Five Civilized Tribes

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The Five Civilized Tribes is the term applied to five Native American nations, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole, considered "civilized" by white society because they had adopted many of the colonists' customs (including the ownership of plantations and black slaves) and had generally good relations with their neighbors. The Five Civilized Tribes lived in the Southeastern United States before their removal to other parts of the country, especially the future Oklahoma. Today, many Native Americans, especially those from other nations, find the "Five Civilized Tribes" label patronizing or racist. When the tribes are discussed together, sometimes the modified label "Five Tribes" is used to avoid the suggestion that other indigenous peoples were savages.

The tribes were uprooted from their homes east of the Mississippi River in a series of removals, authorized by federal legislation, over several decades and moved to what was then called Indian Territory and is now the eastern portion of the state of Oklahoma. The most infamous removal was the Trail of Tears of 1838, in which President Martin Van Buren enforced the highly contentious Treaty of New Echota with the Cherokee Nation to exchange their property for land out west.

The Five Tribes were divided during the American Civil War as to which side to support. The Choctaw and Chickasaw fought predominantly on the Confederate side, while the Creek, Seminole and especially the Cherokee were split between the Union and the Confederacy. The Cherokee fought a civil war within their own nation between those who supported the opposing sides.

Once the tribes had been relocated to Indian Territory, the United States government promised that their lands would be free of white settlement. Of course, some settlers violated the agreement with impunity even before 1893, when the government opened up the "Cherokee Strip" to outside settlement by the Oklahoma Land Run. In 1907, the territories of Oklahoma and Indian Territory were merged into the new state of Oklahoma; all Five Civilized Tribes have a major presence there today.