Trail Of Tears Analysis

The book "The Trail of Tears: The Rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation," by John Ehle presents the full history of a Native American democratic state, the Cherokee Nation. Like the United States, it was born in bloodshed, but instead of enduring, it grew for only a few years and then was destroyed by President Andrew Jackson and the government of the state of Georgia. Ehle includes a great deal of primary sources, such as letters, journal excerpts, military orders, and the like, that serve to enrich the story.

The Cherokee nation, located in North Carolina before their removal, now locate it in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. A great city of great and wonderful people. The trail of tears, which means the place where they cried, does not only describe the removal of the Cherokees from their land, but it also describes the death of so many of them and the loss of their traditional and gorgeous houses. Nowadays, Cherokee descent had created a play that describe what happened to their removal of North Carolina across the Mississippi river to Oklahoma. Even though, they try to describe all the drama, the sadness, tears and blood that was shed, they will never be able to revive what happened because the trails where they had to walk are green with so much flowers that have blossomed and are hiding all the terror that the Cherokees had to live. There had been removals of Native Americans before the Cherokees in the United States. In other parts of North America also have existed the removal of citizens for example, the expulsion of the French Acadian from Nova Scotia by the British. This types of events have affected the world, the United States and the Cherokees.

Have you ever heard of the Cherokee Indians? Sure you have! Just as a reminder, they are the biggest tribe, and most known of out of all the Indian tribes there has ever been in the southeast. They are very important to American History and helped shaped us to be the Americans we are today, which is clearly what I 'll be explaining in this paper. Throughout the paper, I 'll tell you everything you need to know about the Cherokee Indians and continue to relate to the thesis.

In the early 19th Century, the Manifest Destiny led many White Americans to conquer new territories and force Native Americans out of their homeland. The growing population caused the need for people to move to have more space for farms and crops. The religious groups were also wanting to sweep God’s word across the nation by going west. The Native Americans were unwilling to give up their land and fought to keep it. Outmatched by the U.S. Military, the Indians were forced to leave and settle in a territory that was not claimed by Whites. Andrew Jackson, the 8th President of the United States, participated in some of the battles with the Natives Americans and the removal of 5 different tribes from their homeland into what is now Oklahoma.1 This research paper is to study about Andrew Jackson, his battles with the Natives, and what led to the Trail of Tears.

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

Thousands of captives trudged through rain on a muddy road. The scent of rain combined with the stench of rotting bodies was unbearable. Children, raggedy and heartbroken, wailing for food and their home, forcefully taken from them. Parents lamenting in anguish for their home-deprived children. The sadness hung in the air like a branch above the hostages’ heads. Bodies, bruised and broken, lying on the side of the road, hurriedly thrown down without a proper burial. Birds mocking the prisoners from their hiding places. Soldiers shrieked at the convicts, the words coming out of their mouths, tasting like eternal bondage to the native people. A death trail stretching toward the unknown west, not telling what it leads to. The Trail of Tears is a cloud over American history. The Cherokee Trail of Tears led to effects in the Nation and was a discouraging time in the history of Native Americans.

In 1831, the Cherokee nation went to court against the state of Georgia. They were disputing the state’s attempt to hold jurisdiction over their territory. Unfortunately, because they are not under the laws of the constitution, the Indian’s right to court was denied. It was not until 1835 that the Cherokee finally agreed to sign the treaty, giving up their Georgia land for that of Oklahoma.

John Ridge, his father Major Ridge, and his cousin Elias Boudinot were part of the treaty process that would relocate the Cherokee Nation called, “The Treaty of New Equota”. It is evident in the book that John Ridge was in favor of signing the treaty because he thought that he would be protecting the rights of the Cherokee people. It becomes clear that the Cherokees are going to be moving, it was just how they will be moved that made all the difference. The book talks about the Americans thirst for land and how the gold rush in Georgia would eventually force the Cherokees out.

The call for the removal of the Cherokees to the “Great American Desert” across the Mississippi River echoed stronger than in previous years.[1] In October of 1828 in present day Dahlonega, Georgia, active gold mines were discovered near Cherokee land. For many whites, the time to completely remove the Cherokees from the lands came. The newly elected President Andrew Jackson agreed to do so with his signature on the Indian Removal Act. Jackson lived in the backcountry of North and South Carolina for quite a bit of his youth as well as the territory of Tennessee. This paper is focusing on the rise of Andrew Jackson as a war hero to presidency and his Indian policy that led to the heart-wrenching expulsion of the Cherokee Indians in the

It is important to beginning before the displacement of the native tribes, especially that of the Cherokee’s , to demonstrate the meaning of the land to theses people. Displacement began before the start of the civil in the 1830s and continued through the decade. During this period two prominent factions became prevalent in the nation, those who wanted to maintain sovereignty and it would be best to do so by kowtowing to the U.S. and Georgian governments. The other faction, which also held the majority of the people saw that

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.

Have you ever thought about how much of our country’s history that we are actually thought or given full information on? In most history classes today, a lot of important events are not talked about based how it makes our country look. The Trail of Tears is one of those events. The actual truth is surprising and also brutal.

The Trail of Tears is the journey of Native Americans that were forced to leave their home in Southeast Southeast where? and move to the new Indian Territory in moderate-day Oklahoma. People in Georgia continued to take American lands and force both Cherokee Indians and Creek Indians out of Georgia. By 1825 the Lower Creek was completely gone. In 1827 the Creek were gone.

In order for the author to write this book he must have had to do a lot of research before writing. As stated before, he has a lot of good sources. I thought the book was interesting but I wouldn’t recommend it to someone that has never heard of the Trail of Tears or the Cherokee removal.

After my frustration about the lack of personal narratives, William L. Anderson’s book, Cherokee Removal: Before and After was refreshing. The University of Georgia Press in Athens, Georgia was smart in 1991 to publish this collage of personal narratives, descriptions,