1. The Road To Statehood
Chapter 3

2. Terms to Know Mound-builders Maize Clan Exogamy Polygamy Treaty
Northwest Ordinance
Sectionalism
Constitution

3. People Hernando de Soto Rene Robert Cavelier
Sieur de La Salle Henry de Tonti
Pierre le Moyne Sieur de’Iberville
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur d’Bienville
Winthrop Sargent David Holmes

4. Places Rosedale Fort Maurepas Fort Rosalie Natchez District
Natchez Trace
Washington

5. Early Mississippians
Native Americans reached this part of North America tens of thousands of years ago.
They hunted wild animals, foraged for food, and raised crops
What does the fact that they farmed tell you?
The Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Natchez were descendants of those early Native Americans.
These were the largest tribes in the Mississippi region when Europeans and Africans began to arrive.
Places like Yazoo and Biloxi are derived from Indian tribe names.

6. First Europeans
The Spanish and the French were the first to explore Mississippi.
Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River but died while searching for treasure.
The French travelled the river trading furs and proselytizing.

7. Settlement The French settled Natchez, beside the Mississippi River.
Later the British, Spanish and Americans shared this region with the Choctaw.
In 1798 the U.S. created the Ms Territory to encourage the orderly settlement of this part of the frontier

8. Early Native Americans
How did they get here?
See Handout

9. History of early Native Americans is divided into four periods

10. Paleo Period Ice Age Period ended around 12,000 years ago
Siberian land bridge vs French fishermen
Archeologists have found few traces of Paleo Indians in Mississippi

11. Archaic Period The climate became warmer and drier
Large animals died out
Native Americans became less nomadic
They hunted, fished and gathered nuts and berries
No writing system
Used stone tools

12. Woodland Period
Developed highly organized societies in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys
Built burial mounds over tombs sometimes shaping them like birds and animals (Moundbuilders)
Learned how to farm and used copper and stone tools suggesting a wide-ranging trade system
Villages became larger and politically linked.
Began using bow and arrow

13. Mississippian Period

14. Mississippian Period
Continued moundbuilding tradition however, instead of burial mounds, they built religious buildings and the homes of the chiefs on top of their flat, rectangular mounds
Existed between the 8th and 17th centuries
Found all throughout the southeastern U.S.
The second largest mound is located in Natchez
Many others are spread across the state
In some cases, like Natchez, mounds were built in stages and some were multiple mounds. One was the base for a temple where elders’ bones were buried
Built villages surrounded by wooden fences.
Grew corn, squash, beans

15. Mounbuilders

16. Native American Societies
Most were very small societies (Choula, Pascagoula, Tunica, and Biloxi)
The largest were the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Natchez
All Mississippi Native American languages were similar to others in the southeast EXCEPT for the Biloxi
Most southeastern Native American tribes shared similar religious beliefs.
Each village governed itself and sent representatives to the tribal councils.
A strict chain of command was established and regulated issues like seating at councils, titles, and even tattoos

17. Native American Societies (cont)
The Choctaw (18th Century) had a main chief and six lesser chiefs. They also had the Mingo Oumu (War Chief) and the Tichou Mingo (Spokesperson)
Within each village resided several clans (Groups of related families)
These clans punished crimes and protected members of the clan
If necessary, it sought revenge for the murder of other clansmen.
The clan approved marriages which ALWAYS crossed clan lines. (Marrying outside ones own clan is called Exogamy)
When a couple married they lived close to the wife’s family.

18. Native American Society (cont)
Any children were considered of the wife’s clan.
In this society the closest MALE relative of a child was considered to be the mother’s brother; NOT his own father.
Men held the important political and religious positions in the society
Occasionally, a man had more than one wife (Polygamy) and the two wives were usually sisters.
They built close to rivers and streams because it was easier to farm and irrigate.
Women did most of the farming, although the men cleared the land.
Crops included: Maize, Pumpkin, Beans, and Peas.

19. Native American Society (cont)
Women made pottery, gathered food, farmed, fished, and tanned hides
Men constructed buildings, hunted deer and bear, and fought other tribes.
Religion centered on the sun and sacred fires which represented the sun on Earth.
They believed in spirits and gods associated with nature and animals.

20. Native American Wide World of Sports
Their sport was stickball. It was associated with religion also. It was called Ishtohbohl and accompanied by ceremonies and sometimes ritual sacrifice (Maya and Aztec)
Ishtohbohl was always a contest between villages.
The object was to throw or carry a ball between two goal posts. (Remind you of anything?
The ball could only be touched by rackets.
Virtually the only rule was that each team had to have the same number of players.
They also played Chunky with a round stone.

21. Native American Rulers
The Natchez lived between Warren and Wilkinson.
Their ruler was known as the “Great Sun”.
Had both political and religious authority.
He rode around in a litter and had multiple wives.
When he died, some of his wives and other members of the tribe were killed and buried with him.
This unquestioned authority of the Great Sun made a deep impression on the French explorers who arrived in the New World.

22. European Explorers

23. Periods of European Expansion
Four periods of European, overseas expansion
Initial period of expansion
Fifteenth through seventeenth centuries
Colonial trade rivalry – England, Spain, France
Seventeenth through early nineteenth century
New empires in Africa and Asia
Nineteenth century
Decolonization – mid-twentieth century

24. European Explorers
Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and sparked the European exploration of the Americas.
Explorers were followed by Settlers.
This story is full of excitement, adventure, and triumph, As Well As, despair, disappointment, defeat, catastrophe, and death.

26. Spanish Explorers
The Spanish were the first to visit Mississippi between
Hernando de Soto explored the southeastern part of North America
He was after Gold and Silver

27. Hernando de Soto
Expeditions included six hundred soldiers, many on horseback.
They brought hogs with them as a source for food.
The Spanish introduced both hogs and horses to North America
He landed near Tampa, Fl
He explored as far North as North Carolina
He then turned West and South
He held Indian Chiefs hostage to secure labor, supplies and information
In 1540 near Mobile he was attacked but the natives did not know how to fight cavalry and they were defeated
He then led his forces into Mississippi.

28. Hernando de Soto
In 1541, another attack by Native Americans forced the expedition further west.
In May, the weary soldiers reached the Mississippi River, built boats and crossed it.
The exact site has not been determined. Possibly Memphis
He died in His men buried him and then tried to walk to Mexico.
That turned out to be too difficult so they returned to the Mississippi River and built boats again.
They were often pursued by Native Americans and many died
The survivors reached the Gulf of Mexico and sailed along the coast to Mexico.
Less than half survived the expedition.

29. Effects of de Soto The Spanish did not return. They found no Gold
They were constantly harassed by the natives
The most profound effect was unexpected...Disease spread to Native Americans for which they had NO immunity.
The extensive trade routes spread the diseases quickly.
The population of the Native Americans dramatically decreased because of the diseases.
It is estimated that the population of Native Americans decreased by 50% in the century and a half after Columbus landed.

30. The Columbian Exchange
“Massive movement and interaction of biological organisms after Columbus”
People, plants, animals, diseases
Between Europe, Americas, Africa
Shapes world up to present

32. French Explorers The French were next to explore Mississippi
They settled in Quebec in
They utilized the rivers and lakes to explore
Searched for a water route to the Pacific
Were most interested in fur trading and proselytizing.

33. Louis Jolliet and Jaques Marquette
In 1673, sailed down the Mississippi River.
Reached present-day Rosedale before realizing that the Ms. River flowed to the Gulf NOT the Pacific
They turned around once they realized this

34. Rene Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and Henry de Tonti
In 1682, they came down the Ms. River and claimed the region for France
They befriended the Natchez Indians near Vicksburg
La Salle returned to the region and tried to establish a settlement at the mouth of the Ms. River
He died trying

35. Tonti
Made several trips up and down the Ms. River looking for La Salle, even leaving a letter for him with the Native Americans at the mouth of the Ms. River

36. Settlement
Spain, England and France established colonial Settlements in Eastern North America.
Spanish were in Florida
English were along the East Coast from New Hampshire to Georgia
French were in Canada
These Countries competed for colonies and fought wars for control of the world

37. European Wars These wars had three major consequences:
1. The territory of each country changed
2. The colonists in America sought allies among the Native Americans and different tribes supported different countries
3. Mississippi was ruled first by the French, then by the English and finally by the Spanish.
The United States did not gain control of Mississippi until 1798.

38. French Settlement
From their base in Quebec, the French tried to control the interior of North America
Wanted to dominate the fur trade
Wanted to confine the English to the East Coast
In order to do that, they had to control the Ohio and Ms. River valleys

39. Sieur d’Iberville
In 1699, the French sent d’Iberville of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico to establish a colony.
Finding the Spanish firmly established in Pensacola, he continued west, looking for a good site.
He reached Ship Island and then landed on the mainland on February 13, 1699.
By March he located the mouth of the Mississippi River
He travelled up river past Baton Rouge and met with the tribe Tonti left the La Salle letter with 15 years earlier.
He sailed back to Ship Island and then built Fort Maurepas on the present site of Ocean Springs.
This was the first European settlement in Mississippi.
He left 80 men, his brother Jean-Baptiste le Moyne and Sieur d’Bienville.

40. Louisiana
Iberville made several more trips to the Gulf Coast before dying in 1706
On one of those trips he established Mobile.
He abandoned Fort Maurepas because of its poor water supply, few trading partners, poor soil and no access to the interior. Basically....It Sucked!
Bienville governed and defended the settlements while Iberville was away and established the settlement of New Orleans in 1718.

41. French Incursions
French Canadians traveled up and down the Ms River and many were attacked along the way
Bienville sailed up-river and took several chiefs hostage until the perpetrators had been captured and put to death.
He built Fort Rosalie in 1716, at the present site of Natchez and Fort St. Pierre where the Yazoo River joined the Ms. River at present-day Vicksburg
A small community developed around Fort Rosalie and prospered until 1729.

42. The Massacre at Fort Rosalie
The local governor demanded that the Natchez surrender a nearby village.
In response, they attacked the fort, killed two hundred French, and freed nearly 300 black slaves
The French retaliated with the help of the Choctaw, destroying the Natchez as a separate tribe.
Those that survived fled north to the Chickasaw.

43. Native Americans and Europeans
The relationship between Native Americans and Europeans is a complex subject.
Native Americans were NOT united among themselves and often at war with one another.

44. Understanding Indian Politics
Meanwhile the French and British were almost always at war with one another.
In America each side “bought” allies with trade goods, especially guns and gunpowder.
The Choctaw sided with the French
The Natchez, Chickasaw and Creek sided with the British
The Chickasaw raided Choctaw lands, captured them and took them to Charlestown, SC to be sold as slaves.
The Choctaw, in turn, attacked the Chickasaw near Tupelo with French help, but were defeated.

45. Mid 18th Century War again broke out between France and Great Britain
However, this time, the war started in America
Known as the French and Indian War here ( ) was fought to see who would control the Ohio and Mississippi River Valleys
Most of the fighting took place north of Mississippi
Although the Choctaw fought a civil war between supporters of the French and those of the British
The French supporters of the Choctaw won
France lost the greater war
France gave up all territory east of the Ms River at the Treaty of Paris, 1763.

46. A Formal agreement between two or more nations.
Definition
Treaty:
A Formal agreement between two or more nations.

47. British Mississippi The British influenced Mississippi before 1763
British traders from Charleston had travelled among the Choctaw and Chickasaw for decades, although the Choctaw preferred the French
After 1763, Mississippi was an official part of the province of West Florida
It was an unimportant and remote portion of the British Empire
The Capital was Pensacola
The colony of Georgia claimed the region
Britain encouraged settlement in West Florida and the Natchez area
Veterans of the war received land grants.

48. British Mississippi
By 1774, 3000 settlers had taken up residence in the Natchez district
Relations soured between Great Britain and her colonies
July 4, 1776 the colonists declared independence from Britain
Not until 1778 did it affect the Natchez district
James Willing travelled down the Mississippi River and seized territory in the Natchez district and then continued on to New Orleans.
Spain declared war on Great Britain and captured Natchez in September 1779
In 1783, The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War placing the border at 31 degrees north latitude although Spain held on to Natchez

49. Spanish Mississippi The district prospered under Spanish rule
The population tripled between (2000 people-6,900 people)
The Spanish Governor encouraged American immigration to the district and even gave generous land grants and was tolerant of Protestant religions
Originally, the land was wooded but once cleared it was quite fertile
Tobacco and indigo were important but COTTON became the best cash crop
In 1800 the district exported 3 million pounds (1/6th the total exports of all the Americas that year)

50. Spanish Mississippi
Farmers in the district grew corn, feeding people and animals.
Hogs and cattle were also raised
The cattle drives of Texas had their origins in Mississippi
Spain controlled the district but the U.S. claimed it as its own
This issue was known as the Right of Deposit
Getting goods to market was a huge problem:
Traveling by road, if any existed in an area, was slow
So it became important to send goods down the rivers to New Orleans for export

51. Pinckney’s Treaty Also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo
Granted the right of Americans to deposit their goods in New Orleans
Spain surrendered its hold over the Natchez district
The U.S. took control over the region in 1798.

52. The Mississippi Territory

53. Mississippi Territory
When the U.S. began governing the territory Native Americans made up the largest segment of the population
They had title to most of the land
It was mainly wooded and home to deer, turkey and bear
Many snakes, some deadly, could be found throughout the territory
Roads were little more than trails
There were no bridges
The Natchez Trace was the “Highway” to Nashville
“Stands” along the Trace served as stores and Motels for weary travelers
Natchez was a center of trade and commerce and a major port for sailors and goods

54. Territorial Government
The NorthWest Ordinance of 1787 established the framework for the government of the territories.
The Ordinance provided for the admission of new states
The exception was that it did NOT allow for slavery but the territories south of the Ohio River did allow slavery.

55. The Admission Process Had 3 Stages:
1. The President, with Congressional approval, appointed a territorial governor, 3 judges and a secretary to the governor.
The Governor and Judges acted as a territorial legislature.
Once the population of adult, free, men reached 5,000 phase 2 began
2. The voters could now elect an assembly to pass laws and a territorial representative to Congress. The governor and judges remained.
3. Began when the territory had 60,000 people (excluding Indians) Representatives were elected to write a state constitution. After Congress approved it, a new state was admitted.

56. Mississippi’s First Government
Territorial Governor:
Winthrop Sargent
Secretary to the Governor:
John Steele
Territorial Judges:
Peter Bryan Bruin
Daniel Tilton
William McGuire

57. Early Problems Sargent almost immediately became controversial
Disputes centered on the laws he imposed and the strict nature of his administration.
The National political climate drove much of the controversy.
Federalists vs Republicans
Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
Republicans led by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton
Sargent was a federalist
His opponents in the state were Jeffersonians
There was also a huge rift between merchants in Natchez and their rural customers.

58. Change in Government
After Jefferson won the Presidency he appointed a new Governor (W.C.C. Claiborne) and moved the Capital from Natchez to the town of Washington to appease the farmers. It was highly symbolic.

59. Land Ownership of the land in the territory was a major issue.
Most of the land was owned by the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes
Pressure grew on the U.S. to acquire the land.

60. Land
Settlers held title to the land from all three previous ruling countries: France, Spain and Britain
Others had purchased land grants from Georgia
Often these claims overlapped causing confusion
Many settlers were Squatters and had cleared and farmed the land, built homes but did not own it.
The U.S. government had developed an orderly process to gain land ownership with the Land Ordinance of 1785.
Land was divided into townships
Each township was 6 miles square with 36 sections. Each section was 640 acres
Section 16 was given to the people to rent

61. Sectionalism Definition: An allegiance to local interests.
The Natchez district dominated the politics of the territory.
Settlers East of the Pearle River resented the Natchez district and its power
Whites in the East believed that the Natchez whites used their wealth and slaves to run the territorial government for their own benefit.
Conflicts arose between whites and then between predominantly white districts and those with African Americans and would continue throughout the history of the state

62. Taking Shape
In 1804, the territory was extended to the Tennessee border after Georgia gave up its claims.
The southern border was extended after the U.S. won the war of 1812 and Spain was forced to give up its claims
Mississippi’s territorial period only lasted about twenty years but was an exciting era
Personal quarrels often led to duels and death.
During the War of 1812 the U.S. fought the Creek Indians in the Eastern part of the territory.
The Creek attack on Fort Mims resulted in the deaths of over 500 men, women and children. Settlers fled to Mobile and Natchez.
Andrew Jackson defeated the Creeks and reopened the land

63. Dividing the state and joining the Union
Statehood
Dividing the state and joining the Union

64. Statehood Congress divided the state in two in 1817 creating Alabama.
Once Congress established the borders a constitution was written.
Definition:
Constitution...Sets up the framework of a government and determines its powers and limitations.
The legislative branch was given more power than the executive because of the territory’s history with overzealous governors.
Judges were appointed for life.
Property owners could vote.
Blacks and non-taxpaying-whites were not counted.

65. Did You Know?
The delegates to the constitutional convention did not submit the new constitution to the voters but sent it to the federal government for approval.
Upon approval, Mississippi became the 20th state on December 10, 1817.
David Holmes became the first Governor.

66. End Chapter 3