It’s the year 1838 and the Cherokee Indians are being forced out of their homeland onto land west of the Mississippi River. With no choice but to relocate, the Cherokee Indians are obligated to leave everything they have worked for behind and embark on a long journey to Oklahoma that would ultimately kill many of them. This is what we know today to be the “Trail of Tears” (Byers). In the years before the occurrence of the relocation of the Cherokee Indians and their neighboring tribes, they were settled in areas such as present day Georgia, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama, West Virginia, and Tennessee (Pierce). These Native Americans were part of a nation with much opportunity and with so much to offer. They had great …show more content…
It became visible to Chief James Vann, one of the leaders of the Cherokee, that as more whites settled the other Indian tribes vanished (Byers). At this point, Chief James Vann thought and came to the conclusion that in order to not be moved out just as the other Indian tribes had, the Cherokee needed to adapt more to the whites lifestyles. For that reason, Chief James Vann decided to build a luxurious home similar to those of the wealthy whites and he decided to live life just as one of them hoping to set the example to the Cherokee so they would follow as well. Despite his attempt and the Cherokee attempts to co-exist with the whites, ultimately the whites decided to move forward and find the way to move what was left of the Native Americans, basically the largest of all the tribes the Cherokee …show more content…
The Indian Removal Act, an act that gave the president the authority to negotiate treaties with the Indian Tribes living east of the Mississippi River, for them to move away from the land, had just been signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. Although everything seemed lost, John Ross, who had been elected chief of the Cherokee in 1828, fought to have the policies against the Indians removed (AboutEducation). John Ross took big steps and went on to sue the state of Georgia. Soon this case went to the Supreme Court where it was “ruled that the states could not assert control over the Indian tribes”
In the essay, “The Trail of Tears” by author Dee Brown explains that the Cherokees isn’t Native Americans that evaporate effectively from their tribal land, but the enormous measure of sympathy supported on their side that was abnormal. The Cherokees process towards culture also the treachery of both states and incorporated governments of the declaration and promises that contrived to the Cherokee nation. Dee Brown wraps up that the Cherokees had lost Kentucky and Tennessee, but a man who once consider their buddy named Andrew Jackson had begged the Cherokees to move to Mississippi but the bad part is the Indians and white settlers never get along together even if the government wanted to take care of them from harassment it shall be incapable to do that. The Cherokee families moved to the West, but the tribes were together and denied to give up more land but Jackson was running for President if the Georgians elects him as President he agreed that he should give his own support to open up the Cherokee lands for establishment.
Several Native Americans from the Cherokee tribe had feared that the whites would encroach upon their settlements in the near future so they moved west of the Mississippi many years before the Indian Removal Act was put into place. This good foresight and early movement allowed for them to pick the time that they wanted to leave and they allowed themselves the leisure of moving at their own pace and stopping when they wanted which cut down on casualties extremely and this also allowed them to allocate the appropriate amount of supplies for the trip before attempting to make it prematurely and causing catastrophe to hit. They established a government and worked out a peaceful way of life with the nearby surroundings and allowed themselves to blend into the area that they desired rather than an area that was designated for them. There was always a large tension building between the whites and Cherokee which had reached its climax after the discovery of gold in Georgia. This drove a frenzy that many people wanted in on to make out with a good sum of money as gold was in high demand and worth a lot at the time. When the gold was found it started a miniature gold rush and pulled in whites and
The Highway of Tears is a stretch of pavement that runs through central British Columbia. This road has caused many devastating moments in the 19-20th century. There has been many first nation and metis women murdered or gone missing along this highway. this essay will be explaining why this highway is so devastating to first nations and metis.
The Cherokees lived in the valleys of rivers that drained the southern Appalachians (Perdue, 1). The British first came into Cherokee country in 1700. They came for two major reasons: deerskins and war captives. They brought guns and ammunition, metal knives, hoes, hatchets, fabrics, kettles, rum, and trinkets. They took the Cherokee and made them slaves. The British built two forts to protect the Cherokees while they were fighting the enemies of the British. The Cherokees entered the French and Indian War on the side of the British (Perdue, 6). Attacks on Cherokees by white frontiersmen and duplicity by colonial officials caused the Cherokees to shift their allegiance to the French. During the war, the British destroyed many Cherokee towns.
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.
In the early 1830’s, Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. All of this land was valuable and by the end of this decade, White Americans figured that out. A great portion of the white settlers needed to develop cotton and start their fortunes, and they would do nearly anything to do it on the Natives' property. Eventually, white Americans took the Natives land and sent them on their way to, “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River. This difficult journey was known as the Trail of Tears. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation was written by John Ehle who is an American author born in Asheville, North Carolina. Before becoming an author, Ehle was
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...
Ellis, Jerry. Walking the Trail: One Man's Journey along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. New
The Cherokee Indians first began in the Tennessee and Carolina regions of the United States. However, they did not live there forever, as many were soon forced out by the “white people”. The Cherokees first came in contact with Europeans when Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto explored the region. Later, in 1673, Colonial traders begin coming in contact with the Cherokee tribe. Several years later, in the early 1700, the Cherokees waged war against the southern colonists; however, in the end the Cherokees suffered several losses as a result of smallpox. The population of the Cherokee Indians was estimated at 35,000 in 1685, but in 1760 the population was estimated at seven thousand. Also, the Cherokee had an established democratic government in which each clan governed itself separately. Overall, there were seven Cherokee clans that created the Cherokee nation. Although they had a well-established society and government, they were soon forced from their homes. In 1838, President Jackson and an army forced Cherokee Indians to migrate west. This forced migration later became famously known as “The Trail of Tears”, as 4,000 natives died of hunger or disease. Today it is viewed as one of the darkest moments in American history, and the “trail” remains as a memorial to the Indians who perished. The Cherokee Indians currently reside in Oklahoma, where
The Trail of Tears started in 1838 and ended in 1839. The Native Americans were forced out of their homes and weren’t allowed to get much of their belongings because of the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act was forced because of Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson created the Indian Removal Act because he felt that land was his to take.
Twenty-five million acres of land east of the Mississippi that had been occupied by Indians became available due to the Indian Removal Act. The State of Georgia had a particularly contentious relationship with the Cherokee Indians occupying land within their state. The State of Georgia pushed the Federal government to remove the Cherokee Indians from their state because they wanted the land due to the recent discovery of gold and the desire to expand co...
When the earliest explorers came to America, wherever they settled, they always influenced the culture of most native people. Cherokees like any other natives had their own culture and lived in an organized lifestyle. Early before the whites came, the Cherokees used to have a culture well organized that governed their aspect of life. Also, despite the white man’s influence, Cherokees had a form of education, language, economy, political systems and a lived in a geographical locality. The widespread impact of the white man prompted the Cherokees to change and integrate their lives to that of the white man. They did it by only adopting those elements that complimented their previous way of life. The Cherokees changed the following aspects of
The Cherokee people called this journey “The Trail of Tears”, because of its devastating effects. The trail of tears started in 1836 and ended in 1839. The Cherokee walked about 2,200 miles(3,500km). The Cherokee were Helpless and Defenseless during the trail of tears.
By the end of the Revolutionary war which took place in 1775 and ended by 1783, half of the Cherokees primary land was relinquished, and by 1791 this tribe had already been displaced to Georgia with the passing of another treaty. White settlers wanted to keep expanding and the land became more coveted do to the discovery of gold, and so by 1830 the same government that relocated the Cherokees now attempted to recover the Georgian territory they got moved to and was home to the tribe now. The Cherokees were considered a “civilized” tribe and had left behind their combative nature, by now they believed in the rule of law and having a counsel objected to the relocation. The tribe appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court a total of three times to fight this injustice, the resistance was useless and the government still pushed for the Natives to give up their territory. The wheel was turning at this point and sadly and the events the follow were atrocious: “1838, U.S. president Martin Van Buren ordered the U.S. Army into the Cherokee Nation. The soldiers rounded up as many Cherokees as they could […] and […] marched the captives, […] to the Indian Territory. Scholars estimate that 4,000-5,000 Cherokees,[…] died on this "trail where they cried," commonly known as the Trail of Tears” (Garrison, Tim). This act caused the removal of about fifteen thousand
The Five Civilized Tribes were indigenous people in the United States. The Cherokee were located in upland Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. They speak an Iroquoian language and their population today is around three hundred thousand. The Chickasaw lived along the Tennessee river, west of present-day Huntsville, Alabama, and different parts of Mississippi and Kentucky. They spoke French and English, and were the only tribe to receive compensation for the removal policy. The Choctaw tribe was predominantly farmers and lived in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. They only had around twenty thousand members. The fourth tribe was the Muscogee tribe. They lived in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama. They spoke a Muskogean language, and were closely related to the Seminole tribe. The