Andrew Jackson Inhumanity To Man Essay

“My friends, circumstances render it impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to the West. And the sooner you do this, the sooner you will commence your career of improvement and prosperity (9) .” This quote by Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, shows how he misled the Native Americans prior to the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was one of the United States’ worst examples of man's inhumanity to man. Over one hundred thousand Native Americans were taken from their homes, and over twenty thousand died, but none suffered as much as the Cherokees (2). The Cherokees were discriminated against by the U.S. government, which

led to the removal of an entire people and a sad journey known as the Trail of Tears.
The Native Americans who traveled on the Trail of Tears were removed for many reasons, the main one being that the whites wanted their land. The Cherokees, considered the most civilized of all the tribes, had created their own communities on the land and had worked the ground, creating fertile farms. They had also established their own government called a Natural Committee made up of thirteen members who managed the ownership of the land. After the Treaty of Hopewell was signed following the American Revolution, the United States was supposed to respect Cherokee land ownership. However, Georgia and North Carolina claimed large sections of Cherokee Nation, allowing thousands of Americans to settle illegally. Georgia demanded that the Cherokee Nation give up over five million acres of their land in the northern part of the state. When the Cherokees accused the white settlers of stealing their property and land, Georgia passed laws that would not allow the Cherokees to testify in court. On the other hand, the citizens of Georgia were allowed to take whatever they wanted and to treat the Cherokees brutally. The situation grew worse for the Cherokees when gold was discovered in Cherokee Nation in 1829. At first the Cherokees were mining the gold themselves, but when Georgia learned of the discovery, they passed laws prohibiting the Cherokees from mining their own land. At one point, some miners were bringing home over two thousand dollars in gold per day. The gold rush hurried along the removal of the Cherokee Nation (4).
Although many Cherokees were determined to stay in their homeland, the Americans in the South were eager for the removal of the Cherokees.

Andrew Jackson was elected the president of the United States in 1828 (8). Although he pretended to be a friend of the Cherokees at the time, after he was elected, he sided with the people of Georgia. He was quoted as telling the Georgia officials, “Build a fire under them, when it gets hot enough, they'll move (8).” Chief John Ross kept pleading with the United States Congress to recognize the treaties of the Cherokee people. In 1832, the United States Supreme Court, led by John Marshall, ruled on the side of the Cherokees. When Jackson heard about the ruling, he said,” John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it (8).” The citizens of Georgia took this as a sign that they could invade Cherokee property and steal their resources (8). While Chief Ross continued to fight for their land, another group of Cherokees, led by Major Ridge, decided it would be better to sign a new treaty. On December 29, 1835, a committee of twenty Cherokees, who were not given permission by Cherokee Nation, signed an agreement to sell all Cherokee land for five million dollars. This act was called the Treaty of New Echota. Although this transaction was illegal, the United States Government overlooked the law in order to acquire the land. The most prominent Cherokee people who signed the treaty were Major Ridge, John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and

Stand Watie. General Winfield Scott was put in charge of building stockades which were two hundred by five hundred feet and were enclosed by sixteen-foot high walls. Troops were sent out with rifles and bayonets to round up all of the Cherokees. Once the Cherokees were placed in the concentration camp, they had no shelter or sanitation. The water they had was often inadequate. Many times the only thing that the Cherokees had to eat was raw salt pork. During the summer, many of the captives died in the intense heat, including seventeen who died in one week. Due to the horrible conditions, hundreds of babies died (5).
The Removal of the Cherokees began in 1838.

The military only escorted the first four of the seventeen detachments. Since the people would not cooperate with the soldiers, Chief John Ross asked to take charge of the removal. The first three detachments left in June of 1838. The first detachment was lucky because it only took seventeen days and there were no deaths. The next two detachments took much longer, and there were over two hundred deaths. These detachments were stranded at river crossings due to low water, and many died due to weather conditions and illness. The fourth detachment left on October 11, 1838, and arrived after eighty- nine days on January 2, 1839. Of the remaining thirteen detachments, twelve traveled over land, and one went by water (7). The Cherokees were forced to travel over eight hundred miles to Indian Territory. Many suffered from exposure, fever, cholera, and dysentery. Many mothers died giving birth, along with their children. The older members of the Cherokee Nation simply gave up the will to live. By the end of the Trail of Tears, four thousand Cherokees, one fifth of the Nation, had died

(8).
After the Cherokees arrived in Indian Territory, their lives did not improve very much. When the people arrived all were exhausted and many were ill. The United States was supposed to provide food for a year, but the rations were of poor quality and small amount. The Cherokees had no livestock or farm equipment, so they could not provide for themselves. The soil was very poor compared to what they had in the South. What was even worse, they had to fight drought and grasshoppers (4). Due to the terrible conditions, many Cherokees wanted the people who signed the Treaty of New Echota to pay for what they had done to the Cherokee Nation. Their law called for the execution of anyone who sold land without the Nation’s permission. Six months after the last detachment arrived in Indian Territory, a group of twenty-five Cherokees dragged John Ridge out of his home and stabbed him to death. After he was killed, the Cherokee men stepped on his body to show how angry they were. At nearly the same time, a second group went to where Elias Boudinot was staying and lured him outside. They stabbed him to death and drove hatchets into his skull. A third group caught Major Ridge out riding his horse. They shot him five times in the head and body. The only one to escape execution was Stand Watie, who later became a famous Civil War general (6). Although the Cherokees thought that the executions were justified, their situation did not change. They were still in a strange land, receiving little help from the United States government that had sent them there.
Throughout history, there have been many examples of man's inhumanity to man. The United States, like many countries around the world, has been guilty of mistreating groups of people. Few, however, suffered as much as the Native Americans. The Cherokees, especially, lost almost everything that was important to them, their homeland and families. It is no wonder that the Indian Removal is called the Trail of Tears.