In the 1800's, the Cherokee were doing amazing things, but then President Jackson forced them out. Learn all about it in the eye-opening essay on why the Cherokees were forced to move. About 16,000 Cherokee people were forcibly removed to Oklahoma. Along the way, approximately 4,000 Cherokee died. This is known as the Trail of Tears. Some of the Cherokee decided to stop hunting, farmed land and built wood-frame houses—some even enslaved African Americans. The Treaty of New Echota ceded all Cherokee land to the federal government in exchange for five million dollars. John Ross was a chief who fought for his right to stay. When they were offered $5 million, he said no to the New Echota Treaty. Andrew Jackson forced the Cherokee to move to Indian Territory in the 1830s because of politics, social prejudice, and economics. For starters, Andrew Jackson promised the white Georgians the Cherokee land if they elected him as president. Document A states that he promised the Georgians that if they would help elect him President, he …show more content…
One example of the social prejudice that the Cherokee went through is discrimination. The Cherokee were always seen as different from other humans, no matter how smart they were, they would still be seen as the stupidest person ever. According to Document B, if an Indian is educated in the sciences, has a good knowledge of the classics, astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy, and his conduct [is] equally modest and polite, yet he is an Indian, and the most stupid and illiterate white man will disdain and triumph over this worthy individual. Social prejudice can also be found in an 1835 engraving of Andrew Jackson called Andrew Jackson as the Great Father, in this image, we see Andrew Jackson babying the Cherokee as if he is showing dominance over them. It is clear from these two examples that the Cherokee relentlessly experienced social
The American-Indian documentary film is based on the historical eviction of the Native Americans from their homelands. The documentary is a five part series that span from the 17th to the 20th century beginning with the arrival of the Puritans, the tensions with the Native Americans and their eventual eviction from their homelands. Part III ‘Trail of Tears’ is about tribal debates on how the Cherokee people accepted the policy of assimilation into the Western lifestyle in order to keep their lands and safeguard the Cherokee nation but the white Americas discriminated them regarding them as savages. Their removal was part of Andrew Jackson’s policy to forcefully evict the Indians from the east of the Mississippi River to Oklahoma. The journey is referred to as the ‘Trail of
Andrew Jackson signed the indian removal act in 1830. This act allowed him to make treaties with the natives and steal their lands. The Trail of Tears was a forced relocation of more than 15,000 cherokee Indians. The white men/people gave the natives 2 options: 1. Leave or 2. Stay and Assimilate (learn our culture). The natives couldn’t have their own government. There were 5 civilized tribes including the cherokees. They learned english and went to american schools and when the cherokees went to court they won.
...(Perdue 20). It gave them two years to prepare for removal. Many of the Cherokees, led by John Ross, protested this treaty. However, in the winter of 1838-1839, all of the Cherokees headed west toward Oklahoma. This removal of the Cherokees is now known, as the Trail of Tears was a very gruesome event. During the trip from the southern United States to current day Oklahoma, many of the Cherokees died. Shortly after their arrival in Oklahoma, they began to rebuild. They began tilling fields, sending their children to school, and attending Council meetings (Perdue 170).
John Marshall ruled that Georgia’s seizure of Indian lands was unconstitutional in 1832, and the federal government had treaty obligations to protect the Indians, though Jackson refused to act on the ruling. Jackson urged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This law was to negotiate a peaceful exchange of Indian lands in the south for new lands in the “Indian Territory,” which is now Oklahoma. The Choctaws and Chickasaws agreed to accept lands in the West, but many other groups resisted relocation, and this resisting caused violent conflicts. The United States military removed the Creeks from their lands, and the Seminoles fought the Second Seminole War, which ended with U.S. troops forcing most of them away from Florida. After this, troops forced more than 15,000 Cherokees to travel from the Southeast to Oklahoma. Many died of disease, exposure and hunger. “The name of the route they followed is known as the “trail of Tears,” which comes from the Cherokee nunna-da-ul-tsun-yi, for the “trail where they cried” (history
“Quantie’s weak body shuddered from a blast of cold wind. Still, the proud wife of the Cherokee chief John Ross wrapped a woolen blanket around her shoulders and grabbed the reins.” Leading the final group of Cherokee Indians from their home lands, Chief John Ross thought of an old story that was told by the chiefs before him, of a place where the earth and sky met in the west, this was the place where death awaits. He could not help but fear that this place of death was where his beloved people were being taken after years of persecution and injustice at the hands of white Americans, the proud Indian people were being forced to vacate their lands, leaving behind their homes, businesses and almost everything they owned while traveling to an unknown place and an uncertain future. The Cherokee Indians suffered terrible indignities, sickness and death while being removed to the Indian territories west of the Mississippi, even though they maintained their culture and traditions, rebuilt their numbers and improved their living conditions by developing their own government, economy and social structure, they were never able to return to their previous greatness or escape the injustices of the American people.
The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the execution of the Treaty of New Echota (1835), an “agreement” signed under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). With the expansion of the American population, the discovery of gold in Georgia, and the need for even more land for American results in the push to move the Natives who were “in the way”. So with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Congress acted to remove Natives on the east coast of the United States to land west of the Mississippi River, something in which was never embraced or approved by them (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). Many state governments, such as Georgia, did not want Native-owned land within their boundaries, while the Natives did not want to move. However, under the Removal Act, the United States Congress gave then-President Andrew Jackson the authority to negotiate removal treaties.
At the beginning of the 1830s there was nearly 125,000 native Americans that lived on “millions of acres of the land of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida”.(history.com) These lands had been occupied and cultivated by their ancestors for generations before. Then because of The Trail of Tears was an “800-mile forced journey marked by the cruelty of soldiers”. (Tindall P.434) and by the end of the forced relocations very few Native Americans remained anywhere in the southwest. “working on behave of the white settlers federal government forced them to leave their lands and walk miles to an “Indian territory””.(history.com) .This all happened because of the Indian Removal act of 1930, which authorized the relocation of the eastern Indians to the west of the Mississippi river. The Cherokee Indians tried to fight the relocation and even with the Supreme Court’s support Andrew Jackson still forced them to leave their land. By the 1840s there wasn't many Cherokee Indians that still remained in the southwest.
Andrew Jackson took no action after Georgia claimed millions of acres of land that had been guaranteed to the Cherokee Indians under federal law. He failed to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Georgia had no authority over Native American tribal lands. In 1835, the Cherokees signed a treaty giving up their land in exchange for territory west of Arkansas. In 1838, approximately 16,000 would head on foot along the Trail of Tears. The relocation resulted in the deaths of thousands. The reason for these removal can be attributed to the recent discovery of valuables such as gold in Georgia. Jackson slaughtered thousands of humans in the greedy pursuit of
The Trail of Tears was a horrific time in history from the Cherokee Indians. May 18, 1830 was the beginning of a devastating future for the Cherokee Indians. On that day congress officially passed Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal act. This policy granted President Andrew Jackson the right to force the Cherokee tribe consisting of about 13,000 people off of their reservations consisting of about 100 million acres east of the Mississippi River in the Appalachian Mountains and to attend a long and torturous journey consisting of about 1,200 miles within nine months until they reached their new home, a government-mandated area with in present-day Oklahoma. They left their land which was home to the “Five Civilized Tribes” which were assimilated
The tragedy of the Cherokee nation has haunted the legacy of Andrew Jackson"'"s Presidency. The events that transpired after the implementation of his Indian policy are indeed heinous and continually pose questions of morality for all generations. Ancient Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in an effort to increase the aggressive expansion of white settlers during the early years of the United States. The most notable removal came after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee, whose journey was known as the '"'Trail of Tears'"', and the four other civilized tribes, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, were forced to emigrate to lands west of the Mississippi River, to what is now day Oklahoma, against their will. During the journey westward, over 60,000 Indians were forced from their homelands. Approximately 4000 Cherokee Indians perished during the journey due to famine, disease, and negligence. The Cherokees to traveled a vast distance under force during the arduous winter of 1838-1839.# This is one of the saddest events in American history, yet we must not forget this tragedy.
1830 saw the instatement of the Indian Removal Act, a forced relocation of several Native American tribes. This spurred what is now known as the “Trail of Tears.” The Five Civilized Tribes, Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole were forced to relocate after resisting assimilation with American civilization. Over 17,000 tribe members were removed and sent to what is now Oklahoma by the order of President Andrew Jackson. Despite the ruling of Chief Justice John Marshall, Jackson set in motion the Trail of Tears. Many perished on the way, and many perished after. (“Q&A: The Trail of Tears”)
When we think of the first people in America, whom do we think of? Of course, Christopher Columbus comes to mind. Yet, the first people to step on land were the native people. The native people were the first people to set foot on this soil, long before any white person. Regrettably, they were brutally attack, and removed from their homes. This how the Trails of Tears began. This paper will discuss the effects of The Trail of Tears had on the Indians.
The Trail of Tears was a hard battled journey for the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee were driven to move west. They had to compromise and sign treaties, which drove them out of their land by the U.S. government. This was unfair to the Cherokees; the white settlers wanted the land for gold. Trail of tears is historically monumental because it shows the U.S. government cruelty to the Native Americans. It was unfair rights because they basically stole Cherokees land to satisfy their hunger for gold.
With the discovery of the New World came a whole lot of new problems. Native American Indians lived in peace and harmony until European explorers interrupted that bliss with the quest for money and power. The European explorers brought with them more people. These people and their descendants starting pushing the natives out of their homes, out of their land, far before the 1800s. However, in the 1800s, the driving force behind the removal of the natives intensified. Thousands of indians during this time were moved along the trail known as Nunna dual Tsung, meaning “The Trail Where They Cried” (“Cherokee Trail of Tears”). The Trail of Tears was not only unjust and unconstitutional, but it also left many indians sick, heartbroken, and dead.
Within United States History, there has been some horrible discrimination upon certain races of people. At the trail of tears native Americans were persecuted against heavily. Until 1828 the federal government had Cherokee rights to their land and in that same year Andrew Jackson was elected president and this all ended. On September 15, 1830, at Little Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Chiefs of tribes and representatives of the United States met to discuss a bill recently passed by the Congress. This day started with all the same good intentions of those today but ended with only a few Native Americans signing the treaty which allowing for the removal of all Indian peoples to the west of the Mississippi River. ( Brill, The Trail of tears: The Cherokee journey from home.)