Grade 5
Social Studies
Unit: 08 Lesson: 01
Greedy for GOLD
Gold is valuable! When settlers began to discover gold in the United States, people really pushed and
shoved to be the first to get it. There was gold in California, Colorado, and Georgia, but many other
places, too. In Georgia, new settlers who wanted the gold continued to take American Indian land. The
American Indian tribes were pushed off their land to relocate further west. In 1830, while Jackson was
President, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The Cherokee Nation had worked hard to change
in a way that would integrate them into the culture of the United States such as learning to read and write
English, building homes, and dressing in the clothing of the time. They strongly opposed this act which
would force them off their homeland. The Cherokee Nation took the United States to court and the case
went all the way to the Supreme Court.
In a letter from Aitooweyah, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, he explained:
"We, the great mass of the people think only of the love we have to our land for...we do love the
land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold to this land go...to let it go it will be like
throwing away...[our] mother that gave...[us] birth."
And the Cherokee legislative council added:
"...Inclination to remove from this land has no abiding place in our hearts, and when we move we
shall move by the course of nature to sleep under this ground which the Great Spirit gave to our
ancestors and which now covers them in their undisturbed peace."
– Cherokee Legislative Council (New Echota July 1830)
The case became known as Worcester v. Georgia. In 1832, Chief Justice John Marshall handed
down this ruling from the Supreme Court:
“The Cherokee Nation….is a distinct community, occupying its own territory…which the citizens
of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent [agreement] of the Cherokees
themselves…”
President Jackson responded to the Supreme Court ruling this way:
"John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."
--*President Andrew Jackson in regards to Worcester v. Georgia
"My friends, circumstances render it impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a
civilized community. You have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to
the west. And the sooner you do this, the sooner you will commence your career of
improvement and prosperity.”
--President Andrew Jackson
In 1832, Jackson ignored the court ruling and he sent federal troops to force15,000 members of the
Cherokee Nation to relocate west of the Mississippi River. Eventually, the army arrived to remove them.
Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott delivered an ultimatum to the members of the Cherokee Nation remaining in
northern Georgia -- they had to go west, and they had to go now. He said:
"Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army, to cause
you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who have already
established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily, you have made no)
preparation to follow (his orders). And now, every Cherokee man, woman and child…must be in
motion to… (go) West….
Chiefs, head-men and warriors! Will you then, by resistance, compel us to resort to
arms? God forbid! Or will you, by flight, seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests,
and thus oblige us to hunt you down?… Think of this, my Cherokee brethren! I am an old
©2012, TESCCC
4/24/13
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Grade 5
Social Studies
Unit: 08 Lesson: 01
warrior, and have been present at many a scene of slaughter, but spare me, I beseech
you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees….
Do not… wait for the close approach of the troops; but make … preparations (to
leave)….You will find food for all and clothing…and.… at your ease and in comfort be
transported to your new homes, according to the terms of the treaty.
This is the address of a warrior to warriors. May his entreaties be kindly received and
may the God of both prosper the Americans and Cherokees and preserve them long in
peace and friendship with each other!”
The Cherokees were driven from their homes, forced into internment camps, and then moved to a
strange land. They walked and rode horses and wagons to the camps and finally on to Indian
Territory in Oklahoma. The Cherokees named the trail, “The Trail Where They Cried,” in their
language, nu na hi du na tlo hi lu i. History calls it “The Trail of Tears.”
Excerpt Sources:
Woodward, G. (1963). The cherokees. (pp. 202-203). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Retrieved from
http://books.google.com/books?id=r4mKohpSJ2kC&printsec=frontcover
Youngs, J. (2001). American realities: From first settlements to the civil war. (p. 171). Longman. Retrieved from
http://books.google.com/books?
id=7QrNS6RmKmkC&q=isbn:0321070941&dq=isbn:0321070941&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TjJ4UbmjKqfi2gXEzoHwAw&ved=0CDIQ6A
EwAA
PBS. (1832). Worcester v. georgia. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/two/worcestr.htm
*This is likely a spurious quote, though based on a letter Jackson wrote. See They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes,
Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions by Paul Boller, p. 53.
PBS. (n.d.). Trail of tears. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/episodes/two/trailtears.htm
(1994). E. Cashin (Ed.), A Wilderness Still The Cradle of Nature: Frontier Georgia (pp. 137-138). Savannah, GA: Beehive
Press.
Image source:
The Trail of Tears [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1567b.html
©2012, TESCCC
4/24/13
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