The plight of Native Americans, alternatively called Indians, under the United States (US) government emerged from efforts of the nation to expand its territorial borders and exert political control across North America. Although Native Americans stood as the original inhabitants of territories occupied by the US, the US government became determined in exercising discretion over them. Such has led to dissent among Native Americans, whose tribes have since conducted uprisings and issued calls for self-determination. However, none of those reactions became successful in swaying the opinion of the US government towards granting greater autonomy to Native Americans. In fact, the territories occupied by Native Americans remained under the legitimate control of the US government even to this day, with a history characterized by abuse and violence. The US government conducted land distribution of Native American territories and forceful population transfers, all to the peril of Native Americans who felt robbed of their rights over their ancestral domains.
This study highlights a particular treaty in US history that served as a focal point to the suffering of Native Americans – the Treaty of Echota. Further focus devotes to a particular event involving the Treaty of New Echota – the assassination of Cherokee leaders who signed it by supporters of conflicting Cherokee factions in 1839, which led to the Cherokee Civil War. First-hand accounts coming from people who lived during said period provides valuable insights for this study, which treats the Treaty of New Echota and its surrounding events as highly important aspects for understanding Native Americans at the height of their struggle against the US government during the 19th century....
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...e Americans in the Cherokee Nation, hence making the US government successful in its goal to control their ancestral domains (Cherokee Nation; Cherokee Phoenix and Indians’ Advocate, pp. 2-3).
Conclusion
The Treaty of New Echota and the 1839 assassinations related to it that resulted to the Cherokee Civil War all serve as important considerations for US history, specifically the success of the US in consolidating much of its present-day territories in North America. At the same time, it provides the understanding that such process of territorial consolidation did not push through in completely just terms. The US government in the 1830s expressly violated the rights of Native Americans over their ancestral domains through legal tools, damaged and took many lives in the process, and diminished the unity of the Cherokee Nation towards prospects for self-determination.
“The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s was [less] a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790’s [and more] a change in that policy.”
The case Worcester v. Georgia (1832) was a basis for the discussion of the issue of states' rights versus the federal government as played out in the administration of President Andrew Jackson and its battle with the Supreme Court. In addition to the constitutional issues involved, the momentum of the westward movement and popular support for Indian resettlement pitted white man against Indian. All of these factors came together in the Worcester case, which alarmed the independence of the Cherokee Nation, but which was not enforced. This examines the legal issues and tragic consequences of Indian resettlement.
Throughout the history of the United States, the discussion surrounding Native American relations has been fueled by prejudice and misunderstandings. In Andrew Jackson & His Indian Wars, Remini does not seek to excuse or exonerate Jackson. Consequently, Remini is more focused on analyzing what transpired and why. To support his central themes, Remini uses evidence spanning the entire spectrum of Jackson’s career. Beginning
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.
Once the white men decided that they wanted lands belonging to the Native Americans (Indians), the United States Government did everything in its power to help the white men acquire Indian land. The US Government did everything from turning a blind eye to passing legislature requiring the Indians to give up their land (see Indian Removal Bill of 1828). Aided by his bias against the Indians, General Jackson set the Indian removal into effect in the war of 1812 when he battled the great Tecumseh and conquered him.
As Americans sought to expand their settlements into Cherokee land, the Cherokee faced three choices: assimilate, leave their native land, or defend their sovereignty. The Cherokee Indians had lived on these lands of thousands of years before the colonist claimed it for the United States. Five million acres of land in Georgia was trying to be peaceably obtained from the Indians. The Cherokee Indians having already given portions of their lands in numerous Georgia treaties wanted to hold onto what little land they had left. When the Americans continued to occupy land that they believed they deserved the Cherokee Indians were left with no alternative but to try to defend their sovereignty.
With hope that they could even out an agreement with the Government during the progressive era Indian continued to practice their religious beliefs and peacefully protest while waiting for their propositions to be respected. During Roosevelt’s presidency, a tribe leader who went by as No Shirt traveled to the capital to confront them about the mistreatment government had been doing to his people. Roosevelt refused to see him but instead wrote a letter implying his philosophical theory on the approach the natives should take “if the red people would prosper, they must follow the mode of life which has made the white people so strong, and that is only right that the white people should show the red people what to do and how to live right”.1 Roosevelt continued to dismiss his policies with the Indians and encouraged them to just conform into the white’s life style. The destruction of their acres of land kept being taken over by the whites, which also meant the destruction of their cultural backgrounds. Natives attempted to strain from the white’s ideology of living, they continued to attempt with the idea of making acts with the government to protect their land however they never seemed successfully. As their land later became white’s new territory, Indians were “forced to accept an ‘agreement’” by complying to change their approach on life style.2 Oklahoma was one of last places Natives had still identity of their own, it wasn’t shortly after that they were taken over and “broken by whites”, the union at the time didn’t see the destruction of Indian tribes as a “product of broken promises but as a triumph for American civilization”.3 The anger and disrespect that Native tribes felt has yet been forgotten, white supremacy was growing during the time of their invasion and the governments corruption only aid their ego doing absolutely nothing for the Indians.
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...
A reworked thesis statement: Despite the Georgian's fear of brutality against the Cherokee Tribes, the Treaty of New Echota was even more significant than the state, and federal official's seizure of the Native
To take these lands, American settlers physically invaded the lands to claim as their own, however, they also petitioned the Federal Government to remove the Indians from their native lands. By doing this, they gained the support of the government’s resources and influence, especially President Jackson’s. Using both political and military attacks, the settlers quickly gained the upper hand over the Indians.
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.
Native Americans in particular were abused by white people in the States. From the 16th century and on, European nations rushed into the “New World,” claiming terrain that Native Americans had lived on for hundreds of years. Treaties were repeatedly made with the United States government and Native American ethnic groups. These treaties generally brutally kicked the “Indians” out of their land and pushed them farther and farther west. The Indian Removal act of 1830 encompassed more than five tribes and pressing all of them out of the southern United States. While some Natives fought back, many were forced to comply in order to save themselves from the Americans’ wrath. Eventually the white people themselves went so far west that there was no longer anywhere to put the Native Americans. In order to deal with this conundrum, the American army forced most tribes to abide on reservations in hopes that they would gradually become civilized and assimilate to the American culture. These reservations were often iniquitous and atrocious places. It was almost unfeasible for the Indians to hunt the w...
As the West of the Appalachian Mountains became known as the “Indian Land” proclaimed by the King of England in 1763, as properly known as the Proclamation Line of 1763, the U. S. government believed it to be part of their land after their gain of independence from Britain. The reason for this happening was due to the fact that the Indians lost to the French in the French and Indian war which was also known as the brutal Seven Years’ War from 1754-1763. As a result, The U.S. took advantage of the situation and insisted on acquiring the land of the Indians in the West through three different policies (Chris ...
The Cherokee Indians, the most cooperative and accommodating to the political institutions of the united states, suffered the worst fate of all Native Americans when voluntarily or forcibly moved west. In 1827 the Cherokees attempted to claim themselves as an independent nation within the state of Georgia. When the legislature of the state extended jurisdiction over this ‘nation,’ the Cherokees sought legal actions, not subject to Georgia laws and petitioned the United States Supreme Court. The case became known as Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia in 1831. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall denied their claim as a republic within Georgia, he then deemed the Cherokee as a ‘domestic dependent nation’. One year later through the case of Worcester vs. Georgia, the Cherokee’s were granted federal protection from the molestation by the state of Georgia. Through the Indian Removal act in 1830 President Andrew Jackson appropriated planning and funding for the removal of Native Americans, Marshall’s rulings delayed this for the Cherokee Nation, and infuriated President Jackson. Marshall’s decision had little effect on Jackson and ignoring this action the president was anxious to see him enforce it.
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...