The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 is one of the most pivotal points in American History. The massive event entailed: American settlers performing their best bull impression. They made Oklahoma seem as if it were painted in the color red. A jaw-dropping amount of land settled in a day. Finally, to a victimized community that was on the verge of drowning in a sea of unwanted roommates. Oklahoma’s great land rush gave America the space to stretch out their territory, even though it nearly wiped out the Native Americans' land. The Civil War set the precedents for Oklahoma’s rush. In 1866, the U.S. government signed treaties with Five Civilized tribes. These five tribes supported the Confederacy in the Civil War, so as punishment, the U.S. Congress …show more content…
“Boudinot's widely publicized argument threatened to turn the seepage of immigrants into the territory into that dreaded "alien flood." Understandably, some Indian leaders vilified Boudinot as "the Benedict Arnold of the Indian Race'." (Warde Indian Response to Boomer Movement) The article grew in popularity in a blink of an eye and consequently, a Doctor's graduate by the name of Morrison Munford. Munford found significant interest in the topic of the Unassigned Lands, therefore, he began to publicly encourage the idea of settlement in the “Oklahoma Lands” (Hoig, Boomer). Dr. Munford was also the first to use the terms 'boom' and 'boomers' to describe the phenomenon of the land rush." (Hoig …show more content…
"Thousands of settlers moved to the border to await the opening. The army held them back until a pistol shot signaled the opening. Then a wild race began to claim the best farms and townsites. About 50,000 people had moved into Oklahoma by that evening. In a single day, Guthrie and Oklahoma City became cities of 10,000 persons" (Denna K. Fisher and Brad A. Bays Oklahoma). The towns from the east were practically empty. "Purcell, Indian Territory, April 22, -- A great change has come over this town. Yesterday it was a metropolis, to-night it is a hamlet in point of population. The metamorphosis was effected at 12 o'clock to-day, when several thousand men, women, and children crossed the Canadian River and entered upon a wild struggle for homes in the promised land. The scenes connected with this [text unreadable] will never be effaced from the memory of those who witnessed them.” (Into Oklahoma at Last Into Oklahoma at
It had previously been the policy of the American government to remove and relocate Indians further and further west as the American population grew, but there was only so much...
West, Elliott, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, (University Press of Kansas,
The land of the Native Indians had been encroached upon by American settlers. By the
... the unwilling tribes west of the Mississippi. In Jackson’s letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, he explained that the Cherokees were still in Georgia, and that they ought to leave for their own benefit because destruction will come upon them if they stay. By 1835, most eastern tribes had unwillingly complied and moved west. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to help out the resettled tribes. Most Cherokees rejected the settlement of 1835, which provided land in the Indian territory. It was not until 1838, after Jackson had left office, that the U.S. Army forced 15,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia. The hardships on the “trail of tears” were so great that over 4,000 Cherokees died on their heartbreaking westward journey. In conclusion, the above statement is valid and true. The decision the Jackson administration made to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River was a reformulation of the national policy. Jackson, along with past Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson, tried to rid the south of Indians This process of removing the native people was continuous as the years went on.
On the east coast people were also being taken advantage of by the government. As a result of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, the government began giving out land grants ‒through the Homestead Act of 1862‒ for Americans to live on and farm; the only problem was that another culture was already living on the land: the Sioux Nation. After the S...
...ople did was urge the government to open land in Oklahoma. Oklahoma was home to many Indian reservations. These Indian reservations take up a lot of land. R.W. McAdams wanted to shrink land given to Indians for their reservations. The government opened up land, but with a clause. Anyone who tried to claim the land before the given date could not get that land. This clause was known as the “sooner” clause. These government policies opened up land and made things fairer to farmers, the people who make up the agricultural industry. They also let political parties know that the poor farmer needed to be heard too.
It was thought that God had a plan for Whites to move across both coasts and start the New World. In the painting, “Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way,” it shows how difficult and unforgiving the trip westward was (Pohl 163). However, the painting also shows a sigh of relief and excitement that Native American travelers had finally met their destination (Pohl 163). Unfortunately, Native American’s new way of life would be cut short years later due to Andrew Jackson’s secured Passage of the Indian Removal Bill (Pohl 163). This bill was responsible for relocating 70,000 Native Americans to Oklahoma (Pohl 163). The Cherokee who were the most affected group of Native Americans had adopted the living format of Whites. Once they were removed, Whites were able to take over their land. This removal also led to the “Trail of Tears” which ended up taking the lives of 4,000 to 16,000 Cherokee Indians. The Manifest Destiny also caused the uproar and eventual war with
America was expanding at such a rapid pace that those who were in America before us had no time to anticipate what was happening. This change in lifestyle affected not only Americans, but everyone who lived in the land. Changing traditions, the get rich quick idea and other things were the leading causes of westward expansion. But whatever happened to those who were caught in the middle, those who were here before us? One of those many who roamed the land before Americans decided that they owned it were the Native Americans.
prices. The Oklahoma land run took place that year, with settlers lining up at a
The long journey took a rough toll on the Native Americans as they faced sickness and disease, extreme cold weather, and starvation form the lack of food and even facing death along the way. This Removal had been based on belief that the West was big enough to provide the Indians a sanctuary from settlers for hundreds of years, but that belief turned out to be wrong. Soon whites would find themselves crossing the Mississippi River in large numbers, and it would become clear that the removal of the 1830’s would provide no more permanent solutions to the conflicts between the settlers and the Indians than the removals of the preceding two centuries. The Indians problems was not gone, it had only created the same problem out west. But now there will be no place left to push the
Again, this shows Boudinot’s potential disassociation from Cherokee popular opinion. However, given that his audience would have consisted largely – if not entirely – of white Americans, Boudinot’s emphasis on Cherokee willingness for these measures would have been a significant rhetorical tool. The audience would have been more inclined to give aid to a willing group of people; it’s unlikely that Boudinot was ignorant of the Cherokee resistance movements, and his neglect to mention them is significant. Whether or not he intended this as a persuasive method or choosing wilful ignorance is
... one of the stipulations and had to be settled. The removal of the Natives in an effort to protect the American people on the frontier proceeded, and was all the region of present-day Oklahoma, as shown in document L. These actions are viewed as cruel and unjust, but it was the way that would’ve dealt the least damage. Further delaying the issue would’ve soon set into altercations between the various Native tribes and the United States of America. In retrospect, Jackson served to protect the people.
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...
Indians had been moved around much earlier than the nineteenth century, but The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the first legal account. After this act many of the Indians that were east of the Mississippi river were repositioned to the west of the river. Tribes that refused to relocate ended up losing much of their land to European peoples (Sandefur, p.37). Before the Civil War in the U.S. many farmers and their families stayed away from the west due to a lack of rainfall (Nash et al., 2010). Propaganda in newspapers lured Americans and many other immigrants to the west to farm. The abundance of natural grasses in the west drew cattlemen and their families as well.
The expansion of the United States is such a vital part of American history, yet some often forget how it all happened. Many thriving settlers were given an extraordinary opportunity starting on January 1, 1863 that would end up laying the floor work for many Midwestern and Western citizens today. The rights and responsibilities to live on and maintain 160 acres of land may seem like a lot to take in for a student learning about an Act about land from the 1860s. However, think about all the people the Homestead Act of 1862 affected. There was a lot of pressure on the original homesteaders to make good use of their newfound land, the government was giving out land that wasn’t exactly theirs, and the Native American would have some their rights stolen.