The Cherokee Trail of Tears

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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.
White resentment was heavily toward one group of indians known as the Cherokee. The Cherokee possessed land that white farmers wanted for growing cotton (History). Another thing that prompted Indian removal was the discovery of gold in northern Georgia mountains (“A Brief History”). They would do whatever it took to take that land away. The white farmers even stole their animals, destroyed their towns, burned their homes, all in the attempt to run the indians out (History). President Andrew Jackson, who was saved by the natives in the battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, surprisingly supported this effort and signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (A Brief History). States such as Georgia also passed laws that limited the rights of the Cherokee and other tribes. The battle was brought to the Supreme Court in 1831 with Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and in 1832 with Worchester v. Georgia. In both cases the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the indian nations had freedom and sovereignty “in which ...

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...reat natives and their homeland throughout decades. Measures taken by a president and lack of by a federal court resulted in a hopeless Cherokee nation. Along the Trail, they were faced with starvation, disease, exposure, and death. By no fault of their own, they were misrepresented and mishandled. Historian Richard White sums up the matter in this: “What the Cherokees ultimately are, they may be Christian, they may be literate, they may have a government like ours, but ultimately they are Indian. And in the end, being Indian is what kills them."

Works Cited

"Trail of Tears Stories." nps.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.
"A Brief History of the Trail of Tears." Cherokee.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
"Cherokee Trail of Tears." Aboutnorthgeorgia.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Staff, History.com. "Trail of Tears." History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.

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