Race Conflict and Issues: Whites and Non-Whites Post- Revolution

Much of European criticism of Native American was based on differences in religion, land use, and gender relations. Most Europeans reasoned that Indians needed to be converted to the “true religion” of Christianity (Give Me Liberty, 11). In fact, Verrazano concluded that the Indians had “no religion or laws” (Voices of Freedom, 10). The Europeans did not understand the Indians’ use of the land and thus justified overtaking it, reasoning that they did not truly “use” it. Some Europeans criticized gender relations, claiming that women lacked freedom due to their work in the fields (Give me Liberty, 12-13). Others, like Verrazano, criticized the Indians for having “absolute freedom” in which they did not abide to any laws due to ignorance (Voices of Freedom, 10). Regardless of

John Burnett witnessed the helpless Cherokees pulled from their homes and driven at bayonet point. They were herded into wagons and headed westward. Most of the Cherokee people did not have sufficient cover to protect against the harsh climate. By the time the westward journey ended, four thousand Cherokees had died all because the whites wanted their land. The Cherokee sent an envoy to Jackson to which Jackson decreed that all of their land must be given to the white people [Doc 3].

Another cause for poor relations between Native Americans and European Settlers was the constant push for acquiring new land by the Colonists. The Native Americans did not just want to give up their land and this resulted in war between the Indians and the Colonists. During this time Native Americans were sold into slavery belittled and removed from their land, due to the fact that the Colonists had more advanced technology and weapons. One of the major wars was the French and Indian War which resulted in the removal of Native Americans from their land and many casualties on both sides. Over time many battles were fought over land, even after America was an established country with presidents, laws, and court systems. Native Americans were continually pushed out of their land for hundreds of years while they were forced to move west. The constant push of Native Americans out of their land would cause an event known as the Trail of Tears where thousands of Indians were removed from their land by the Indian Removal Act. “In 1830 the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an

Throughout America’s History Native Americans have had their land taken away from them. This started with the Europeans landing in America with Native Americans, claiming they conquered the Americas. This was all allowed by the doctrine of discovery, that allowed European Christians to claim land if documented first (Meyers). Columbus and his crew took the claim of discovering the Americas, also labeling the Natives as Indians because he believed he landed in India. Europeans brought of countless diseases such as bubonic plague, chicken pox, pneumonic plague, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, tuberculosis, and whooping cough (Ojibwa).This caused countless Natives to die because they had no immunity to these diseases. Next one of the first treaties were broken which cause the Native Americans to endure a great journey and travel countless miles to their new land known as The Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was a part of Andrew Jackson 's Indian Removal policy, which made 15,000 Cherokees up and leave their land because whites wanted their land(Historical Documents: The Trail of Tears). During this journey, 4,000 out of the 15,000 Cherokee’s died because of lack of food, exhaustion,and diseases(Historical Documents:The Trail of Tears). The continuing mistreatment of Natives has not ended, it is still going on today.

On May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed. It stated that the Native American were to be removed from the Southern states (Indian Removal Act). The act ended the Native American’s right to live in the states under their own traditional laws (Indian Removal Act). They were given the options to assimilate and acknowledge the United States’ laws or leave (Indian Removal Act). They were forced to leave their land, their homes, everything they ever knew or face the consequences. They were forced to go to a land that they knew nothing about, and hope that they would be able to survive where ever they ended up. When the Cherokee were forced to leave, out of the 18,000 that left 4,000 died on the way (Primary Documents) As a result of all of the death on the trail, it was named the Trail of Tears (Primary Documents).

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

Throughout the 1800 many Native Tribes were taken from their lands east of the Mississippi and marched to new lands in the west under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. One such march of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia to Oklahoma and was called by them “the trail where they cried” or the Trail of Tears all of which was the result of signing of the New Echota Treaty. The deadline for voluntary removal was May of 1838 and by the the end of may the U.S. Army had arrived to round up those Cherokee who had not yet left for the west. Around 17,000 Cherokee were moved from their homes at gun point and forced to walk a distance of about 1,200

With the discovery of the New World came a whole lot of new problems. Native American Indians lived in peace and harmony until European explorers interrupted that bliss with the quest for money and power. The European explorers brought with them more people. These people and their descendants starting pushing the natives out of their homes, out of their land, far before the 1800s. However, in the 1800s, the driving force behind the removal of the natives intensified. Thousands of indians during this time were moved along the trail known as Nunna dual Tsung, meaning “The Trail Where They Cried” (“Cherokee Trail of Tears”). The Trail of Tears was not only unjust and unconstitutional, but it also left many indians sick, heartbroken, and dead.

In the early 16 century, Europeans learned about Natives in the Americas through images depicted by early conquerors. Fortunately, we have several first-hand account by a settler who depicts them in paintings by the name of John White. While these accounts have their limitations in terms of accuracy, it is apparent that Europeans tended to view the indigenous peoples as lacking morality but in my opinion John White proves all the speculation wrong.

Secondly, the atrocious way the Cherokee were treated was not morally justified. The trail the Cherokee traveled was unnecessarily arduous. This is shown in Document 9 from an eyewitness account that stated, “... even aged females, apparently nearly to drop into grave, were travelling with heavy burdens attached to the back -- on the sometimes frozen ground, and sometimes muddy streets, with no covering for the feet except what nature had given them.” This quote from Document 9 shows that Indians, in no physical condition to, had to carry large packs and had no protection from the harsh weather around them. Moving in that time period of course was always hard, but the amount of deaths could have been prevented (about 4,000 Natives died).

Indigenous people still burdened from their past! The effects of the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of tears still causes heartache among many Indigenous people. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was an act passed by Andrew Jackson where in which Andrew Jackson would discuss and negotiate a plan to remove the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole to land west of the Mississippi in exchange Europeans would get their homeland.Georgia and the government had no right treating indigenous people unfairly, evicting them from their homeland, and killing them in the process of it all. While this was all happening settlers were expanding into new territories, gaining many resources from the

This torturous trend did not stop with the settlers. Even the American government that had previously promised, through the words of American founders like Thomas Jefferson, to protect the Indians, treated the Indians cruelly. For example, President Andrew Jackson’s vision for America was not accommodative of the Native American. His policies were notorious for punishing the Cherokee community especially the most assimilated and civilized members. The American government made and broke all the vows it made to the Cherokee community concerning the protection of the native people and their lands. By 1838, the American government was not even attempting to make vows of friendship. Instead, it gave the Cherokee the choice of voluntarily leaving their productive lands or facing a forced eviction. This ultimatum set pace for what was to become a Trail of

Between 1830 and 1850, the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their ancestral land relocated farther west. It was called the trail of tears because the Indians didn’t want to leave their ancestral home they cried the entire way. 4,000 Cherokee died on a journey later called the trail of tears. Men working in Felds were arrested and driven to the stockades. Women’s were dragged from their homes by soldier whose language the women could not understand. Children were often separated from their parents. Often the old and injured were prodded with bayonets to hasten them to the stockades.

Most Americans have at least some vague understanding of the Trail of Tears, but not many know about the events that led to that tragic removal of thousands of Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government. The Indians had to agree to removal to maintain their tribe identities. Trail of Tears is an excellent example of a particular situation and will be eye opening to those who are not familiar with the story of the southern tribes and their interactions with the rapidly growing American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that indicates the callousness, insensitivity, and cruelty of American government toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

Cabeza de Vaca’s account reveals that the native populations of the Americas (the Indians) were cruel to the Europeans; and as a result, they deserve punishment for their aggression.