INDIAN REMOVAL PERIOD

To understand Oklahoma, you have to understand (you note, I didn't say LIKE, just understand) the period of Indian Removal - the forced move of the Indians from their territorial homes in the east and southeast to lands designated as Indian Territory.

The origin of the removal act, forcibly moving Native Americans to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma and Kansas) in the 19th century, can be traced back to the administration of James Monroe, 1817-1825.  Conflicts between whites and the Indians had been steadily escalating since the 17th century as greater numbers of white settlers arrived on our shores and moved south and west.  

White settlers  considered the Indians and their lands an "obstacle." This area was home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations.  Eager for land to raise cotton and other crops, the settlers pressured the federal government to acquire Indian land.

President from 1829–1837, Andrew Jackson described them as "children in need of guidance," and encouraged removal as being beneficial to the Indians, it would save them from the harrassment and plundering at the hands of whites, and give them in an area where they could govern themselves in peace.   At that time, no one visioned the US expanding beyond the Mississippi River.  

In 1814 Jackson commanded the military forces that defeated the Red Sticks, a part of the Creek Indian nation, at the battle of Horseshoe Bend in the Mississippi Territory (now central Alabama).  In their defeat, the Creeks lost 22 million acres of land in southern Georgia and central Alabama. The US acquired more land in 1818 when, Jackson's troops invaded Spanish Florida punish the Seminoles for their practice of harboring fugitive slaves.  The Seminoles were aided by fugitive slaves who had found protection among them and had been living with them for years. The presence of the fugitives enraged white planters and fueled their desire to defeat the Seminoles.

In 1823 the Supreme Court handed down a decision stating the Indians "right of occupancy" was subordinate to the United States' "right of discovery."   The Indians could occupy their lands but could not hold title to the land. In response, the Creeks, Cherokee, and Chickasaw instituted policies of restricting land sales to the government. They wanted to protect what remained of their land before it was too late.

In 1830, as they had for thousands of years, the majority of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee) were living east of the Mississippi.  Jackson abandoned the policy of treating the tribes as separate nations and pursued plans to remove all tribes living east of the Mississippi River.  At Jackson's request, Congress opened a debate on an Indian Removal Bill.  The Senate passed the measure 28–19, the House 102–97. Jackson signed the legislation May 30, 1830.  Some Americans still saw this as an excuse for a brutal and inhumane course of action, and protested loudly against removal, to no avail.

This gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties and Jackson was instrumental in negotiating 9 out of 11 treaties from 1814 to 1824 which divested the southern tribes of their lands in exchange for lands in the west.   In hopes of appeasing the government, retaining some of their lands and for protection from white harassment, the tribes agreed to the treaties.   As a result, the US gained over three-quarters of Alabama and Florida, along with parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and North Carolina.  Only small numbers actually relocated to the new lands during this period of "voluntary removal."

 Those wishing to remain in the east would become citizens of their home state. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but those further north. But the southeastern nations resisted, and Jackson forced them to leave.

By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi, and had secured treaties which led to the removal of a slightly larger number. Most members of the five southeastern nations had been relocated west, opening 25 million acres of land to white settlement and to slavery.  Those few who stayed behind eventually formed tribal groups including the Eastern Band Cherokee, based in North Carolina, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Creeks in Atmore, Alabama