The Indian Removal Act of 1830 called for the relocation of all native tribes in the area east of the Mississippi River to a newly constituted territory in the west. Once passed, this legislation ignited a firestorm of debate among native communties and ushered in a fresh wave of land cessions.
The Truth Behind Land Cessions
In order to gain the title to this land, agents of the American government negotiated treaties with Indian leaders. As it would have been impossible to obtain the consent of every civil chief within a particular nation, the American government sought out "friendly" leaders--those who could be bribed or otherwise threatened into signing these documents. While these leaders did not speak for thier nation as a whole, the treaties they signed ceded vast tracts of land to the United States. This was a source of great controversy among those Indian leaders who had not been consulted but were nonetheless dispossesed. Such was the case with the Seminole Nation, which took up arms against the United States after a series of treaties were forced upon them.
The Seminole Nation
The Seminole migrated into Florida in the early 1700s and rapidly established itself in the region. In 1817, the United States invaded Florida in an effort to open up new lands for future settlement. To justify its actions, the American government claimed that the Seminole were harboring runaway slaves and arming them for attacks against the state of Georgia. This was a perversion of the facts. While it was true that the Seminole accepted runaway slaves into thier community, they were not arming them for clandestine raids against the agrarian citizenry of Georgia. In March of 1818, General Andrew Jackson led a force of army regulars, Georgia militia, and Creek warriors into Seminole territory on a scorched earth campaign that earned him the nom de guerre, Sharp Knife. Many of the major towns and villages of the Seminole Nation were burned to the ground. Diplomacy prevailed and a war with Spain was averted. Florida was ceded to the United States in 1819 and became a territory in 1821. Seeking to open up the region, the United States began to pressure the Seminole into giving up their land.
Treaties
In 1823, a group of Seminole chiefs signed the Treaty of Tampa--the first land cession in the territory. In 1832, another delegation of chiefs was pressured into signing the Treaty of Payne's Landing, which called for the relocation of the entire nation by 1835, In exchange for vacating Florida by 1835, the Seminole were promised reservation lands in Indian Territory, an anual stipend, and enough supplies to make the journey. The lands assigned to the Seminole were ceded by the Creek Nation in 1833. Many Seminole leaders refused to relocate and steadfastly rejected the terms of the treaty. Seeing no movement amoung the various Seminole communties, the territorial administration sought help from the federal government. In December of 1835, the American agent in Florida called a special council at Ft. King. His objevtive was to force a second treaty upon the Seminole. His action precipitated a second war.
Sources:
Mark M. Boatner III, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 1994).
Mark C Carnes, Ed. U.S. History. (New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1998).
Peter Matthiessen, ed. George Catlin: North American Indians. (New York: Penguin Group, 1989).
Marilyn Miller and Martin Faux, American History Desk Reference. (New York: MacMillan, 1997).
Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2000).
Carl Waldman, Encyclopedia of Native Tribes. (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006).
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