trail of tears

Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal The generalization that, “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790s than a change in that policy,” is valid. Ever since the American people arrived at the New World they have continually driven the Native Americans out of their native lands. Many people wanted to contribute to this removal of the Cherokees and their society. Knox proposed a “civilization” of the Indians. President Monroe continued Knox’s plan by developing ways to rid of the Indians, claiming it would be beneficial to all.

Archeologists say that the Cherokee Indians migrated south from the Great Lakes region around the 15th century. The Cherokee tribe was one of the largest Native American tribes eventually settling and occupying the southeast portion of what was to become the United States. The Cherokee tribe was highly religious and spiritual. They considered warfare to be a polluting act and warriors were required to go thru a purification by a priest before reentering the Cherokee village. Yet in 1830, the Cherokee Indians were forcibly removed from their homeland by the very government the Cherokee Indians had supported during the Revolutionary War.

This resulted in the Georgia Gold Rush. Nardo emphasizes that “By the 1840s, more than sixty thousand Native Americans had been removed from the Eastern United States” (Nardo 17). The Europeans did not just want the Native American land, but they did not want to live close by them. The article “An American Betrayal Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears” mentions, “Numerous little-known Europeans also emerged as brave defenders.” (17). As a result, the settlers wanted the government to force Native Americans to leave.

The Indian Territory was declared in the Act of Congress in 1830 with the Indian Removal Policy. Elias Boudinot, Major Ridge, and John Ridge and there corps accepted the responsibility for the removal of one of the largest tribes in the Southeast that were the earliest to adapt to European ways. There was a war involving the Cherokee and the Chickasaw before the Indian Removal Policy was passed. The Cherokee were defeated by them which caused Chief Dragging Canoe to sign a treaty in 1777 to split up their tribe and have the portion of the tribe in Chattanooga, Tennessee called the Chickamauga. Chief Doublehead of the Chickamauga, a branch of the Cherokee, signed a treaty to give away their lands.

Trail of Tears Within United States History, there has been some horrible discrimination upon certain races of people. At the trail of tears native Americans were persecuted against heavily. Until 1828 the federal government had Cherokee rights to their land and in that same year Andrew Jackson was elected president and this all ended. On September 15, 1830, at Little Dancing Rabbit Creek, the Chiefs of tribes and representatives of the United States met to discuss a bill recently passed by the Congress. This day started with all the same good intentions of those today but ended with only a few Native Americans signing the treaty which allowing for the removal of all Indian peoples to the west of the Mississippi River.

These problems caused them to be driven from their homes then being put into internment camps, and then being forcefully moved to a strange land. The situation of the Cherokee got more complicated after the States Rights issue and a long fight between the federal government and Georgia. Such as, Georgia ceding its western lands were they wanted all titles of land that was heard by Indians to be extinguishing, but this did not happen because the Cherokees were certified by a treaty. When gold was found on Cherokee land the effort of removing them from their lands was increased. Then in 1830 the congress passed A Indian removal act that directed the Executive branch to make an agreement for Indian lands.

In The Cherokee Removal, Perdue and Green show the trials that the Cherokee faced in the years from 1700 to 1840. This book shows how the Americans tried to remove these Indians from the southeastern part of the United States. The Cherokees tried to overcome the attempts of removal, but finally in 1838, they were removed from the area. The Cherokees lived in the valleys of rivers that drained the southern Appalachians (Perdue, 1). The British first came into Cherokee country in 1700.

The President then forced upon the Native Americans treaty whereby they surrendered to the United States over twenty-million acres of their traditional land—about one-half of present day Alabama and one-fifth of Georgia. In 1829 Andrew Jackson said to the people "It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people." (William, Jeanne. Trails of Tears: American Indians Driven from Their Lands. (45)) The quote came from (http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/jackson.htm#.U3Vvg3lOXmI) The Cherokee used legal rights in their attempt to keep their land.

Georgia was the first state to develop a strong dislike for the Cherokee Indians. In 1802, Georgia began its campaign for Indian removal. The state was forced to give up some of its land including parts of Alabama and Mississippi and was given money to compensate for the land. The United States government promised to remove all Indians off the new boundaries as soon as it could be done peacefully and reasonably (Green and Perdue 71). The state of Georgia became frustrated as several years passed and the Indians still occupied land that belonged to the state.

One of these sagas is known as the “Trail of Tears”. This relates to the removal of the Cherokee Indians by the U.S. Army from their native lands in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. During the journey they were held in camps and then forced to travel over 1,000 miles during adverse weather. This trail led them to the Indian Territory, which is now Oklahoma. This was a catalyst towards the devastation of the American Indian culture... ... middle of paper ... ...mises such as owning their land “as long waters run and the grass shall grow.” The Indians would have continued to live "until the end of time" if the white settlers had not intervened.