Trail Of Tears: A Devastating Story

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

The “Trail of Tears,” was an unmitigated disaster-at least for the Native American Tribes involved. – (Page 269) “As the population grew, white citizens demanded that their governments, at both the state and national levels, do something about the Native American tribes in their midst who held claims to land …” – (Page 249) “The United States had recognized the Cherokee as a nation in a number of treaties, and in 1827 delegates of this tribe initiated action to draft a constitution that would more formally recognize this status.” – (Page 249). This caused a problem with the constitution, because new states could not be established in pre-existing state. “Georgia, where most of the Cherokee lived, opposed the plan and called for the removal of all Native American.” – (Page 249). In fact, the Cherokee nation fought back. “The case reached the United States Supreme Court, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia.” – (Page 250). The Cherokee lost; but a year later Chief Justice John Marshall “ruled that the state had no right to extend sovereignty over the Cherokee within its borders.” Andrew Jackson disagreed with the chief justice, and wanted for the chief justice to enforce his decision.

Andrew Jackson, The United States seventh president, was possibly one of the worst human beings to be president and treated the Native Indians horribly. He, was a bully and used his position to get acts and petitions like the Indian Removal Act passed, to help push Native Indians around so he could get his own way. The Indian Removal Act in and of itself seemingly doesn’t contain that much power, however it was all the power Jackson needed. The circumstances of Jackson’s character and the debates surrounding the Act also lend and interesting lens to examine what Jackson intentions were. When looking at Jackson and how he managed to relocate the Native it becomes substantially more integral to examine all the documents with a wide scope to see how he even managed the relocation of Natives.

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

The Indian Removal Act, inspired by Andrew Jackson; the 7th president of the US and the enhanced ambition for American settlers to find more land in the southwestern regions of North America. The Indian Removal Act enabled Jackson the power of negotiating removal treaties with Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. Among these tribes were: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaws and Seminoles. Very few authenticated traits were signed. The Choctaws were the only tribe to agree without any issues. All other attempts resulted in War and blood shed for both white settlers and Indians. The conflict with the U.S. and Indians lasted up until 1837. In 1838 & 1839 Jackson forced the relocation of the remaining Cherokee Indians;

The Trail of Tears was a route that the Cherokee Indians had to travel on when they were forcibly removed from their homes in the southern Appalachian Mountains. They were made to travel miles and miles away from their homes, so the residents of Georgia could begin looking for gold. All of this began because in 1829 when someone found gold on Cherokee land. The Cherokee were going to be forced out of their homes so they decided to take their case to court. The case went all the way up to the supreme court and was then voted on in the Cherokee's favor, but President Andrew Jackson went against the courts ruling and allowed the Cherokee to be removed from their homes. The Trail of Tears is a terrible route where over 2,000 Cherokee lives were lost, and many became sick and injured. Even though the Cherokee had the rights to the land and they even had their own constitution, still Jackson ignored this and allowed them to be removed. This was a terrible time in American history because it showed how malicious one of our presidents was in allowing these peaceful Indians to be taken away from their homes, just so we could find some gold.

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

urthering, “The Seven Years’ War” notes, “Representatives of seven colonies met in Albany, New York, with representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy. The goal of the Albany Congress was to solidify friendship with the Iroquois in light of the approaching war with France and to discuss the possibility of an inter-colonial union.” Congress made it clear that they wanted the Iroquois tribes to remain loyal to their government. Benjamin Franklin soon developed the Albany Plan in 1754. This plan was approved but was not set in place due to the colonists’ fears of taxation. British officials felt it gave the colonists too much freedom while the colonists believed that it did not give them enough. The plan involved levying taxes, raising troops,

The Trail of Tears was a sequence of forced tribal removals from certain lands to another. The impact that this had on American society in the nineteenth century is little due to the fact that most of the country was white whom had more privilege and were becoming big landowners or plantation owners. The relocations were enforced and the Indians were required to move as a result of their want to remain as a nation. To these tribes, family and relation was everything, so they would rather be thrown off land than become split up. Today, the Trail of Tears is important because of the more frequent use of freedom of speech and the fights for equality from the United States citizens.

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.

Jackson’s removal policy did not sit well with a lot of groups; many were uncomfortable about it but agreed it had to be done. President Jackson showed great leadership apart from everything else, and handled the Indian Removal act when no one else wanted to address the growing issue of Indian problem. Most government officials saw little to gain from addressing this and would do nothing. Some historians believe the president’s motivation was clearly out of concern for the Indians customs, their culture and their language, but his first concern was the safety of the military, Indians occupying the east might jeopardize the defense of the United States.

Out of all the tribes impacted by the Dawes Act, the Choctaw was the very first to travel in a large group across the Mississippi to escape the growing group of hostiles in their homeland. The land that they were looking for would allow them freedom, and they would be able to live simpler lives without having to worry about problems from the white race. The trek was not forgiving and many Choctaw people did not survive the search for a new homeland. About 2,500 Choctaw Indians died due to exposure to the elements, which included heat exhaustion, starvation, and illness. They were often targets of white men who killed them and stole their belongings. The Trail of Tears was a distance of more than 500 miles that three groups

In 1830, congress passed The Indian Removal Act, which became a law 2 days later by President Andrew Jackson. The law was to reach a fairly, voluntarily, and peacefully agreement for the Indians to move. It didn’t permit the president to persuade them unwillingly to give up their land by using force. But, “President Jackson and his government