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42-598: Coffeeville Lock and Dam are located on the Tombigbee River in Choctaw County, Alabama near the town of Coffeeville operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers . Construction on the lock began in 1956 and while the lock was operational in 1960, all works were not completed until 1965. They were originally known as Jackson Lock and Dam. This Choctaw County , Alabama state location article

84-679: A genocide. The first removal treaty signed was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on September 27, 1830, in which Choctaws in Mississippi ceded land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West. The Treaty of New Echota was signed in 1835 and resulted in the removal of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. The Seminoles and other tribes did not leave peacefully, as they resisted

126-787: A large number of deaths occasioned by the hardships of the journey. The U.S. Congress approved the Act by a narrow majority in the House of Representatives . The Indian Removal Act was supported by President Jackson and the Democratic Party, southern and white settlers, and several state governments, especially that of Georgia . Indigenous tribes and the Whig Party opposed the bill, as did other groups within white American society (e.g., some Christian missionaries and clergy). Legal efforts to allow Indian tribes to remain on their land in

168-566: A mass influx of settlers, that the federal government was unable to prevent. As Robert V. Remini stated: Jackson genuinely believed that what he had accomplished rescued these people from inevitable annihilation. And although that statement sounds monstrous, and although no one in the modern world wishes to accept or believe it, that is exactly what he did. He saved the Five Civilized Nations from probable extinction. Similarly, historian Francis Paul Prucha argued that removal

210-511: A policy of political and military action for the removal of Natives from these lands and worked toward enacting a law for "Indian removal". In his 1829 State of the Union address , Jackson called for Indian removal . The Indian Removal Act was put in place to annex Native land and then transfer that ownership to Southern states, especially Georgia . The Act was passed in 1830, although dialogue had been ongoing since 1802 between Georgia and

252-472: A port-side window in the pilot house, which began filling with water, while the captain remained at the helm. Soon the tugboat emerged from beneath the other side of the bridge and righted itself, with water pouring from the doorways and decks. One of the two main ventilator funnels had tilted to the center, yet one engine was still running, and the captain steered to anchor the tugboat in a flooded cornfield. Another downstream tugboat, M/V Tallapoosa , rescued

294-637: A practice of cultural assimilation, meaning that tribes such as the Cherokee were forced to adopt aspects of white civilization. This acculturation was originally proposed by George Washington and was well underway among the Cherokee and the Choctaw by the beginning of the 19th century. Native peoples were encouraged to adopt European customs. First, they were forced to convert to Christianity and abandon traditional religious practices. They were also required to learn to speak and read English , although there

336-477: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tombigbee River The name "Tombigbee" comes from Choctaw /itumbi ikbi/ , meaning "box maker, coffin maker", from /itumbi/ , "box, coffin", and /ikbi/ , "maker". The river formed the eastern boundary of the historical Choctaw lands, from the 17th century when they coalesced as a people, to the forced Indian Removal by the United States in

378-602: The Eliza Battle and James T. Staples . The "Tombigbee River Waltz" or the singing song "Tombigbee River" are beloved old time waltzes performed by fiddlers including James Bryan, Kenny Jackson, Jay Ungar and Eric Hatling. The song was featured as a Charles Ingalls song in the Little House books. 31°8′11″N 87°56′39″W  /  31.13639°N 87.94417°W  / 31.13639; -87.94417 Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act of 1830

420-870: The Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast, as they adopted some European-American ways. But Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, in order to remove the Native Americans and enable development by European Americans. The United States forced the Chickasaw west of the Mississippi to Indian Territory , extinguishing most of their claims to land in the Southeast. The Tombigbee River has five lock and dams along its length. Lock & Dams are listed from north to south;

462-599: The French and British colonies. New France , which was established in the Great Lakes region , generally pursued a cooperative relationship with the Native tribes, with the existence of certain traditions such as marriage à la façon du pays , a marriage between tradesmen ( coureur des bois ) and Native women. This tradition was seen as a fundamental social and political institution that helped maintain relations and bond

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504-453: The North 's history regarding Native nations within their claimed territory. Jackson stated that "progress requires moving forward." Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country and philanthropy has long been busily employed in devising means to avert it, but its progress never has for a moment been arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from

546-537: The Shawnee , and the Lenape . The Indian Removal Act was controversial. Many Americans during this time favored its passage, but there was also significant opposition. Many Christian missionaries protested against it, most notably missionary organizer Jeremiah Evarts . In Congress, New Jersey Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen , Kentucky Senator Henry Clay , and Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett spoke out against

588-564: The United States Supreme Court handed down a decision stating that Indians could occupy and control lands within the United States but could not hold title to those lands. Jackson viewed the union as a federation of highly esteemed states , as was common before the American Civil War . He opposed Washington's policy of establishing treaties with Indian tribes as if they were sovereign foreign nations. Thus,

630-644: The Wilmot Proviso would have banned slavery in territories won from Mexico ... the Kansas-Nebraska bill would have failed." The Removal Act paved the way for the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of American Indians from their land into the West in an event widely known as the " Trail of Tears ," a forced resettlement of the Indian population. This forced resettlement has been characterized as

672-471: The drawbridge -section, which failed to re-open fast enough while the river was near flood stage (drawbridges must close and re-open to allow waiting traffic to cross). The fast currents pinned the Cahaba's starboard side against the bridge in high waters. The force was so great that it pulled the boat downward, tilting it beneath the bridge, and fully submerging it in the river. The underwater pressure blew out

714-417: The federal government concerning the possibility of such an act. Ethan Davis states that "the federal government had promised Georgia that it would extinguish Indian title within the state's borders by purchase 'as soon as the such purchase could be made upon reasonable terms'". As time passed, Southern states began to speed up the expulsions by claiming that the deal between Georgia and the federal government

756-594: The 1830s. The river begins in northeastern Mississippi just south of the Pharr Mounds near the northern county line of Itawamba County , at what was once known as the source of the east fork of the river . Historically, the beginning of the river was in northern Monroe County at the confluence of Town Creek (also known as West Fork Tombigbee River) and the east fork of the river. The river flows east through Aberdeen Lake near Aberdeen , and Columbus Lake near Columbus . It flows through Aliceville Lake on

798-621: The House of Representatives passed the Act by a vote of 101 to 97. On May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. Historian Garry Wills has speculated that without the additional slave state votes in the House of Representatives due to the Three-Fifths Compromise , "slavery would have been excluded from Missouri ... Jackson's Indian removal policy would have failed ...

840-589: The Mississippi River where they were allocated new lands. The southern tribes were resettled mostly in Indian Territory ( Oklahoma ). The northern tribes were resettled initially in Kansas . With a few exceptions, the United States east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes was emptied of its Native American population. The movement westward of indigenous tribes was characterized by

882-727: The Mississippi River. The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, especially in Georgia , which was the largest state in 1802 and was involved in a jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee. President Jackson hoped that removal would resolve the Georgia crisis. Besides the Five Civilized Tribes , additional people affected included the Wyandot , the Kickapoo , the Potowatomi ,

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924-608: The Mississippi-Alabama border, then generally SSE across western Alabama in a highly meandering course, past Gainesville and Demopolis . There it is joined from the northeast by the Black Warrior River . South of Demopolis it flows generally south across southwestern Alabama (forming Sumter and Choctaw counties' borders with Marengo County ). Past Jackson it joins the Alabama River from

966-546: The belief in European cultural and racial superiority was generally widespread among high ranking colonial officials and clergymen in this period. During American colonial times , many colonialists and particularly the English felt their civilization to be superior: they were Christians , and they believed their notions of private property to be a superior system of land tenure . Colonial and frontier encroachers inflicted

1008-449: The captain and all three crew members; with the pilot, then secured the two barges of coal. The barges were later towed to Mobile by the same company's towboat M/V Mauvilla. The Mauvilla is otherwise notable for its later involvement in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck . Pleasure boats, cruising America's Great Loop , use the waterway each year in the fall. The river is closely associated with several steamboat disasters, including

1050-528: The condition in which it was found by our forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion? According to historian H. W. Brands , Jackson sincerely believed that his population transfer

1092-615: The creation of Indian jurisdictions was a violation of state sovereignty under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution. As Jackson saw it, either Indians comprised sovereign states (which violated the Constitution) or were subject to the laws of existing states of the Union. Jackson urged Indians to assimilate and obey state laws. Further, he believed he could only accommodate the desire for Native self-rule in federal territories, which required resettlement on Federal lands west of

1134-450: The earth... But true philanthropy reconciles the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to the extinction of one generation to make room for another... In the monuments and fortresses of an unknown people, spread over the extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a once powerful race, which was exterminated or has disappeared to make room for the existing savage tribes… Philanthropy could not wish to see this continent restored to

1176-722: The eastern U.S. failed. Most famously, the Cherokee (excluding the Treaty Party ) challenged their relocation, but were unsuccessful in the courts; they were forcibly removed by the United States government in a march to the west that later became known as the Trail of Tears . Since the 21st century, scholars have cited the act and subsequent removals as an early example of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing or genocide or settler colonialism ; some view it as all three. Many European colonists saw Native Americans as savages. However, euro-native relations varied, particularly between

1218-673: The greatest number of and most powerful tribes tended to side with the French, though other tribes such as the Iroquois supported the English for various strategic reasons. For strategic economic and military purposes, the French also had a practice of building forts and trading posts within Native villages, such as that of Fort Miami in Indiana within the Miami village of Kekionga . However,

1260-480: The historical comparisons between the United States concept of manifest destiny and Nazi Germany 's concept of Lebensraum and how American removal policy served as a model for racial policy during Generalplan Ost . An alternative view posits that the Indian Removal Act, despite the deaths and forced relocation, it benefitted those peoples by saving their societies from a worse fate that likely awaited them were they to remain in their home territories to face

1302-589: The legislation. The Removal Act passed only after a bitter debate in Congress. Clay extensively campaigned against it on the National Republican Party ticket in the 1832 United States presidential election . Jackson viewed the demise of Native nations as inevitable, pointing to the steady expansion of European-based lifestyles and the decimation of Native nations in the U.S.'s northeast region. He called his Northern critics hypocrites, given

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1344-433: The newspaper he edited, The Cherokee Phoenix . Despite the adoption of white cultural values by many natives and tribes, the United States government began a systematic effort to remove Native peoples from the Southeast. The Chickasaw , Choctaw , Muscogee-Creek , Seminole , and original Cherokee nations had been established as autonomous nations in the southeastern United States. Andrew Jackson sought to renew

1386-601: The north on the Mobile - Baldwin county line, approximately 30 mi (50 km) north of Mobile ; this confluence forms the Mobile River . After the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in 1985, much of the middle course of the river in northeastern Mississippi was diverted into the new, straightened channel. Above Aberdeen Lake, the waterway flows alongside the original course of

1428-694: The removal along with fugitive slaves . The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842 and resulted in the government allowing them to remain in south Florida swampland. Only a small number remained, and around 3,000 were removed in the war. In the 21st century, scholars have cited the act and subsequent removals as an early example of state sanctioned ethnic cleansing or genocide or settler colonialism or as all three Forms of these. Historian Richard White wrote that because of "claimed parallels between ethnic cleansing and Indian removal, any examination of Indian removal will inevitably involve discussions of ethnic cleansing." Other scholarship has focused on

1470-548: The river mile indicates the distance from the mouth of the Mobile River at Mobile Bay . Tributaries that empty directly into the Tombigbee: On April 28, 1979, a tugboat named M/V Cahaba was on the Tombigbee near Demopolis, Alabama trying to guide two coal barges under a flooded side-span of the old Rooster Bridge (removed years later), but the flood current was too strong. The tug and barges approached

1512-667: The river. In addition to the Black Warrior, the river is joined by the Buttahatchee River from the east, north of Columbus, Mississippi. To the South of Columbus, Luxapalila Creek joins with the Tombigbee River, approximately 5.2 miles from downtown Columbus. Approximately 10 mi (15 km) north of Gainesville, it is joined from the north by the Sipsey River . At Gainesville, it is joined from

1554-528: The two cultures. Many of the missionaries were also known to teach the tribes how to use iron tools, build European-style homes, and improve farming techniques; teachings the Wyandot , who maintained a century long friendship with French Canadians , would spread on to other tribes as they relocated to the Maumee Valley . Throughout the 17th and 18th century during the Beaver and French and Indian Wars ,

1596-505: The west by the Noxubee River . The Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge is along the river in southwestern Alabama, approximately 20 mi (30 km) northwest of Jackson. The upper reaches of the Tombigbee formed the homeland of the formidable Chickasaw . The French official Bienville used the Tombigbee to travel with his forces in his 1736 campaign against the Chickasaw. In the nineteenth century, they were considered one of

1638-452: Was a "wise and humane policy" that would save the Native Americans from "utter annihilation". Jackson portrayed the removal as a paternalistic act of mercy. According to Robert M. Keeton, proponents of the bill used biblical narratives to justify the forced resettlement of Native Americans. On April 24, 1830, the Senate passed the Indian Removal Act by a vote of 28 to 19. On May 26, 1830,

1680-575: Was interest in creating a writing and printing system for a few Native languages , especially Cherokee , exemplified by Sequoyah's Cherokee syllabary . The Native Americans also had to adopt settler values, such as monogamous marriage and abandon non-marital sex. Finally, they had to accept the concept of individual ownership of land and other property (including, in some instances, African people as slaves). Many Cherokee people adopted all, or some, of these practices, including Cherokee chief John Ross , John Ridge , and Elias Boudinot , as represented by

1722-468: Was invalid and that Southern states could pass laws extinguishing Indian title themselves. In response, the federal government passed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830, in which President Jackson agreed to divide the United States territory west of the Mississippi River into districts for tribes to replace the land from which they were removed. In the 1823 case of Johnson v. McIntosh ,

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1764-567: Was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson . The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal east of the river Mississippi ". During the presidency of Jackson (1829–1837) and his successor Martin Van Buren (1837–1841) more than 60,000 Native Americans from at least 18 tribes were forced to move west of

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