Removal

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History is the unfinished book of past mistakes, misjudgments, wrong doings, accomplishments, great feats, and above all a written document of man's creation and survival. Within the text of this book you will see wrong, right, justified, and unjustified actions carried out by all man kind. The removal of the Cherokee nation in 1838-1839 is one of the worst affairs ever carried out by the American government. As no one can deny that this event is a terrible atrocity, the question however of if it is justified is an issue to be thought of separately. Debated by historians still today, the Cherokee Removal act under the "Jacksonian" administration was one of the greatest horrors ever to be justified in American history.

In 1828 Andrew Jackson was elected as the President of the United States of America. His two terms in office changed American History tremendously; creating one of the most memorable and horrifying act's this nation has carried out. For the "white people" Jackson's administration symbolized many new opportunities and a better life. Yet, for the Native American population, mainly the Cherokee nation, it signified a time of significant change and turmoil. Since the beginning of European contact with the Native American population, there has been a constant culture clash among them. The Euro-Americans beliefs leave little room for understanding or compromise. If they don't understand it, they are quick to judge it! They imposing their cultural beliefs on another culture.

Fourteen thousand Cherokees walked a tortuous eight hundred miles out to Indian Territory, present day Oklahoma. Out of the fourteen thousand Native Americans they marched, twenty five percent of them died along the way, four thousand...

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...the Indian Removal act, and the "Trail of Tears" is best stated with a quote by a Georgia militiaman, and former Confederate officer from the Civil War, "the Cherokee Removal was the cruelest work I ever knew." The thought of the devastation we placed upon these people makes my stomach turn. However, I know that we are not always able to come up with a peaceful solution to problems we face. Thought it was a terrible act carried out towards those people, I feel that because of the factors that were present in the situation it is justified. Hindsight is always 20/20, and we know now the full extent of our uncalled for cruelty. Yet over a hundred years later, that is when we can say without a doubt in our minds that it was the wrong choice. Without there being able to know the extreme impact it would have, I feel they did made a wrong, yet justified decision.

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