Chapter 4 Exercises: Contact, Colonization, and the Unmaking of Indigenous Appalachia

Individual Exercises

Exercise 4.1 — Mapping the Unmaking (†) Using publicly available historical maps (the Library of Congress digital collection and the David Rumsey Map Collection are excellent free resources), find at least three maps showing Cherokee territory at different points in time: (a) before sustained European contact (pre-1700), (b) after the Cherokee War and Proclamation Line era (1760s–1770s), and (c) immediately before removal (1830s). Compare the territorial boundaries across the three maps. Write 400 words describing what the maps reveal about the pace and pattern of Cherokee land loss. Where did the boundaries contract first? Where did they hold longest? What geographic features (rivers, mountain ranges) served as boundaries?

Exercise 4.2 — Primary Source Analysis: The Cherokee Memorial of 1830 Read the full text of the Cherokee Memorial to Congress (1830), which is available through the Library of Congress and multiple online archives. In 500 words, analyze the document as a work of political persuasion. What arguments does the memorial make? What audience is it addressing? What assumptions does it make about American law and morality? How does it use the language of American political values — liberty, property, treaty rights — to argue for Cherokee sovereignty? Finally: why did it fail?

Exercise 4.3 — Dragging Canoe's Prediction Dragging Canoe warned at Sycamore Shoals that the settlers would find the land's settlement "dark and bloody." Research what happened in Kentucky in the two decades after the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals (1775–1795). In 300 words, evaluate Dragging Canoe's prediction: was he right? What specifically happened, and how does the historical record compare to his warning?

Exercise 4.4 — The Paradox of Cherokee Adaptation The chapter describes the Cherokee Nation's adoption of Western governance, written language, plantation agriculture, and formal education as a "calculated effort to demonstrate that the Cherokee were a 'civilized' nation." In 500 words, analyze the paradox of this strategy. Why did Cherokee leaders believe it would work? Why did it fail? What does its failure reveal about the actual motivations behind removal — were they about "civilization," or about something else entirely?

Exercise 4.5 — Disease and Demography The chapter states that Indigenous populations in the Americas may have declined by 75 to 95 percent following European contact. Using at least two scholarly sources, research population estimates for the Cherokee Nation at three points: (a) before sustained European contact, (b) at the time of removal (1830s), and (c) today (Eastern Band + Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma combined). Present the numbers and write 300 words discussing what population data can and cannot tell us about historical experience. What are the limitations of demographic evidence for this period?

Exercise 4.6 — Worcester v. Georgia: The Rule of Law Question President Jackson's refusal to enforce Worcester v. Georgia is described in the chapter as "one of the most consequential failures of the rule of law in American history." In 400 words, analyze this claim. What does it mean for a constitutional system when the executive branch refuses to enforce a Supreme Court ruling? Can you identify other instances in American history where court decisions were not enforced or actively undermined? What are the long-term consequences for constitutional governance when this happens?

Group Exercises

Exercise 4.7 — Treaty Negotiation Simulation In groups of four to six, simulate a treaty negotiation between Cherokee leaders and American officials, circa 1835. Assign roles: (a) Principal Chief John Ross (opposed to removal), (b) John Ridge (Treaty Party, in favor of negotiated removal), (c) Andrew Jackson's representative (seeking removal), (d) a Cherokee clan mother, (e) a white missionary allied with the Cherokee, and optionally (f) a Georgia state official. Each participant should research their historical figure's actual position and arguments. Conduct a 20-minute negotiation, then debrief as a class: What pressures did each side face? What options were actually available? Was there any outcome that could have preserved Cherokee land rights given the political realities of 1835?

Exercise 4.8 — The Proclamation Line Debate Divide the class into two groups. One group argues that the Proclamation Line of 1763 was a sincere attempt to protect Indigenous land rights and could have worked if properly enforced. The other group argues that the Proclamation Line was never intended to be permanent, could never have been enforced, and was merely a tool of imperial management. Each side has 10 minutes to present, followed by 10 minutes of rebuttal. After the debate, discuss: does the question of intent matter if the outcome was the same?

Exercise 4.9 — The Naming of Places As a group, research the place names in your region that derive from Indigenous languages (Cherokee, Shawnee, or others). Make a list of at least ten. For each, research the original meaning of the name and the circumstances under which the name was retained even as the people who created it were displaced. Discuss: What does it mean that we use Indigenous words to name places where Indigenous people were not allowed to remain? Is this a form of honoring, or a form of erasure, or both?

Writing Prompts

Short Response (300–400 words): The chapter argues that Cherokee removal was "the foundational act of dispossession that made 'white Appalachia' possible." Do you agree with this framing? What does it mean for the identity of a region if that identity is built on land taken from others? How should contemporary Appalachians reckon with this history?

Essay (700–1,000 words): Compare the Cherokee Nation's legal and diplomatic resistance to removal with another historical case of a people using their oppressor's legal system to resist oppression (possibilities include: the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, the civil rights movement in the American South, or Indigenous legal battles in Canada or Australia). What are the common patterns? When does legal resistance succeed, and what conditions cause it to fail? What does the comparison reveal about the relationship between law and power?

Reflection (200–300 words): The chapter describes Tsali's sacrifice in multiple versions, noting that "like all foundational narratives, it exists in multiple versions, not all of which are fully consistent." Why might a community need a foundational narrative of sacrifice? Does it matter if the details are historically uncertain? What is the relationship between historical accuracy and communal meaning?

Whose Story Is Missing? Prompt

Exercise 4.10 — The Enslaved People of the Cherokee Nation The chapter notes that by the 1830s, Cherokee citizens owned approximately 1,500 enslaved Black people. Research the experience of enslaved Black people within the Cherokee Nation. What happened to them during removal — were they marched west as well? What was their legal status in Indian Territory after removal? How does the inclusion of enslaved people in the Cherokee story complicate narratives that frame Indigenous removal as a simple story of oppressors and victims? Write 400 words.

Community History Portfolio Integration

Exercise 4.11 — Connecting Displacement to Settlement Review your Chapter 4 Portfolio checkpoint (the Indigenous displacement research for your county). Now, looking ahead to Chapter 5, begin researching when the first non-Indigenous settlers arrived in your county. What is the time gap between Indigenous displacement and white settlement? In some counties it is decades; in others it is nearly simultaneous. Write 200 words connecting the displacement you documented to the settlement that followed. This exercise bridges Part I (The Land Before) and Part II (Settlement and the Frontier).

(† = Exercises marked with † are referenced in the answers appendix.)