9
Y EARS OF GROWTH
Landwas becomingscarcer and m o reexpensive i n
th e Ameri can colome'sbyth e timetheyquarreled
with Britain .After 1783 more andmo re p eo ple set
offfurth enewterritoriesbetweentheAppalachi an
Mountain s an d the MississippiRiverth atthe T re aty
ofParis hadg ran tedtoth eUnitedStates. Arme d
only withaxes,g un s,andplenty of self-con fid en ce,
theyj ourneyedacros sthemountainstomakenew
farms andsett lementso uto f the wild ern ess.
Many of the newsettl ers mo vedto lands n or thofthe
Ohio River.Am erindian swhoalready livedonthese
land s5J.Wthe settlers as thieveswhohad com e to
stea ltheir hu nting gro u nds. Theymad efierceattacks36
o n thenewcomers' farms andsettle me nts. The
sc rrlc rsstruck back.some timesdestroyingentire
Amerindianv illages.
The newgovernmento f theUnitedStatestriedat
firsttokeep the peace b ymakingtreati eswithrhc
A merindian s.It also rried rom akesu reth at settl ers
treat edth em fairl y.A lawof1 787 calledth e
N o rt h west Ord inancesaidthatth e Amerindians'
" la ndsandpropertysha ll never be takenfromthcm
witho uttheirconsen t;andin theirproperty,rig h ts
an d libert ytheyn evershall bein vad ed or disturbed."
Uut theAmericangovernmentsoon ch ang ed its ide as
aboutnottakingaw ay theAm erindians' "lan d s and
property."By 1817 Presidentj amesMonroewas
writingrhartheirhunting w ay o fJife"requiresa
g reaterex ten to f terriroryth anis com p atible withthe
prog ressofcivilizedlife andmust yield to it.Ifthe
Indiantrib esdono t aband o nthat stateandbecom e
ci vilized theywill decline andbecomee xtinc t. "
Monro e believedthatth erewaso nlyo newayforth e
Amerindian stosu rvi ve.T heywouldh avetobe
movedfromlandsthatw h itesettlerswante dtoo ther
lands, furtherwest.There,undisturbedby set tlers,
theywouldbefreeeithertoconti nue theiro ldways
o fJifeo rtoadoptthoseofwhite Ameri cans.
InliD OtheUnitedStatesg o vernmentpassedalaw
calledth e Ind ia n Removal Acttoputthis policyinto
p ract ice. T hela w said th atal1l ndianslivingcast of
th e MississippiRiverwould be mo vedv-esttoa place
called IndianT errito ry. T h is was an area beyond the
Mississip pith atw asthoughtto be u ns uitab lefo r
w hitefarmers.Somepeopleclaim edthatthe In dian
Rem o val Act wasawayo f s aving rhcAmerin dians.
Hutmostsawit simply asa wayto ger rid of rhem
andseize their land.
The C he rokeeswerean Am erin dian peo plewho
suffer ed greatlyfromth e IndianRem o valpolicy.
Theirlands la y betweenthestateofGeorgiaandthe
MississippiRiver.B y th e early ninet eenthcent ury
th e C hero keeshad change dth em selvesfroma stone
agetribemro a civilizedcomm unity.