The Trail Of Tears Analysis

Most Americans have at least some vague image of the Trail of Tears, but not very many know of the events that led to that tragic removal of several thousand Indians from their homeland. Indian lands were held hostage by the states and the federal government, and Indians had to agree to removal to preserve their identity as tribes. Trail of Tears is an excellent snapshot 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 burgeoning American population. The Trail of Tears has become the symbol in American history that signifies the callousness of American policy makers toward American Indians in 1839 and 1839.

The Narrative was a very interesting Article explaining the Trail of Tears through the point of view of a white privileged soldier. He first explain his personal relationship with the Cherokee how his relationship with then connected him to the atrocity. This also falls into comparison with the ideological mindset of Eurocentric soldier this one different soldier was purposely used within the context of the narrative to appeal to the reader’s moral and ironic symbolism of what the soldier meant. He explained the events taking place post extraction because he was the messenger in which they spoke from, with having talent of speaking to them in their native tongue, witnessed the doom of the Native Cherokee Indians being taken from the village and into the Trail of Tears. He then slants the entirety of his narrative by expanding the psychotic images he saw since he was so close to the Indians he understood the true horror of the incident. So this article

supported a man by the name of Andrew Jackson who was running for President of the

Tecumseh’s biggest concerns were that his people would not live according to the Prophet which was casting off all elements of the Euro-American society. He believed that his people would turn to alcohol, firearms, and trade goods set out by English ways, which was what the Prophet said, would be detrimental to their ways. No matter what, Tecumseh was going to make sure the Indian way of life would continue forever. He led a revolution of young men who thought the leadership structure needed to be looked over again in order to survive. They fought to make sure The Indians East of the Mississippi to keep control over their home land. Tecumseh tried to visit neighboring tribes to form an alliance to protect the lands held by the Natives. He was successful in the way the Southern tribes would accept the alliance, but unsuccessful with others when some refused to join the reliance, such as the Iroquois tribe.

The Trail of Tears played a part in what is known as the Manifest Destiny, which was the expansion of the colonists to the west. Gold was found on the Cherokee land during the Georgia Gold Rush. The greed that it created was one of the leading causes of the Trail of Tears where thousands of Native Americans were forcibly relocated from their native lands (Cherokee.org). Little did the Native Americans realize that the new nation that was going to be forming around them would affect not only their lives but the lives of their descendants. Even though the Cherokee made efforts to keep their land through the court system and even attempted to assimilate to the American way of life it was to no avail. They tried to agree to treaties with the United States Government. Even though, they were eventually forced to leave their lands. By forcing the Native Americans to abandon their homes, robbing their lands, taking their freedom, and forcing them to adapt and to assimilate into a new land and culture showed how vindictive President Andrew Jackson was regarding the Native Americans. The Trail of Tears was an instance of the United States Government committing genocide against the Native Americans

The Cherokee are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Although they were not considered states at this time, they would have been in present day Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. However, in 1938 the Cherokees found an abundant amount of gold which left the United States in a scramble. Thus, President Johnson signed the removal act, which forced the Cherokees East of the Mississippi into the Great Plains and then went into dig up gold. The Cherokees thrived in the Great Plains, becoming farmers and excellent hunters. They settled along the Arkansas River, becoming fisherman. Just as it happened in 1938 the Cherokees were eventually forced off their lands and into the Oregon Territory. This trail they walked along was called the trail of tears, many Cherokees died because of food deprivation or various diseases. Today, this Trail of Tears is seen as the worst displays of discrimination in the history of the United States. Thus, we gave the Cherokees Reservations to live on in the Western United States. This journey they faced is arguably the hardest journey any tribe has ever faced and the way the Cherokees overcame this and turned their tribe into what it is today is what makes it special.

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.

The Trail of Tears is part of the immoral history of the United States. The information in this paper will be about the causes, history, deaths, and the hopes that were lost. There were at least four causes for the Indian removal act of 1830. The history of the trail discussion about the Native Americans, and what happens to them when they were moving to their new home in the west, as well what happened after the removal act.

The trail of tears was a dark period in US history. Fueled by greed and racism but rationalized through what we believed was best for our country, we took even more from people who had already lost so much. We deemed natives as incompatible with society because they did not share our beliefs and culture. Now in modern times, we face issues that are parallel to this era and there are many things that can and should be learned from our mistakes and generalizations from the past.

Thornton, Russell “Cherokee Population Losses During Trail of Tears: A New Perspective and a New Estimate.” Ethnohistory, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Autumn, 1984): 289-300

The film Highway of Tears brought to light many issues faced by Indigenous persons however, its main focus was the missing and murdered women found along Highway 16 in Northern British Columbia. Majority of the women who are missing as well as those who were murdered are Indigenous women. This film displayed that although there are ways to prevent and possibly end the violence against Aboriginal women, no action was being taken by police or other government agents to do so. It was discussed how this as well as other wrongs done to Indigenous persons and communities, is a result of past and present colonialism.

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.

Having little knowledge of the Cherokee removal and the history that took place in this moment in America’s past, the book Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, offers an insight to the politics, social dynamics and class struggles the Cherokee Nation faced in the late 1830s. The book was very comprehensive and the scope of the book covers nearly 100 years of Native American History. Ehle captures the history of the Native American people by showing the readers what led to the events infamously known as the Trail of Tears. The author uses real military orders, journals, and letters which aid in creating a book that keeps

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.

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.