Cherokee Trail of Tears: Removal: 500 Nations
In 1830, congress passed President Andrew Jacksons Indian Removal Act. This policy allowed the United States government to extinguish the Cherokee, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, Seminole and many other tribes title to their land. The Indians had to leave the land and life they had always known in the Southeastern United States behind. This disturbing event was named the Trail of Tears because many Native Americans died during the process of marching to an area west of the Mississippi River due to disease, starvation, and the long journey.
This Indian Removal Act allowed state officials to override federal protection of Native Americans. The American settlers had wanted the land for white
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The Choctaw were the first to be evicted followed by the Seminoles in 1832, Creeks, and Chickasaw in 1837. The Cherokee removal in 1838 was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia. This was the last forced removal east of the Mississippi and lead to the Georgia Gold Rush. The removal of the Indian tribes brought on many wars and battles. They fought for the land that had been passed down from generation to generation. Many solders did not even make it to the marches to reservations because they died in battle. These battles were gruesome and a lot of Native American tribes came together to fight against the American soldiers. Very few groups hid and were not found by the government. By 1837, 46,000 Indians from the southeastern states had been removed from their homelands. This gave white settlers close to 25 million acres of land.
Horses and guns played a significant role in the Native Americans lives. Before horses the Indians had to walk and run to hunt. They would follow the bison or other animal’s trails. With the use of horses the Native people could expand the distance traveled for hunting. Guns were a huge change for everyone as well. Before them the people had to be close to their enemy or hunt to kill. They would use axes, bow and arrow, or arrow heads attached to sticks. The new inventions did cause problems between nearby tribes but helped when fighting or escaping the American
In the 1820s and 1830s, Georgia ordered a cruel battle to remove the Cherokees, who held dominion within the borders of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee at the time. In 1827 the Cherokees fixed an basic government. The Cherokees were not only reshuffling their government but also declaring to the American public that they were a free nation that could not be removed without their permission. An angry Georgia legislature responded by intending to extend its authority over the Cherokees living in the states declared boundaries. The state took over the Cherokee lands; overthrew their government, courts, and laws; and settled a process for snatching Cherokee land and distributing it to the state's white citizens. In 1830 reps from Georgia and the other southern states pushed through Congress the Indian Removal Act, which gave U.S. president Andrew Jackson the ability to debate removal treaties with the Native American tribes.
The Federal government forced the Indians tribes from their native lands and had to live on reservations. According to history in the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson moved five civilized tribes, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and the Seminole tribes from their lands. Several surrender for peace because of unfavorable conditions they faced along the way such as starvation, diseases and weather. On the other hand, the Crow allied with the United States, other tribes stayed and fought for the land. A case in point, the Nez tribe tried fleeing to Canada never succeed. The Cherokees suffered hunger, exhaustion and diseases along their way, and that path known as “Trail of Tears.” Cherokees at the end relocated in present Oklahoma. For
The Cherokee Removal is a brief history with documents by Theda Perdue and Michael Green. In 1838-1839 the US troops expelled the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast and removed them to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The removal of the Cherokees was a product of the demand for land during the growth of cotton agriculture in the Southeast, the discovery of gold on the Cherokees land, and the racial prejudice that many white southerners had toward the Indians.
As incentives, the law allowed the Indians financial and material assistance to travel to their new locations and start new lives and guaranteed that the Indians would live on their new property under the protection of the United States Government forever. ”(2017) The Indian Removal Act was a law signed by congress to remove Indian tribes from their lands and then forcing them to relocate to specific areas where they could live and assimilate into early settler life. The Cherokees people were one of the largest tribes to be forcibly relocated and many did not make the trip home, “During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved west by the United States government. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died on this forced march, which became known as the "Trail of Tears."”
The Indian Removal Act played a major part in the Trail of Tears. This act was passed on
The Indian Removal Act was passed in congress on May 28, 1830, it was passed by only one vote in congress. The act was then signed by the president at that time Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act gave Andrew Jackson the ability to negotiate with the Indian tribes for their removal from the southern United States to move to an area west of the Mississippi river. The Indian Removal Act was passed because of American settlers wanting to take Indians land, the discovery of gold in Cherokee territory, and the desire for moe land by the United States Government that believed the Indians land could be used to boost the economy. This act resulted in the removal of 5 major Indian tribes; the tribes affected were Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek,
The Cherokee removal process dates back as early as the times of the first European encounters. When the explorers arrived in the New World, lack of immunity from disease played a role in decimating the native population. Smallpox, measles, and typhus spread everywhere and eventually, only around sixteen thousand natives remained by the 1700's. Even with the overwhelming victory of the British during the French and Indian war, the Cherokee were able to preserve many aspects of their society such as their own local governments and maintaining their crops. Nevertheless, the monarchy still ruled the region and even by the end of the Revolutionary War when the Americans had won, Constitutional policies were implemented to contain and control the native peoples. Peaceful relations existed in the beginning, but it was not until powerful resistance from the Cherokee that forced change among the settlers who kept pushing for westward expansion.
On may 28, 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by the congress and was signed by the current president at the time Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of Mississippi in exchange for the Native Americans land. This forced Native American tribes to march their way west of Mississippi. Some tribes left in peace but most of the tribes resisted. In 1835 the agreement to, Treaty Of New Echota allowed Jackson to order Cherokee removal. Some Cherokee leaders signed the treaty and left but people under the leadership Chief John Ross resisted until they were forced to move to a new location 1838. Their forced journey to their new location was called the Trail Of Tears. Ever since, Native Americans have been living in reservation lands and the government has taken notice but don’t know if they should give them land or money. The government should be giving Native Americans land instead of money because the reservation lands are not
In the year of 1828, the president Andrew Jackson was appointed to the office of the American government with this the fact of the remaining Indians tribes were important which were named “The Five Civilized Tribes” including the Cherokee and with the pass of the “Treaty of Etocha” forced the Cherokee out of the land of Georgia also known as the “Trail of Tears” where thousands upon thousands of Cherokee were killed during the extraction of the Cherokee’s land.
In the years leading up to the Indian Removal Act, which was the initial cause of the Trail of Tears, the United States was in a shift. The country was seeing an unrivaled influx of European settlers looking for careers and land. This caused population to skyrocket, in fact in the years 1790-1840, the United States saw a 350% increase in population. In other words, the need for fertile land and viable property was high. At the same time, attempts at assimilation of Indians into American society were proving to be futile. Americans saw the Indians as “noble savages”, who were uncivilized but able to be fit for society if they were converted to Christianity and adopted Anglo-European culture and behavior. With the growing need for land and the rise in tension between Natives and fearful white settlers, something needed to be done in the eyes of the American people. These two things combined is what really set up the foreground for what would become the Indian Removal Act. President Andrew Jackson, in
Most Indians were taken or killed on the trail, but not all; the ones that stayed join the society to escape moving to the west. Around 100,000 Native Americans were removed, not killed. The main tribes that were removed were the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole (“Trail of Tears”). In 1838 the first group was 3,000, but there was 12,000 remained in military camps (McGill). In 1837 the first tribe to be removed was the Choctaw, follow by the Chickasaw (Blackbarn). After the Chickasaw, the Cherokee were forced in 1838 to 1839, and the Cherokee were the last tribe (McGill).
In 1830, the Jackson administration instated the Indian Removal Act. This act removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for an increase of additional American immigrants. This act forced many Native American tribes from their homes including five larger tribes, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creek, and Seminole. These tribes had populations were estimated to be around 65,000 people strong that lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Foner, 2012) The American Indians fought for their rights and beliefs through the American court system. Their other objective other than fighting for their rights was but in the end, they were forced out of their homes to move
In 1838, the Cherokee Indian Removal Act forced Cherokee and Creek Indians out of Georgia on a 5,045 mile walk all the way to the farthest west land that the United States had at the time, Oklahoma[1]. This event is now known as The Trail of Tears known for the many tears shed by the Indians that had to travel on the trail. The main reason for their removal from the premises was because of the gold that was discovered in the land of the now Hall County or Dahlonega. People have their opinions on whether the Creek and Cherokee should have been removed, to be honest, I am on the fence about this topic. I can recognize the great injustice that was made to the Indians but I also see that this action allowed for growth in Georgia and its economy, which contributed to growth for the United States as a whole. If I had to choose, I would say that the Cherokee Indians should not have been removed from their territory. For one, they were settled in their land before the english came and were in a way civilized. Two, the Indian Removal Act should never have been approved and was invalid for a few reasons. And finally, it was immoral to remove them from their land and didn't have any right to do so.
In 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed, a law which allowed the United States government to remove American Indians, specifically the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw, from their ancestral lands to be moved to the western frontier. This act was suggested by Jefferson, but finally passed during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. The Removal of
The removal of the Indians form their homelands was not a very glamorous time in this country’s history. The removal of the Indians goes back to 1802 with President Thomas Jefferson. There were many different approaches going around about how to do so in an honorable way. Many Americans did not go along with how it was being done, but in the end, whether Congress sanctioned it or not American settlers would surround the Indians and they had to either adapt to Americans way of life or leave. Natives who possessed large amounts of land and had a relatively strong military force were often the target. This was because the Americans/Europeans had the most to gain by removing these people from their native lands. Other Indian nations who were smaller and weaker were not bothered as much but were confined to tiny plots of land in which they were safe to live.