In 1838, just about 16,000 Native Americans were swept along over 1,200 miles of rough land. During that sweep, over 4,000 of the 16,000 Native Americans had lost their lives, due to disease, famine, and warfare. This Indian tribe was called the Cherokee whom marched the Trail of Tears. With so much destruction, hurt and abandonment Cherokee Indians suffered a long lasting journey till this very day. I would like to focus on first, why were Cherokee Indians removed? Second, the journey of the trail of tears. Lastly, where are Cherokee Indians now in America?
First, why were Cherokee Indians removed? In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed an agreement to buy all Indian land in Georgia because of the gold that was discovered. Which initially
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had extended into purchases much more such as: Mississippi and Alabama. Eventually in 1803, President Jefferson finalized his purchase in Louisiana. This led to the encouragement for Indians to emigrate west. In 1830, Congress had passed the “Indian Removal Act”, which forced the Cherokee to migrate somewhere else. The reasoning of the 1830 Act was initially for the United States to expand its region of land. The ultimate purpose for this expansion of land was because of the expensive soil the Cherokee Indians were living on. A hard fight the Cherokee put up, but initially a battle they did not win. Cherokee Indians were promised riches for their land, but ended up with no riches at all. In the book ‘Racial and Ethnic Relations’ on page 140, it states “Initially, many were forced to move westward as whites advanced. Forced migration at gunpoint was the lot of some groups after their defeat by whites” Ultimately, the removal of Cherokee Indians was an act that the United States will never own up to, Cherokee Indians still till this day were never treated with their earnings for their land they had to give up. Of course many lands that belonged to many tribe nations have been lost by Native Americans and very beneficial to the United States Government to benefit the greedy White men. Second, the journey of the trail of tears.
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 …show more content…
this. Realizing that this is an historical event and we should have more sympathy for the Cherokee Indians in realizing what they sacrificed to give up their homes, lands and dignity. Not only Cherokee Indians were affected by this horrific even, but many other Indian tribes, and till this very day many Indian Tribes are very much so affected by the event that is semi-famously known as the ‘Trail of Tears’. Lastly, where are Cherokee Indians now in America?
Today, Cherokee tribes are structured in 3 different classified groups: Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. Today in America, Cherokee Nations has more than 355,000 citizens, which includes that of all ages. The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is an Old Cherokee Nation were this tribe relocated from the Southeast. This particular tribe has an estimated total of 189,228 that reside in the state of Oklahoma. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, were a tribe where they left behind in the Removal Act. With no money and no rights to own property, Will Thomas bought land for the Cherokees to live and work on the land. Moving along to the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees is also a Cherokee tribe whom reside in Oklahoma. Although this tribe did not embark the horrific journey ‘Trail of Tears’, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees have many ancestors whom embarked this event ‘Trail of Tears’. All 3 of these tribes are seen as different Nations, but essentially are all related and have family kinship that go back to many, many years ago. It is said that all 3 groups have become employed in the building industry. In an article ‘Cherokees of Today’ found on ‘powwows.com’ it states “Today in Eastern Oklahoma and in Western North Carolina you can take a drive into the back hills and through these same communities find these old Indian churches still speaking Cherokee,
still raising their children much as their Grandparents had in the 1920’s and long before that, despite what our “Governments” do…” Today, is a new day for the Cherokee nations, this is there time to throw away the restraints of the many years of hate, torture and discrimination. More than 90 percent of Cherokee people are not acknowledged by Are own Government, which needs to change and have our Cherokee nation recognized and acknowledged for the gold, homes and land they once had to give up. Due to the selfishness of our own ‘The United States’, recognizing the Cherokee people now, will give a better understanding to our generations to come, and have more knowledge on all the sacrifices the Cherokee people took and our still taking. Because in our millennium now, Cherokee Tribes are still till this day not taken care of, suffer racism, treated like dirt and are in extreme poverty. In the book ‘Our fire Survives the Storm: A Cherokee Literary History’ it states on page 26 “Every year the traditional Cherokees gather to dance in the bright flame and dark shadows of the eternal fire and to ask for the help of the fire of spirits”. This quote moved me personally, because as long as this flame is still burning, the Cherokee Nations will survive. This gives hopes of the future, and hope for a better tomorrow for the Cherokee Nations. Concluding all the information I have taken in on the Cherokee Tribes, Nations and people. Knowing that I have kinship to this famously Nation of Cherokees. I was able to establish the knowledge of why Cherokee Indians were removed from their homelands, the journey they embarked on the ‘Trail of Tears’, and lastly knowing where Cherokee Indians now in America. By this course ‘Race and Ethnic Relations’ I have never gave any true thought on wondering what ethnic backgrounds I belong too. Knowing I had Cherokee blood in me, gave me the understanding in this class to get know the history of the Cherokee Nations. Finding out that Cherokees were removed, embarked this horrific journey and still are suffering from the past, just saddens me. I hope by writing this essay I can take back and store this information for the future of my children and understanding just because we don’t recognize our Cherokee Nations now, well if we spread the word, Cherokee people of this Tribe and Nation will become more recognizable in our futures to come to have better understanding and not be back burners in the United States anymore.
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.
... the unwilling tribes west of the Mississippi. In Jackson’s letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, he explained that the Cherokees were still in Georgia, and that they ought to leave for their own benefit because destruction will come upon them if they stay. By 1835, most eastern tribes had unwillingly complied and moved west. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to help out the resettled tribes. Most Cherokees rejected the settlement of 1835, which provided land in the Indian territory. It was not until 1838, after Jackson had left office, that the U.S. Army forced 15,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia. The hardships on the “trail of tears” were so great that over 4,000 Cherokees died on their heartbreaking westward journey. In conclusion, the above statement is valid and true. The decision the Jackson administration made to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River was a reformulation of the national policy. Jackson, along with past Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson, tried to rid the south of Indians This process of removing the native people was continuous as the years went on.
The Chickasaw people made of decently well compared to some of the other Native American tribes that were moved to the West. They had foresight into what was going to take place and they were able to negotiate the sale of their land off for decent sums of money and they actually could afford to pay for the removal to areas west of the Mississippi. Even with saying that many Chickasaw Natives died on the perilous exodus that was their Trail of Tears. The Chickasaw quickly ran into troubles and death as their journey progressed as even having sums of money cannot protect you from the hardships of the land and travel. They did however control when they departed for the areas in the West though due to their possession of money. They chose
Democracy can be traced back before the coming of Christ. Throughout Greece during the sixth century democracy was in its earliest stages and as the millenniums would pass the power of government by the people would show distinct alterations. This is evident when analyzing The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears by Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green. These authors illustrate how the U.S government adjusts policies from that of assimilating the Native American Indians to that of removing them from their homelands and forcibly causing the Cherokee nation to relocate themselves west of the Mississippi. In further depth Perdue and Green portray though vivid description how the government would show disloyalty and how that caused division between the tribal members of the Cherokee people. This endeavor of travel and animosity of the Indians would become known as the Trail of Tears.
...(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).
Prior to 1830 the Cherokee people in the Southern states were land and business owners, many owned plantations and kept slaves to work the land, others were hunters and fishermen who ran businesses and blended in well with their white neighbors, but after Andrew Jackson took office as President, the government adopted a strict policy of Indian removal, which Jackson aggressively pursued by eliminating native American land titles and relocating American Indians west of the Mississippi. That same year, Congress passed the Indian R...
The Indian Removal Act drove thousands of natives off their tribal lands and forced them west to new reservations. Then again, there are those who defend Jackson's decision stating that Indian removal was necessary for the advancement of the United States. However, the cost and way of removing the natives was brutal and cruel. The opposition fails to recognize the fact that Jackson’s removal act had promised the natives payment, food, and protection for their cooperation, but Jackson fails to deliver any of these promises. Furthermore, in “Indian removal,” an article from the Public Broadcasting Service, a description of the removal of the Cherokee nation is given.
The trail of tears was a hideous harsh horrible time that the Native Americans will not forget the 1830s about 100,000 Native Americans peacefully lived on 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of akers. They have been on this land generations before the wight men arrived. There was gold found in Gorga and the land was for ital. They used huge cotton plantations because the people would get rich off of them. In 1830 Andrew Jackson privily sinned the removal act. Te removal act gave the Government the power to trade the land for the land that the Native Americans were on. The Native Americans did not want to move, but the precedent sent troops to force the removal. Solders who looted there homes traveled 15,000 Cherokees, and gunpoint marched over 12,000
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.
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...
There has always been a big debate on whether the Cherokee Indians should have or should not have been removed from the land they resided on. Although the common consensus of the whites was for removal, and for the Cherokees it was against removal, there were some individuals on each side that disagreed with their groups’ decision. The Cherokee Indians should have been removed from their homeland because the Cherokees would not have been able to survive on their own with the way they were living, they would not have been able to exist amidst a white population, and if they were removed, the whites would have helped them create a new and prosperous civilization.
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.
There were several motives for the removal of the Indians from their lands, to include racism and land lust. Since they first arrived, the white Americans hadn’t been too fond of the Native Americans. They were thought to be highly uncivilized and they had to go. In his letter to Congress addressing the removal of the Indian tribes, President Jackson states the following:
The Cherokee lived in the present day United States of America hundreds of years before its occupation by the Europeans. History proclaims that members of this community migrated from the Great Lakes and settled in the Southern Appalachians. When the Europeans started settling down in America, the Cherokee decided to co-exist peacefully with her foreign neighbors. The Cherokee lands consisted of Alabama, parts of Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina and Georgia.... ... middle of paper ...
I walked into the room on New Year’s Day and felt a sudden twinge of fear. My eyes already hurt from the tears I had shed and those tears would not stop even then the last viewing before we had to leave. She lay quietly on the bed with her face as void of emotion as a sheet of paper without the writing. Slowly, I approached the cold lifeless form that was once my mother and gave her a goodbye kiss.