Cherokee relocation

Using primary sources from the Documenting the American South collection, students will investigate the boundaries of the Cherokee lands set for North Carolina after the Revolutionary War.

A lesson plan for grade 8 Social Studies

By Donna Hernandez

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Related pages

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• A walk of betrayal: The Trail of Tears: In this lesson plan for fourth and fifth grade students will read various resources and watch videos about the Cherokee. They will trace the history of the Cherokee, discuss the outcomes of the impact of the white man, and determine how that intrusion led the Cherokee to the Trail of Tears. The students will examine the survival of the Cherokee and explore their accomplishments into the 21st century.
• North Carolina Cherokee Indians: The Trail of Tears: In this two week unit, students will study the Cherokee by participating in literature circles, learning about Native American story telling, writing a letter to Andrew Jackson to protest against the Creek War, and more.

Related topics

• Learn more about American Indians, American history, Cherokee, North Carolina, diplomacy, geography, history, relocation, resettlement, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn about early government treaties that forced the Cherokee off their land.
• illustrate changing boundaries of Cherokee land compared with surrounding states.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 day

Materials/resources

Blank maps of the North Carolina and surrounding states including Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina (Cherokee country).

Technology resources

Internet access for Documenting the American South materials, computer lab.

Pre-activities

Have students translate the following geographic terms into their Cherokee names: North Carolina, Cherokee, Atlantic, west, north, ocean, south, mountain, boundary, and land.

Activities

1. Give students copies of the Treaty of 1817 or the Treaty of 1819.
2. Have students read their treaty and highlight any mention of land claims.
3. Next, students should try to locate these locales and label them on their blank maps. Teachers need to provide a map of the original Cherokee land area or have students search for one on the Internet.
4. Allow students to share their highlighted texts orally with a partner who read a treaty from a different year.
5. Ask students, along with their partner, to choose one color and shade all of the territory lost due to the Treaty of 1817. Then, using a second color, students should shade additional territory lost due to the Treaty of 1819.
6. The teacher will have to guide students to share maps and clear up any inconsistencies.

Assessment

Class discussion or written response in which students describe the treaties and their major points. Also, students may write about the language of the treaties and any inequity they uncover.

Supplemental information

Additional Activities

1. This activity can be done with small pieces of construction paper (punched out with a single hole punch) and then pasted onto a blank map with a single color used for each different state and the ocean. Don’t forget to have students create a key.
2. Have students conduct more research about how some of the Cherokees responded to these treaties as well as what happens to the tribe over time.

Related websites

Report and Resolution of a Joint Committee of the Legislature of North Carolina