CHAPTER 3 LESSON 2

Indian Removal and Manifest Destiny 

Meanwhile, the United States​ was experiencing a huge growth in

population. New immigrants arrived on the country shores every day, and the
birth rate was rising. As the population of the United States grew, so did the
desire for land. The American economy was based on agriculture, so people
needed large amounts of land on which to farm. But there was a problem;
much of the land in the east was home to various American Indian groups. At
the same time, the US government feared that European countries might
invade. Settlement in the west would create a barrier to possible European
invasions.

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Thirst for land
At the time of the Louisiana Purchase, President Jefferson wanted to move American Indians from the
East to lands in the west. This would free up land in the east for agriculture and white settlement. The
government then offered to sign treaties with Indian groups, granting them land in the new western territory in
exchange for their territory in the east. While some Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee families agreed to these
treaties, most did not want to give up their homelands.
Indian tribes were placed under a great deal of pressure. They did not want to leave the land that had
been their home. To do so, some tribes chose to assimilate (adapt or conform) to the white American way of
life. Other tribes sold parts of their land to the US government in an attempt to maintain control over what land
was left. Others simply refused to move, even if it meant going to war.

Exploration and Expansion 1

The Indian Removal Act
About 25 years after the Louisiana
Purchase, President Andrew Jackson pushed
for the Indian Removal Act. The act would
force Indian tribes in the east to move to lands
west of the Mississippi River. President
Jackson, as well as many Americans, felt that
Indians stood in the way of progress. He gave
the following speech to Congress in 1829:

What good man would prefer a country

covered with forests and rage by a thousand
savages is to our extensive Republic, studded
with cities, towns, and prosperous farms
embellished with all the improvements which art
can devise or industry execute, occupied more
than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all
the blessings of liberty, civilization and religion?

​The Indians saw it from a different

point of view. In a letter, Chief John Ross of
the Cherokee Nation protested the treatment
of his people:

We are stripped of every attribute of

freedom and eligibility for legal self-defense. Our
property may be plundered before our eyes;
violence may be committed on our persons;
even our lives may be taken away, and there is
none to regard our complaints. We are
denationalized. . . . We are deprived of
membership in the Human family!

Exploration and Expansion​ 2

Indian Relocation to Kansas
​Even before the Indian Removal Act was passed, present-day Kansas was considered a potential
home for Indian tribes from the East. Isaac McCoy was a Baptist Minister who worried that American influence
would bring about the end of the Indian’s way of life. McCoy wanted to create an indian state where native
peoples could live in peace and gradually be assimilated and converted to Christianity. Many white Americans
were compassionate, even though it required the Indians to change their traditional ways.
McCoy began lobbying elected officials in Washington, D.C. The Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun,
supported the idea. Eventually, McCoy's
lobbying led to the passage of the 1830
Indian Removal Act. Once passed, McCoy
closed his mission in the East and moved to
Kansas. He surveyed the land and created
Mission schools there.
However, Indian removal in Kansas
really began when superintendent of Indian
Affairs William Clark- of Lewis and Clark
Fame- arranged to give part of the lands of
the Kansa and the Osage to other tribes.
After this, more and more land was taken
from local tribes and given to those forced to
move from the East and Upper Midwest.
These tribes included the Kickapoo and
Shawnee from Missouri, the Iowa from the
Great Lakes region, the Potawatomi and
Miamis from Indiana, and the Sac and Fox of
the Mississippi Valley. The Chippewa, Delaware, Iowa, Kaskaskia, Ottawa, Peoria, Piankishaw, Wea, and
Wyandot were also forced to move to Kansas. Within a 25 year period, the government gave land in Kansas to
more than 25 tribes. These tribes became known as emigrant Indians. ​Emigrant​ ​refers to someone who
leaves one country and settles in another.

​The Emigrant Indian Experience

Indian tribes forced to emigrate to Kansas were assigned to ​reservations​, areas of land set aside by
the US government for Native Americans to live on. Some tribes split apart with the stress of relocation. The
military forced a large number of Potawatomi living in Indiana to flee to Canada after they refused to move.
Only a portion of the Potawatomi came to Kansas.
Upon arrival in Kansas, many tribes found the living conditions to be unfamiliar and difficult. The
Pottawatomie, who had depended on a diet of fish, found themselves with very few fish. For tribes such as the
Ottawa, the changes were disastrous. During their first two years in Kansas, more than 300 of the 600
Ottawa's died due to extreme weather, disease, and lack of food.
In addition, lifestyles varied greatly among tribes now forced to live in the same area. Hunting was an
important part of Ottawa and Shawnee life. The Iowa and Kickapoo were farmers. The Miami were known as
traders. Some tribes had already adopted white ways before relocation. The Wyondot wore the clothing and
practiced the customs of white Americans. Other tribes, such as the Sac and Fox, held onto their traditions.
Each of these tribes had to find ways of adapting to their new home.
During the period of Indian removal, the government did not give American Indians the rights of
citizens. The tragedy of Indian removal is that native peoples did not have a choice.

Exploration and Expansion​ 3

The Sac and Fox was one of the tribes that relocated to Kansas. Traditionally, they lived in bark-covered
lodges like the one pictured. ​Why might it have been difficult to build this type of lodge in Kansas

Missionaries
​During the period of the Indian relocation, the only non Indians allowed to legally live in Kansas
worked for the US government or traveled with the emigrant tribes. Missionaries, traders, and Indian agents
became a regular part of the lives of Indians there. A ​missionary​ is someone sent to do work for a religion, like
convincing people to join the religion or helping the sick. Missionaries set up schools to convert the Indian
children to Christianity and to teach them skills they could used for a job or trade.
The Indian reaction to the Mission schools was mixed. Some Indians felt no need to change their ways of
life and preferred their own spiritual beliefs. Others welcomed what the missionaries could give, including food
and clothing.
Missionary schools were built on reservation lands and were usually supported by government funds as part
of treaty negotiations. Children often lived at the school, apart from their families. The quality of the experience
varied from mission to mission. At some, missionaries required the children to speak English only. A few
missions allowed students to speak their native languages. Nevertheless, the main goal at all missions was to
change the culture of the child- to americanize the Indian.

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 Kansas Portrait
Annie Marshall Grinter
(1820 - 1905)

Annie Marshall’s mother was a member of the Delaware Tribe. Annie’s mother
gave her the Delaware name Windagamen (meaning “sweetness”) when she was
born, although she later went by Annie. Her father was a fur trader who became an
Indian agent. As an Indian agent, her father assisted the Potawatomi in relocating
to the reservation in Kansas. Growing up, she was educated at the Osage Mission.
At age 16, Annie Marshall married Moses Grinter, and the moved onto the
Delaware reservation in what is today Wyandotte County. At the time, only members of the Delaware Tribe
could purchase land and operate businesses on the reservation. It was because of Annie’s Delaware
heritage that she and her husband could run a business in Kansas during this time period.
Grinter and her husband operated a ferry boat on the Kansas River. For five years in the mid-1850s, they
also operated a trading post. They exchanged clothing, ammunition, perfume, sugar, scissors, and other
goods for furs and cash from the Delaware. The Grinter were also farmers. They raised chickens and grew
apples.
Annie grinter was proud of her Delaware routes. throughout her life, she spoke English as well as the
language of the Delaware. Today, grinter place is open to the public as a state Historic Site in Kansas City.

LINKING​ THE P ​ AST​ TO THE P ​ RESENT 

Students, tourist, and researchers can still visit several of the missions built in the 1800s. The Shawnee
Indian Mission in Fairway was used mainly as a school for Shawnee and Delaware children from 1839-1862.
The Kaw Mission near Council Grove was built between 1850 and 1851. Today, both have been converted
into museums and have been declared State Historic Sites. The Potawatomi Mission in Topeka is on the
grounds of the Kansas Historical Society.

Exploration and Expansion​ 5

 The service to a new pupil was to trim his hair closely; then with soap and water, to give him or her
the first lesson in godliness, which was a good scrubbing, and a little red precipitate on the scalp, to
supplement the use of a fine-toothed comb; then he was furnished with a new set of clothes, and
taught how to put them on and off. They all emerged from the ordeal as shy as peacocks just
plucked. A new English name finished the preparation for the alphabet in the English language.

- Dr. Wilson Hobbs, superintendent, Friends Mission, Kansas

C
​ rossing Kansas
​ Long before air travel and interstate highways, people travel on rivers and overland trails. Two great trails
of the 19th century went through Kansas. The Santa Fe Trail was a trade route, connecting the United States
to Mexico. The Oregon-California Trail was an immigrant trail, carrying families west to find prosperity and new
lives.

The Santa Fe Trail

Exploration and Expansion​ 6

 ​ illiam Becknell is often called the father of the Santa
W
Fe Trail. A trader from Missouri, Becknell was out of money
and risking jail time for debts. To earn money, he decided to
haul trade goods from Kansas City to Santa Fe, which was
then controlled by Mexico. At first, Becknell and other
traders used pack mules, limiting the amount they could
carry. In 1821, Becknell found a route that would
accommodate wagons, which increased the amounts of
goods that he could transport. This, of course, increased
profit.
The Santa Fe Trail became an important international
trade route. Cloth was one of the most important goods that
traveled on the trail. Cities along the Santa Fe did not have
big factories to produce goods. American traders
transported needles, thread, knives, axes, and other tools to
cities out west. Mexican goods also came to the United
States by way of the Santa Fe Trail. Mexican traders
brought silver coins, gold, furs, and mules to trade with the
Americans.
The Santa Fe Trail attracted people from all over the
world. Wyandotte Chief William Walker rented warehouses
in Independence, Missouri, to store trade goods. Hiram
Young, who bought his own freedom out of slavery, became
a wealthy man making wagons to carry goods on the trail.
One Missouri woman invested $60 in one of William
Becknell's early trips and received $900 on her investment.
The Santa Fe Trail made a lot of people wealthy.

Pawnee Rock was a landform on the Santa Fe Trail,

marking the halfway point for travelers. Pawnee Rock State
Historical Site looks a little different today.
How does the modern photograph compare to the
drawing from 1867 (right)?

Exploration and Expansion​ 7

 Over a 25-year period, nearly 400,000 people traveled the Oregon-California Trail. ​What can you tell about
the travelers on the Oregon-California Trail from this image? What animals have they brought with
them?

O
​ regon-California Trail
Unlike the Santa Fe Trail, the purpose of the oregon-california trail was to move people. The trail takes
its name from the two possible destinations; after reaching Fort Bridger, and what is now southwestern
Wyoming, settlers would continue west to California or
head northwest to Oregon. Those who went to Oregon
were seeking farmland. People traveled to California for
the farmland and a chance to strike it rich in the gold
fields.
Beginning in the late 1830s, the trail was the only
practical way to get through the western mountain ranges.
It took immigrants four to six months to make the trip from
western Missouri to the West Coast. The only other way
west was by sea, around South America. The journey took
an entire year and it was much more expensive.
The Oregon-California Trail served families wanting
to make a better life in the West. It was a 2,000 mile
journey and most of it had to be walked. Immigrants used
small farm wagons to transport their supplies. The wagon
box only measured four by ten feet and had to fit all their
supplies for the journey. A family of four needed over
1,000 pounds of food to make the journey. Food supplies
included flour, sugar, salt, coffee, and bacon. After just a
few miles on the trail, most families realized they had over
packed their wagons. The trail was littered with discarded
family treasures.
Travel on the Oregon-California trail was seasonal.
Travelers started in late April or early May so they would
arrive on the West Coast before winter. If they left earlier

Exploration and Expansion​ 8

in the spring, melting snow might cause rivers to flood. If they left too late in the year, snow storms threatened
to trap travelers in the Rocky Mountains. For much of the 1800s, the Oregon-California Trail was the main
route for settlers to get to the West Coast.
Indians and Emigrants
​One of the great myths about the trails is that
Indians frequently attacked travelers. Actually, there
were more cases of cooperation between Indians and
travellers than conflicts between them.
The Santa Fe Trail passes through the homelands
of the Osage, Kansas, Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne,
Arapaho, and planes Apache. Most encounters were
peaceful, particularly in the early years of the trail.
Trading took place among the Indians, Americans, and
Mexicans. Later, misunderstandings occurred when Trail
traffic disrupted the lies of the Indians. Because Mexico
and the United States greatly benefited from trade along
the trail, both countries sent military troops to escort the
wagons safely through Indian lands.
Most of the encounters between Indians and
emigrants on the oregon-california trail we're all so
peaceful. Emigrants traded with Indians for supplies and
services. Shoes were worn out quickly, so travelers
purchased moccasins from the Indians. There are
accounts of Indians assisting travelers by pulling out
stuck wagons and rounding up loose cattle.

​Frontier Forts
​Shortly after the United States purchased the
Louisiana Territory from France, the government began
building forts throughout the region. Many of these forts
were located in Kansas.
Built 1827, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active
Army Post west of the Mississippi River. One of its
earliest responsibilities was to protect wagon trains
hauling cargo over the Santa Fe Trail. However, the
fort’s location in northeastern Kansas was really too far
east to carry out those duties. Eventually, the army
established Fort Larned for this purpose. After this, Fort
Leavenworth provided assistance to families traveling
on the Oregon-California trail.
Forts and Indian Relocation
​When the US government began moving Indian
tribes into Kansas, the soldiers at Fort Leavenworth took
on new responsibilities. The US Army’s job was now to
protect Indian lands. The Army established Fort Scott to
help with this duty.

Exploration and Expansion​ 9

 In eastern Kansas, conditions were difficult for both immigrant Indians and tribes native to the region.
Sometimes conflict broke out of among tribes, and the army had to keep the peace. The soldiers were also
responsible for keeping Americans from illegally settling on Indian lands.
Manifest Destiny in the Frontier
In the 1840s, the idea of westward expansion began to spread throughout the United States. Many
politicians believed it was the destiny of the United States to span from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. This
idea was called ​Manifest Destiny​.​ For many Americans, land represented opportunities and potential wealth.
There was a great deal of land to be acquired in the West, and many saw the open land as a symbol of
freedom.
Manifest Destiny was not only a political concept. Millions of ordinary Americans believed that their best
opportunities lay in the West, where land was cheap. In the first half of the 1800s, more than four million
people followed this dream and moved west.

This painting depicts America, represented as a woman, traveling westward pursuing Manifest Destiny. ​Why is she
carrying a school book and telegraph wires? What do you think this painting symbolizes?

Frontier Forts and Manifest Destiny

Before long, the role of the army on the frontier changed again. As the idea of Manifest Destiny grew
more popular, the US government began to use the army to expand. The government sent soldiers to settle
land disputes in the Oregon Territory. At the same time, people in Texas fought for, and won, independence
from Mexico. Shortly after, the US government agreed to ​annex​ Texas. Eventually, the United States won the
entire southwest in a war with Mexico, an area that includes California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, Utah,
and parts of Colorado.
Fort Leavenworth became the jumping-off point for soldiers going to both the Oregon Territory in the
Southwest. The government also established Fort Riley to send troops and supplies along either the Santa Fe
or Oregon-California Trail.

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 This aerial image show Fort Leavenworth in the late 1800s. ​How do you think frontier settlement impacted the
fort? Why?
LESSON 2 REVIEW
Check Your Understanding
Know
1. During the period of Indian
relocation, who was legally allowed
to live in Kansas?
2. What was the primary purpose of
the Santa Fe Trail? What was the
purpose of the oregon-california
trail?
3. What hardships did Travelers
encounter on the Santa Fe and
Oregon California trails?
4. What was the relationship between
Indian tribes and travelers on the
trails?
Analyze
5. Why did the US government
want to move Indian tribes away
from the East?
6. What does” eminent domain”
mean? How does this relate to
Indian relocation?
7. what were the purposes of the
Indian Missions? How did the
Indians respond to the missions?
8. Explain the concept of
manifest destiny. How did this
belief impact the United States?
Exploration and Expansion​
Synthesize
9. How do you think Long's
description of Kansas as “ the
Great American desert” affect US
government policy regarding the
Indians?
10. Why do you think that families
chose to move west on the Oregon
California Trail? what might they
have to give up to move?
11. How did differing traditions and
ways of life make it hard for Indian
tribes to relocate to Kansas?
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