What Shall We Do With These Native Americans?

 

By John Riemenschneider (jriemenschneider@hpschools.org)

8th Grade Social Studies Teacher at Holland Patent Middle School

 

 

“There, (Oklahoma) your white brothers will not trouble you, they will have no claims to the land, and you can live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty.” – Andrew Jackson

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The year is 1830 and you are an editor of the Atlanta Gazette.  Your Editor-in-chief assigned you to give an opinion piece on a bill that is before Congress entitled Indian Removal.  This is the end result of years of conflict between Native Americans east of the Mississippi River, white settlers and state and federal governments.  You have five days to do background research and write your opinion piece.  

 

 

TASK:

1.       Complete web quest graphic organizer while completing process

2.      Write a two-page opinion piece for your newspaper with your opinion on the proposed law.  Discuss the problem, evidence and causes.  Discuss the option of passing this law with benefits and problems to this law.  This of alternatives to this law that might be better to all parties involved.

 

 

PROCESS: (Click here to print)

 

You will use a four step process called the American History Public Policy Analyst (AHPPA).  This is very similar to Science class. You will:

1.                            Identify the Problem – What is the problem/issue?

2.                           Gather the Evidence – How do we know about this?

3.                           Determine the Causes – Why is this problem happening?

4.                           Evaluate the Policy – What did the government do?  Did the results outweigh the costs?  Were there alternatives?

 

 

 

Step 1 - Identify the Problem

 

Explore the situation of America in 1830.  What were some conflicts with Native Americans in the early 1800s? How were Native Americans treated by white settlers and governments?  Why did white settlers want the Cherokee Indians to be removed from their lands?

·        Overview of issues with at hand

·        A brief history of the Cherokee and Trail of Tears

Step 2 - Gather the evidence of the Problem

Now that you have identified the problem, what was the validity (truth) of it?  Did it seem like the Native Americans and white settlers could come up with a solution without the help of the federal government?  What did the state of Georgia say about this? What did President Jackson say about this? Give three reasons why the federal government had to make a law about this problem.

·        Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)      

·        Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

·        Andrew Jackson calls for the Indian Removal

 

Step 3 - Determine the Causes

Go through and try to determine why you think this conflict was not going to end.  Some lawmakers thought that if the Cherokee nation adapted to white culture they did not need to be removed.  Is this a good alternative to removal?  Did the Cherokee try to achieve this?

·        Opinion piece by Cherokee about becoming civilized

·        Cherokee Develop a written language

·        Cherokee Constitution

 

 

 

Step 4- Evaluate the Policy

President Andrew Jackson and Congress decided to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830 to deal with the Native American issue.  What were the effects of this decision in terms of costs and benefits?  The costs would include both economic and social issues and the benefits would be related to the achievement of the objective.  Consider how these two relate.  Here are some scenarios:

-         Benefits obtained at reasonable cost. (Did the USA get what they want within a reasonable cost to life?)

-         Benefits obtained at too high of a cost. (Did the USA get what they want at too high a cost to life?)

-         Benefits not obtained (Did the USA not get what they wanted?)

-         Benefits not obtained and costs were still too high (Did the USA not get what they want AND the cost of life was too high?)

 

Also you need to brainstorm alternatives to the law.  What law could Congress have passed differently?  Come up with at least two alternatives to this law.

·        Picture of Cherokee on the Trail of Tears

·        Objection to the Removal

·        Major General Scott’s ultimatum

·        A soldier recalls the Trail of Tears

·         Andrew Jackson’s defense of the Removal Law

 

Evaluation

Below is a rubric that I will use to grade your completed graphic organizer and opinion writing piece.  Consult it first to determine the various criteria:

 

 

4

3

2

1

Total

Time on Task

Was totally focused and on task throughout project

Was mostly focused and on task during project

Was distracted easily, had a hard time finishing during class time.

Was not on task at all, had to be refocused by teacher constantly

 

_____/4

Completed Graphic Organizer

Organizer was completely filled out with lots of details

Organizer was mostly filled out.

Organizer was missing some points.

Organizer was unclear, not fully filled out.

_____/4

Paper-Opinion

Paper fully answers task given

Paper mostly answers task given

Paper somewhat answers task given

Paper does not answers task, is unfocused

____/4

Paper- Organization

Paper is fully organized and flows easily. Opinion is clearly stated.

Paper is somewhat organized but can still be easily followed

Paper is hard to follow and does not stay on topic.  Opinion is vague.

Paper is not organized with no paragraphs. No opinion present.

____/4

Paper – Spelling & Grammar

There is not spelling or grammar mistakes

There are a few mistakes, but does not take away from the paper

There are numerous mistakes and it makes it hard to follow

There are many mistakes and paper is impossible to follow

____/4

                                                                                                                                                                          Total_____/20

 

Conclusion

This web quest was designed to determine the conditions and motives for passing the Indian Removal Act and to have students stop and think if there could have been other means to end this conflict between Native Americans and white settlers/government.  This will relate to the later unit while discussing the impact of the settlement of the West and how the American government dealt with Native tribes out West.

 

Standards – Common Core

 

English Language Arts Standards »

 Reading: Informational Text » Grade 7

Key Ideas and Details

·                     RI.7.1. Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

·                     RI.7.2. Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text.

RI.7.3. Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas

or events).

 

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

 

·                     RI.7.8. Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient to

·                     support the claims.