Santa Fe Trail

Throughout Jackson’s presidency, Jackson was prone to making questionable decisions. One of Jackson’s most monumental blunders was when he decided to relocate tens of thousands of innocent Native Americans. Jackson was a huge fan of the idea of Americans moving westward to unsettled areas. The Native Americans occupied the areas that Jackson wanted to transform into American cities. That did not halt Jackson from doing what he desired. Jackson displayed his egocentric behavior and called for the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Jackson wanted to move the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations from their southeastern homes to Oklahoma. The Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations all somewhat cooperatively deserted their homes at the request of the Americans with little fight. These nations forfeited their land, homes and possessions to walk the Trail of Tears, an 850-mile path from the southeastern states to Oklahoma. American soldiers forcefully kept the Natives moving without breaks. Throughout the trek, thousands of Natives died from sickness and starvation. One tribe, the Cherokees from Georgia,

The Transcontinental Continental Railroad aided the settling of the west and closed the last of the remaining frontier, bringing newfound economic growth, such as mining farming and cattle ranching to our burgeoning country. On May 10, 1869, near Promontory Summit, Utah, a boisterous crowd gathered to witness the

The Trail of Tears occurred in 1838 and about a fourth of the Cherokee nation perished during it. Out of the 12,000 Cherokees that traveled along the northern route, 4,000 were killed. The Long Walk of the Navajo occurred between 1863 and 1866, where hundreds of Navajos died from disease, starvation, and exposure. Both of these events played a major role in the history of America and the history of Native Americans. Although the Cherokees and Navajos are very different, they share a similar goal of wanting to survive. They both had a culture that focused upon hunting and gathering, but they also had to focus on finding an eventual homeland. The government of the United Sates

The building of the First Transcontinental Railroad was a key symbol of the Industrial Revolution beginning in the United States. The railroad crossed the middle of the country and connected the eastern portion to the west. The building began in Sacramento, California and continued all the way to Council Bluffs, Iowa, resulting in 1,776 miles of new rails that were a staple for both the transportation of people and goods. Less lives were lost on the hazardous trails through the Rocky Mountains and thus the West Coast experienced an increase in population. The railroad greatly impacted the nation, as it united the people and also allowed for the improvement of the speed of shipment and price of goods throughout the nation. With the constant

In the early 1830s, approximately 125,000 Native Americans thrived on millions of acres of land in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama. In the next 10 years, a scarce number of natives lingered anyplace in the Southeastern United States. In 1838 and 1839, the Cherokee nation was brutally forced to give up its rightful land and travel on foot to designated “Indian Territory” in modern-day Oklahoma. Upon this involuntary journey, thousands of Indians faced exhaustion, disease, and famine. This heartbreaking event became known as the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears is important to the history of the United States because it is the wickedest human civil rights tragedy to ever fall upon the Native American population, and it was the beginning of the destruction of an entire people.

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.

“If any act symbolized the taming of the Northwest frontier, it was the driving of the final spike to complete the nation’s first transcontinental railroad.”1 The first railroad west of the Mississippi River was opened on December 23, 1852. Five miles long, the track ran from St. Louis to Cheltanham, Missouri. Twenty-five years prior, there were no railroads in the United States; twenty-five years later, railroads joined the east and west coasts from New York to San Francisco.2

Jacksonian Democrats commitment to the expansion of the west forced the five “Civilized tribes” to leave their homes abruptly and move into Oklahoma (not for very long). From their homes, they marched along an 800 mile long trail that led to Oklahoma, and became known as the Trail of Tears.

The great northern railroad for instance helped open up the grain, potato, oil, copper, lumber and sugar markets in Dakota, Montana and eastern Washington. Denver and Rio Grande was used to transport silver and later livestock whiles the Central pacific was used to cart goods to the Pacific coast from across America. The Pacific Coast was well noted for the transport of fur and fishing products which was later expanded to canning and shipping. Mining industries sprung up across California in search for gold and various ores and these gave rise to many large companies (The Resources Frontier-Lecture slides). There was a large cattle trail cut in Texas, New Orleans, Montana and Kansas, and this gave rise to meat packing firms and larger ranches mostly owned by the British (The Cattle Frontier- lecture slides). Farmers also benefitted greatly and many more moved to the West. Most of them took advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 which gave 160-acres of land grant for small amount if the land was improved after 5yrs and this made it possible for many families and individuals to receive lands (The Farming Frontier-Lecture

Cherokee Indians had a hard life during the trail of tears. They were forced to move out of their homes. They had to leave their land and farms. 4,000 Cherokee Indians died of hunger, or exposure of disease. The journey became cultural as the “Trail where they cried” for the Cherokees and other removed tribes.

During the years the tracks were being made, the first settlers began to move westward. Once gold was discovered in these areas, people started to travel across the nation to find gold in California. Chinese Immigrants soon began discovering the gold while mining. Traveling overland before the railroad was completed, took approximently five to six months. Travelers were through rugged mountains and arid desert. “The transcontinental railroad would make it possible to complete the trip in five days at a cost of $150 for a first-class sleeper.” (Digital History). This was an ever lasting change in America. Going from $1,000 and a five to six month trip, to an $150 and five day trip was drastic. Even though, the railroad took many years to connect, it has still been used in todays society.

Trail of Tears/Indian Removal As a result of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830, thousands of Native Americans were forcefully removed from their tribal lands and transferred to lands west of the Mississippi River. Natives were held at gunpoint as they trekked the 800 mile “Trail of Tears” to the West and because of the harsh terrain and spread of disease, it claimed the lives of almost ¼ of the Cherokee Natives. Promptly after becoming president, Andrew Jackson and Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830 due to the assimilation and protection of Natives being too costly. While Jackson’s support of Indian Removal was mostly to benefit America, he reasoned that it would benefit the Natives too. He believed that “to

America and England spent about $105 million on the war. The most used weapon was the muzzle-loading musket. The Americans thought that Canada would be on their side but they joined the British Army instead. The trail of tears Not everyone was included in the Democracy. There was no word from the Democrats that said that women should be created as equal as men where. But it was the Native Americans who suffered the most from Jackson’s vision of America. Jackson, as military leader and president, made a policy removing Indian Tribes from their lands. The Removal of the Indians caused Jackson so much trouble because his primary supporters were from the southern and western states and they moved the Indians to the west of the Mississippi River. Over 4,000 of the Cherokee died, there were about 15,000 to begin with. They were moved to Oklahoma, some of the soldiers didn’t want to move the Indians off their lands. The Trail of tears was 5,045 miles long. It’s called the trail of tears because so many Native Americans died. The indians removed were the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes. Over 100,000 Native Americans were moved. It began in

The transcontinental railroad was the most influential innovation of the United States, that brought a revolution of how people traveled. One year after the Civil War ended the people of the United States were looking for a way to unite their country back together. This helped mold the United States as to what it has become today. It helped people cross the country and improved how goods were transported. The man that was forming the transcontinental railroad was a merchant named Asa Whitney. He had asked the government for funding to construct one of the greatest innovation of the United States. “Two railroads, the Central Pacific starting in San Francisco and a new railroad, the Union Pacific, starting in Omaha, Nebraska, would build the rail-line.” (ushistory.org). One fear of building the railroad was the danger of the “Great American Desert” because of the lack of resources. The Central Pacific was primarily made by Chinese immigrants. The Union Pacific was primarily made up of Irish immigrants. By spring of 1866 the Central Pacific had only build 68 miles of track from Sacramento, while the Union Pacific going west from Omaha built 200 miles of track in less than a year. Therefore the Union Pacific made millions more. The next three years the railroads would continue to try and make history.

The Trail of Tears is a historical title given to an event that happened in 1838.In this event, the Cherokee community of Native Americans was forced by the USA government to move from their native home in the Southern part of the contemporary America to what is known as the Indian territories of Oklahoma. While some travelled by water, most of them travelled by land. The Cherokees took 6 months to complete an 800 miles distance to their destination.