The Chickasaw Removal

The Chickasaw Removal. . For hundreds of years, Chickasaws lived in the southeastern part of North America. These homelands eventually became the states of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky., During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the 1830 Indian Removal Act was passed. The federal and state governments embraced the policy of removing tribal peoples of the southeastern states to lands west of the Mississippi called Indian Territory., Chickasaws were opposed to removal, but the United States presented only two choices: dissolve and become citizens of the United States or move west and maintain their sovereignty. The Chickasaws chose to save their nation., In 1832, the Treaty of Pontotoc Creek was signed, which ceded all the Chickasaw lands east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. and provided for a new homeland in Indian Territory., Chickasaw leaders negotiated terms in the treaty requiring their approval of the new Chickasaw homeland in Indian Territory. The old homelands would be surveyed and Chickasaw families deeded a portion. This land would be sold to pay for the expenses during removal and purchasing the right to settle in the Choctaw Nation within a new Chickasaw District that was negotiated in the 1837 Treaty of Doaksville., After the Treaty of Doaksville was signed, an entire nation prepared to move. Groups of Chickasaw families continued removal from the homelands until the 1890s., Removal was grievous for all Indian tribes. Harsh physical and environmental conditions on the long journey west devastated the people. Approximately 20 percent of those who started the journey perished along the way. However, Chickasaws have always been resilient. As a people, they refused to give up and persevered through this difficult time.