Dbq Cherokee Indians

Imagine someone being suddenly forced to move out of their own land and put into an unknown area. The Cherokee was a tribe that lived in Georgia where there was rich farmland and gold. They were one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” that lived in the southern states. White settlers desired the Cherokee’s land and wanted the Cherokee to move west in order to expand the U.S. since the Cherokees were in their way. The Cherokee could either resist or accept their demand, but they decided to exchange their lands for $5 million and protection from the U.S government. They made this decision on December 29, 1835 and signed a treaty. They moved to the land that’s west of the Mississippi river. The Cherokee should’ve resisted to stay in their original

According to a historian’s account written by Russell Thornton in 1990 at the University of Nebraska Press, to inform students what happened to the Cherokees during their journey westward, “Reports of [an outbreak of] cholera in the spring of 1834 reached the group of Cherokees who had agreed to be removed [to the lands west of the Mississippi]”(Source Document 4). This shows that there were cholera outbreaks that happened among the group of Cherokee that were traveling westward, meaning that many Cherokee have died. Cholera is a disease that causes diarrhea, which can lead to death. This makes it harder for the Cherokee to survive as a group. Therefore, the Cherokee should’ve resisted because they wouldn’t have dealt with the disease since it had put their survival at

According to a newspaper article written by a Cherokee author on August 21, 1839 in Georgia to inform the Cherokee and the U.S government what problems they would face if their tribe moved west, “...if we are compelled to leave our country, [then] we see nothing but ruin before us...the greater part of the region is badly supplied with wood and water; and no Indian tribe can live as agriculturalists [farmers] without these articles” (Source Document 2). This shows that the land which the U.S government have offered to the Cherokee doesn’t have a good supply of wood and water, which the Cherokees need to live as farmers. If they can’t live as farmers, that means there would be less crops, which leads to less food, thus making it hard for the Cherokee to survive. The Cherokee shouldn’t make their lives harder by moving when their original territory already has rich farmland. In summary, the Cherokee should’ve resisted because their original land already had what the Cherokees need to live as