Why Did White Settlers Want Cherokee Land?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Eager

for land to raise cotton

, the settlers pressured the federal government to acquire Indian territory. … They wanted to appease the government in the hopes of retaining some of their land, and they wanted to protect themselves from white harassment.

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Why did white settlers take Native American land?

The main goals of Indian reservations were

to bring Native Americans under U.S. government control

, minimize conflict between Indians and settlers and encourage Native Americans to take on the ways of the white man.

What did white settlers believe about land ownership?

Europeans firmly believed that

ownership of private property led to material wealth

and such wealth was an essential component of what they believed to be civilization.

Why do you think white settlers wanted the land east of the Mississippi River?

White settlers saw Native Americans as dangerous and untrustworthy. Native Americans feared that settlers' hunger for land could never be satisfied and that settlers meant to kill them off. … The line gave Native Americans west of the line and east of the Mississippi

River some protection

.

Why did many settlers come to the Black Hills?

Why did many settlers come to the Black Hills?

Gold was discovered in the region.

… settler who farmed land given to them by the federal government and would have to improve their land. What was the purpose of the Homestead Act?

How did settlers claim land?

In eighteen sixty-two, Congress had passed

the Homestead Act

. This law gave every citizen, and every foreigner who asked for citizenship, the right to claim government land. The law said each man could have sixty-five hectares. If he built a home on the land, and farmed it for five years, it would be his.

How did Native groups and white colonists view land differently?

To Europeans, land was something that could be bought, sold, and owned by an individual.

Native people did not see land this way

. Because of this, Native groups would exchange land, but in their minds had only given permission to use the lands.

Why was land important to natives?

Like life,

land is sacred to Native American people

. … For all Native American people, the land where they reside today is the only land they have remaining to hand down to future generations of their tribe. Land is also a means to preserve their cultural identity separate and apart from mainstream society.

How did the Cherokee react to the Indian Removal Act?

From 1817 to 1827, the Cherokees effectively resisted ceding their full territory by creating a new form of tribal government based on the United States government. In response,

the Cherokees took legal action to try to save their lands

. … In their second Supreme Court case, Worcester v.

How many Cherokee died in the Trail of Tears?

It is estimated that of the approximately 16,000 Cherokee who were removed between 1836 and 1839,

about 4,000

perished. At the time of first contacts with Europeans, Cherokee Territory extended from the Ohio River south into east Tennessee.

Why did white settlers flock to South Dakota in 1874?

Despite being within Native American territory, and therefore off-limits, white Americans were increasingly

interested in the gold-mining possibilities of the Black Hills

. Prospectors found gold in 1874 near present-day Custer, South Dakota, but the deposit turned out to be small.

Why did miners rush to the Black Hills and then start a war?


Lured by the promise of gold

, miners across the country prepare for a journey to the Black Hills. An economic crisis in 1873 had left many U.S. citizens looking to the western frontier for quick wealth and a fresh start. By the fall, over 15,000 hopeful miners will have settled in the Dakota Territory.

Why did the Trail of Tears happen?

In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the “Trail of Tears,”

because of its devastating effects

.

Why the Black Hills are sacred?

The Black Hills were recognized as the Black Hills

because of the darkness from the distance

. The term also referred to a container of meat; in those days people used a box made out of dried buffalo hide to carry spiritual tools, like the sacred pipe, or the various things that were used in prayers or to carry food.

Why did the US government want to give land to settlers?


Sale of public land was viewed as a means to generate revenue for the Government

rather than as a way to encourage settlement. Initially, an individual was required to purchase a full section of land at the cost of $1 per acre for 640 acres.

Why was Cherokee land valuable?

The Cherokee land that was lost proved to be extremely valuable. Upon these lands were the

alignments for the future rights-of-way for rail and road communications

between the eastern Piedmont slopes of the Appalachian Mountains, the Ohio River in Kentucky and the Tennessee River Valley at Chattanooga.

How did settlers get to the West?

In the 1840s, the way westward for thousands of settlers was

the Oregon Trail

, which began in Independence, Missouri. The Oregon Trail stretched for 2,000 miles. … While the Oregon Trail became known for westward travel in the mid-1800s, it was actually discovered decades earlier by men traveling eastward.

How were the Cherokee treated by the army?

The United States Army rounded up the Cherokee who were living in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. Mounted soldiers, using their bayonets as prods,

herded the Cherokee like cattle

. … Some of the soldiers who were ordered to carry out the forced removal refused to do so.

What are the 5 factors that contributed to the white settlement of the West?

  • Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada)
  • The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy”
  • Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad.
  • The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.

Why is Native American land sacred?

The sacred places are believed to

“have their own ‘spiritual properties and significance

‘”. Ultimately, Indigenous peoples who practice their religion at a particular site, they hold a special and sacred attachment to that land sacred land.

What did the Cherokees want to achieve?

In the conflict between the Cherokees and the United States, what did the Cherokees want to achieve? … The

government wanted to use the land from the Cherokees for southern expansion

. The U.S. government also found gold in the Cherokees' land and the government wanted to be able to get to it.

What challenges did the Cherokee face upon their arrival in Indian Territory?

It's estimated that 16,000 Cherokees eventually were forced to undertake the six to seven month journey to “Indian Territory” in the land beyond Arkansas. Between

the stockades, starvation and sickness

, and the harsh winter conditions, some 4,000 Cherokees perished, never reaching their new land.

What helped the Cherokee fight removal?


The Supreme Court of the United States

helped the Cherokee to fight removal in 1838.

How many Cherokee are left?

Today, the Cherokee Nation is the largest tribe in the United States with

more than 380,000 tribal citizens

worldwide. More than 141,000 Cherokee Nation citizens reside within the tribe's reservation boundaries in northeastern Oklahoma.

What does a Cherokee rose symbolize?

The Cherokee Rose was selected as state flower because it has come to represent

the removal of the Cherokee from the state in 1838 on

what is now known as the “Trail of Tears.” The white petals represent the clans of the Cherokee and the yellow center represents the gold for which the land was stolen.

What are the 3 Cherokee tribes?

Today, three Cherokee tribes are federally recognized: the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (UKB) in Oklahoma,

the Cherokee Nation (CN) in

Oklahoma, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) in North Carolina.

What two major bodies of water did the Cherokees cross on the Trail of Tears?

Trail of Tears, in U.S. history, the forced relocation during the 1830s of Eastern Woodlands Indians of the Southeast region of the United States (including Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole, among other nations) to Indian Territory west of

the Mississippi River

.

What happened in the Black Hills in 1874 that led to increased desire to settle on American Indian lands?

In the summer of 1874, Lt. Colonel George Custer led a large expedition including about 1,000 troops with scientists and reporters into the Black Hills, officially to explore and set

up a military post to control the non-signed Indians

. … This led to a rush to the Black Hills by thousands of miners.

Which of the following best describes the reasons why the Dawes Act was passed?

Which of the following best describes the reasons why the Dawes Act was passed?

The Dawes Act was passed to make American Indians property owners and to open up more land for white settlers

. The Dawes Act was passed to open up more land for American Indians and to provide protection from white settlers.

Which president did the Trail of Tears?


President Andrew Jackson

pursued a policy of removing the Cherokees and other Southeastern tribes from their homelands to the unsettled West.

How long did the Trail of Tears last?

Forever lasted

less than 20 years

. Although the treaty mandated the removal of “all white people who have intruded, or may hereafter intrude, on the lands of the Cherokees,” the United States instead forcibly removed more than 15,000 Cherokees in 1838 and 1839.

What happened in Black Hills in 1874?

The Black Hills Expedition (1874) was

led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer through modern day North and South Dakota

. … The group also had with it Custer's favorite Indian scout, Bloody Knife. The expedition returned to Fort Abraham on August 30, 1874 after covering nearly 1,200 miles and lasting sixty days.

Is there still gold in Deadwood?

Although prospectors scoured the area for the smallest flecks of gold in the 1800s, there

is still plenty left to be found

! Deadwood Gold offers guided tours to some of the most profitable gold panning hot spots. The customizable tours range from a few hours to days.

Is gold still being mined in the Black Hills?

Only one major gold mine remains in operation in the northern Black Hills –

the Wharf Mine

, which operates an open-pit gold mine about four miles west of Lead. The mine, owned by Chicago-based Coeur Mining, employs about 215 people and produced more than 96,000 ounces of gold in 2017.

Did George Custer find gold?

However, the government had a change of heart and decided to break the treaty in 1874 when Custer led an excursion of miners who had been looking for gold into

the Black Hills

. Custer was tasked with relocating all Native Americans in the area to reservations by January 31, 1876.

Was Mount Rushmore built on sacred land?


Built on sacred Native American land

and sculpted by a man with ties to the Ku Klux Klan, Mount Rushmore National Memorial was fraught with controversy even before it was completed 79 years ago on October 31, 1941.

Who is the 5th face on Mount Rushmore?

In the 1950s and 1960s, local Lakota Sioux elder Benjamin Black Elk (son of medicine man Black Elk, who had been present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn) was known as the “Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore”, posing for photographs with thousands of tourists daily in his native attire.

Did the Indians get the Black Hills back?

In 1980, the Supreme Court agreed that the

Black Hills had been unconstitutionally taken

. Rather than return the land, the court awarded the tribes a settlement of $120.5 million, equivalent to the value of the land at the time it was stolen. … Return the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation.

Timothy Chehowski
Author
Timothy Chehowski
Timothy Chehowski is a travel writer and photographer with over 10 years of experience exploring the world. He has visited over 50 countries and has a passion for discovering off-the-beaten-path destinations and hidden gems. Juan's writing and photography have been featured in various travel publications.