Indian Removal and Native Resistance

Supplied materials

• Paper and pencil; drawing or spoken answers are welcome.
• Topic notes: Removal policy: government action seeking forced relocation of Native communities. Forced relocation: people compelled to leave their home places. Resistance: actions opposing imposed removal. Official justification: a government’s stated argument for its policy.
• Original exercise cards: A card describes a federal plan to move Native nations west. / A card describes Cherokee people forced from homelands in 1838–1839. / A card describes Native legal challenges to removal. / A card identifies Jackson’s claims defending removal. / A card identifies coercive movement rather than a voluntary trip. / A card describes Native petitions opposing displacement. / A card identifies a governmental statement presenting relocation as beneficial. / A card identifies policy displacing eastern Native communities.

Learn the idea

U.S. removal policy sought to relocate Native nations from eastern homelands. The Cherokee removal of 1838–1839 is associated with the Trail of Tears and severe suffering. Native peoples resisted through diplomacy, legal challenges and other actions. Official claims of benefit must be compared with affected communities’ perspectives.

Removal policy: government action seeking forced relocation of Native communities. Forced relocation: people compelled to leave their home places. Resistance: actions opposing imposed removal. Official justification: a government’s stated argument for its policy.

Tell a removal plan apart from forced movement, resistance and the government’s argument defending the plan. Read the notes and the word cards. You can write, draw or say your answer.

1. Read the four notes. Find the words Removal policy, Forced relocation, Resistance, Official justification.
2. Tell a removal plan apart from forced movement, resistance and the government’s argument defending the plan.
3. Read the worked answer. Then try the other cards and explain which words helped you choose.
4. Choose two different examples: one for Removal policy and one for Forced relocation. Explain how their clues differ.

Check your reasoning

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Take it further

New card: “A card identifies policy displacing eastern Native communities.” Match it with a note, then point to or say the words that helped. Check: The card says: “A card identifies policy displacing eastern Native communities.” That matches Removal policy. Removal policy is government action seeking forced relocation of Native communities.

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