Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears

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.)

The Choctaw were told that the Americans in Washington cared little for the situation. They wanted the Choctaw moved on their own, or by military force. The Indians were believed to be ignorant savages, but they were industrious farmers, merchants, and businessmen of all types. Some were educated people, many were Christians. They even had an organized system of government and a codified body of law. Some of these people were not even Indians, some were strangers and orphans had been taken in over the years. These were people who did not deserve what they went through.

When the Chiefs and Warriors signed the treaty, they had come to the realization that they had no option. For doing this the government officials guaranteed to the Indians the body of the treaty, safe conveyance to our new homes. (You cannot forget that in this treaty, the Choctaw traded 10.3 million acres of land east of the Mississippi for 10.3 acres in Oklahoma and Arkansas that we already owned under previous treaties.) Further, it included provisions and monetary annuities, to assist the people to make a new start. One half of the people were to depart almost immediately, the rest the next year.

On March 27, 1838, congress did not accept the request for the relief of the Cherokee. Many then saw their land and property sold before their own eyes. The "conveyances" promised turn out to be a forced march. it was said that "...seven thousand soldiers swooped over the nation causing the Cherokees to suffer greatly" and also the troops were ordered "To use guns and swords if necessary to punish any Cherokee who t...

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... and then were treated unfairly by the government. Jackson spiced everything up for the people in his speeches but in real life ironically forgot that if it were not for an Indian he would be dead himself. ("Andrew Jackson's case for removal of the Indians). Really the only thing that Jackson wanted was manifest destiny and more land for America. He was simply an opportunist given a chance and he took it.

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).

Works Cited

Ellis, Jerry. Walking the trail: One man's journey along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. New York: Dell Publishing, 1991.

"Andrew Jackson" Andrew Jackson's Case for the Removal of Indians. Online. America Online. 20 March 2001.

Brill, Marlene Tars. The Trail of Tears: The Cherokee Journey from home. Connecticut: The Millbrook Press, Inc., 1995.