitions against it. Newspaper articles depicted removal as a threat to the American value of justice. Some lawmakers denounced removal as an immoral violation of the government's previous treaty promises to Indian Nations. Even Chief Justice John Marshall wrote an opinion in an 1832 legal case, Worcester v. Georgia, finding that the state of Georgia had violated the Cherokee Nation's rights to self-government.
Eventually, the pro-removal forces won, and in 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act by a slim margin. The legislation granted the president authority to negotiate Indian removal treaties, and American Indian removal was now an official U.S. policy.
American Indians continued the fight to keep their lands. But from about 1830 to 1850, the U.S. government used treaties, fraud, intimidation, and violence to remove about 100,000 American Indians west of the Mississippi. Thousands of Native men, women, and children died on the difficult trek to a strange new land that became known as Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma).
The tragedy and darkness of American Indian removal should not hide the remarkable story that followed. After resettling in Indian Territory, Native Peoples rebuilt their lives and cultures, and continued their struggle for self-government under their own laws on their new lands in the West.
But that is another story. For now, we hope this lesson shines a spotlight on the ways Native Peoples faced the crisis of removal. Their thoughts and actions reveal much about human strength in the face of adversity—a universal issue that is as relevant today as it was in the 1800s.
Instructions
Follow the removal story of one Native Nation. Learn how Muscogee people were affected before, during, and after removal.
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Consider what it means to resist and persist. Examine the actions of the Cherokee to resist removal in order to protect their people, culture, and nation.
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Learn about the strategies American Indian leaders used in their attempts to keep their homelands. Scroll through the interactive and examine the sources that tell these stories.
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What do you think? What does it mean to remove a people? Create an evidence kit by selecting up to five sources that support your argument.
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Explore two case studies about contemporary people and the challenges they face to remain in their homelands.
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The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) expresses gratitude to the people of the American Indian nations whose knowledge and experiences are represented on these pages.
The NMAI also thanks the following staff and other contributors to American Indian Removal: What Does it Mean to Remove a People?
Kevin Gover (Pawnee). Director, NMAI
Project Manager, Lead Writer and Developer
Edwin Schupman (Muscogee), NMAI
Additional Writers/Lesson Developers
Colleen Call Smith, NMAI
Andy Paparella, Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA
Tammy Elser (Ed.D.), Insight Educational Services, Inc.
Renee Gokey (Shawnee), NMAI
Leslie O'Flahavan, E-Write
Mark Hirsch (Ph.D), NMAI
Erin Beasley, NMAI
Maia Truesdale-Scott, NMAI
Suzanne Davis, NMAI
Lindy Trolan, NMAI
Clare Cuddy, NMAI
Daniel Fischer, NMAI
Michelle Nelin-Maruani, NMAI Teacher-in-Residence (Rapid City, SD)
Christopher Robinson, NMAI Teacher-in-Residence (Eastern Kentucky University)
Vilma Ortiz-Sanchez, NMAI
Renee Gokey (Shawnee), NMAI
Johanna Gorelick, NMAI
Alexandra Harris, NMAI
Kathy Swan (Ph.D.), University of Kentucky
Justin Giles, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Interviews and voice talent
7th Grade Students of Kenmore Middle School, Arlington, VA
Doug McMains, NMAI
Gussie Lehman, NMAI
Mark Christal, NMAI
Cheryl Wilson, NMAI
Laurie Swindull, NMAI
Deanna Wood, NMAI
David Chang, Informated Software Solutions
Informated Software Solutions
Interface Media Group
Gene Thorp, Cartographic Concepts
Rights and Permissions
Wendy Hurlock-Baker, NMAI
Erin Beasley, NMAI
Renee Gokey (Shawnee), NMAI
Robert Alexander (Comanche), NMAI
Suzanne Davis, NMAI
Colleen Call Smith, NMAI
Pam Woodis (Apache), NMAI
Special thanks to:
The Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal is organized in partnership with the Cherokee Nation. The case study and its related programming are generously supported by the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses.
Mvto (thank you) to George Tiger, Principal Chief (former), Justin Giles, and other members of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma for their support and participation in this project.
We deeply appreciate the numerous educators who participated in formative testing of this product in Oklahoma, Montana, Kentucky, New York, Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.
