Maintaining large amounts of land has always been a goal for American government. During the 1830’s, vast amounts of Native Americans were being forcibly removed from their land so that the Americans could claim it as their own. With little defense compared to the Americans’ superior fire power, the Native Americans basically had no choice on whether or not they wanted to move west from their lands. One specific group of Native Americans that was unjustly removed from their lands was the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee clashed with American government and did not willfully move out of their homelands in the southeastern parts of the United States. Although the Americans had substantial reasons why they wanted the Cherokee’s territory, they had no right to kick the Indians out of their homeland. There were many events that lead up to and caused the Trail of Tears. One of the main reasons that the U.S. wanted the Cherokee’s land was to open eastern lands to European American immigrants (Bertolet). During the 1820’s, as the eastern population grew, southern states urged the federal government to remove Indians from their lands. The government tried to appease the southern states by proposing treaties with the tribes. The Indians felt that the land was rightfully theirs, so they did not agree to these treaties. Since the Indians were not agreeing with the government, President Andrew Jackson approved and signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act allowed the president exchange Indian lands for land west of the Mississippi River. This act was unfair to the Cherokee nation and the Indian people because they had no say in the passing of this act. Supporters of the removal act said that it would allow for Americans and immigrants to... ... middle of paper ... ...reserve community structures such as clan and kin relationships (nationalhumanitiescenter.org). The removal of the Cherokee Indians from their lands in the southeast is the largest Indian relocation in American history (Sides 362). It was unjust for the Americans to seize Indian land in order to make room for more Americans and immigrants. The Indians had done nothing to deserve this type of brutal treatment. These Indians had no way of fighting back to the Americans, so it was both unfair and unjust. The Trail of Tears, or as Indians called it The Trail where the Wept, was a trail of sickness and despair (Ehle 385). No person should ever have to go through what the Cherokees and other tribes went through. Even though the Americans had some viable reasons to desire the Indian land, they had no right of forcibly removing the Indians out without all of their consent.
Whether or not the Indian Removal Act could have been prevented or not does not change the fact that the Trail of Tears was not inevitable. Although it could be argued that the U.S. was unavoidably going to remove the Natives from their land so they could expand west, they did not need to move them so quickly. In fact, despite Jackson not being president during the Trail of Tears, it was his agreement and furthermore his persistence to President Martin Van Buren, his handpicked successor, that brought about this horror that was nothing short of a genocide. (Remini 1, 10)
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”)
The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress in order to allow the growth of the United States to continue without the interference of the Native Americans. Jackson believed that the Native Americans were inferior to white settlers and wanted to force them west of the Mississippi. He believed that the United States would not expand past that boundary, so the Native Americans could govern themselves. Jackson evicted thousands of Native Americans from their homes in Georgia and the Carolinas and even disregarded the Supreme Court’s authority and initiated his plan of forcing the Natives’ on the trail of tears. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Indians, however Jackson ignored the ruling and continued with his plan. The result of the Indian Removal Act was that many tribes were tricked or forced off their lands, if they refused to go willingly, resulting in many deaths from skirmishes with soldiers as well as from starvation and disease. The Cherokee in particular were forced to undergo a forced march that became known as the Trail of
The removal act was also known as the trail of tears, this act was signed by president andrew jackson. Andrew did not like most indians and he said that he is proud that we have finally moved indians off of white man land. It is said that four thousand cherokees died on the trail of tears. Most of the indian tribes did not go with them they retaliated and got killed by the soldiers. The people of the united states did not like what was happening to all the natives and how we would just kill them if they would not move. For that reason we hated andrew jackson and how he ran the united
Everyone believed that the trail of tears, the Indian removal or whatever other name that you can give to it was something good for America. A land based on freedom and equality but something like this can happen. For the "good" of the Indians, Andrew Jackson humbly believed, but was it truly for the profit of himself and the country first before the "good" of the Indians ("Andrew Jackson's case for removal of the Indians).
First, the Europeans forced the Native Americans from their homes because the Europeans needed a place to live. The Europeans also found gold on the Cherokee land. This resulted in the Georgia Gold Rush. Nardo emphasizes that “By the 1840s, more than sixty thousand Native Americans had been removed from the Eastern United States” (Nardo 17). The Europeans did not just want the Native American land, but they did not want to live close by them. The article “An American Betrayal Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears” mentions, “Numerous little-known Europeans also emerged as brave defenders.” (17). As a result, the settlers wanted the government to force Native Americans to leave. Blackburn points out. “The Cherokee, which white Americans called one of the Five Civilized Tribes, considered themselves American and wanted to join the growing country as participating members” (Blackburn 53). The Cherokees made the biggest effort to live in peace, but the Europeans refused to let them stay.
Imagine abruptly being forced out of your home. Imagine walking barefoot for miles and seeing people close to you collapse left and right. This is how every Native American on the Trail of Tears lived because of the Indian Removal Act. This act, signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28 of 1830, granted him the right to grant unsettled lands in exchange for Indian lands. These lands were inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes - the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. Due to the Indian Removal Act, these five tribes were forced off their land and sent 1500 miles west to present day Oklahoma. Thousands died of countless illnesses, their sufferings earning the migration its name - the Trail of Tears. The Indian Removal Act
The Cherokee nation was full of culture, successful agriculture, and a trusted community. This changed when the Europeans broke that trust with greed and dishonesty. The Cherokee land had many things that the intruders wanted, such as gold and crops. Not only did the Europeans become disloyal, but so did some of their own native blood. When Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal bill, even against the Supreme Court's decision, the tribe started to decline. Some became scared for their people, while others were going to stand their ground. A few of the ex-council members signed a contract stating that the US government could have their land. In exchange for protection on the move to their new home by Mississippi, new churches and schools,
1838, a journey that went in the direction of west, thousands of Cherokee men, women, and children were left without land, homes, and began this difficult journey. The Cherokee Nation not only were forced out of their villages, but had to surrender their homeland to the United States. This long journey the Cherokee Indians embarked on was known as the ‘Trail of the tears’. When the Cherokee Nation had given up their tribal lands, specifically for Cherokee Indians was in the State of Georgia. White men discovering that were was gold in this land, which led to mining the Indians lands for gold. Cherokees who have embarked this journey, put up a fight. Now the Cherokee name is a name that is popular in the Indian tribes, and is a name that a majority of Americans know of, but essentially do not know the story behind their journey. In the book ‘The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears’ it states on page 3 “Only about 10 percent of the eastern Indians who traveled the Trail of Tears to the place now called Oklahoma were Cherokees, however, each of the dozens of relocated tribes has its own unique and important history.” Embarking in this journey, Cherokee Indians have a place in history to prove that this event, the United States put them through, is now a piece of history they will never forget. Although the trail of tears was an event that was made up of pain, suffering, and heartache, we as Americans should give more attention to
In the early 1800s as the United States was expanding into the South, white settlers faced a barrier. The area they were expanding into was home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations. To the white settlers, these nations were standing in the way, so they pressured the federal government to take away the land from them. These nations were forced to take a route that led to reservations west of the Mississippi River known as the Trail of Tears.
During the era of colonization, Native Americans and the new settlers began to clash over the land ownership. The Indian’s were against these new settlers who forced their way on their land due to the overpopulation on American settlements. The settlers wanted the Indians to move west and give their land to the American people. As the American government forced the Indians out of their lands and toward the West, the aggressive removal became known as the Trail of Tears. This tragic event became even more notarized when President Andrew Jackson came into office. Though the Indian tribes were reluctant to give up their land to the government, this was a battle they simply could not win. An arduous fight for land resulted in thousands
In the early 1830’s, several Native Americans were removed from their homelands and forced to move further west of the Mississippi River. This horrible event was known as the Trail of Tears. It involved several different tribes, however, the most commonly known was the Cherokee Indians.
The Trail of Tears, was it unjust and inhumane? What happened to the Cherokee during that long and treacherous journey? They were brave and listened to the government, but they recieved unproductive land and lost their tribal land.
The Trail of Tears is a story based on the mass forced exodus of the Cherokee nation from the Eastern United States. The Documentary and the Text book discuss the reason behind the decision to remove the Cherokee from their lands. It also discusses those involved and the decision, along with the outcome of some.
Also the state of Georgia and the citizens did not want Indians to stay on the land. “In 1820, pressure from the government and the people of Georgia made it exceedingly hard for the Cherokees to stay in the state of Georgia”, (Rozema 42). Therefore that is to say the Indians chose to do everything and anything to stay together as a tribe even if it meant they had to move across the country for that. This then led to the Indian Removal Act. This was the first major legislature that said the U.S. would no longer respect the legal and political rights of the Indians. The Act gave President Andrew Jackson a grant to acquire the Indian tribe’s unsettled western lands in exchange for their territories within the state borders in the Southeast, where they would be removed from. The Indians were forced to accept the land exchange and the removal