Trail of Tears vs. the Long Walk of the Navajo Essay

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.

They cried, they wept, they grew stronger. It was a story of hope, courage, and survival. This was the Trail of Tears. Many events led up to the Cherokee’s removal. The Indian Removal caused the Cherokee indians to move west. A man named Major Ridge struck lots of bargains with the United States. This man, Major Ridge, was one of the native sons, born in 1771, that lived in the Cherokee territory. The Cherokee’s lived in the Christians Eden because they believe their ancestors once lived in the same area. Throughout Major Ridge’s youth years, the Shawnees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, the Creeks, and the United States endangered the Cherokees. Mr. Ridge and his family watched his town get burnt down by riflemen due to picking the wrong side during the American Revolution. The Cherokees watched their world change all around them. The Cherokee population dwindled to 12,000 in 1805, and lost over half their precious land. The United States wanted the Cherokees land, and for them to move west. The Americans offered a path for them to walk down. The Americans developed a policy called civilization which taught the Cherokees how to grow wheat; how to eat meals at regular set times instead of when ever they pleased, how to dress; how to speak English; how to pray in church at certain set times. The United States wanted all the tribes to be equivalent of their white neighbors. Thomas Jefferson states that they could be equal to the whites. John Ross was the future Cherokee chief; he grew

What molds a nation or group of people? As a member of the Navajo Nation, I’ve wondered how our history has impacted our nation. This research paper is a reflection of my curiosity. Throughout this paper I will explain how The Navajo Long Walk and The 1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo contributed in shaping what the Navajo Nation today. During the mid 19th century tensions with the Navajo, U.S. government, and white settlers were tense. The third wave of the Navajo Wars would ultimately lead to the U.S. government’s decision to create a campaign against the Navajo and thus impose the Navajo Long Walk (Brooks 95). General Carleton, a U.S. Army General, had Kit Carson, the well-known Indian fighter, deliver his demands to the Navajo, he said, “Say to them: Go to Bosque Redondo or we will pursue and destroy you. We will not make peace with you on any terms. You have deceived us too often and robbed and murdered our people too long to trust you at large in your own country.” (Acrey 39). Thus, in 1864, Navajo people were forcibly removed by the U.S. federal government from their traditional homelands to eastern New Mexico. U.S. Army records indicate that at least 11,468 Navajos were forced to walk three hundred to five hundred miles to the internment camp called Bosque Redondo (Spanish translation is Round Forest) or Fort Sumner (Cheek 18). For four years, Navajo people were forced to stay in Bosque Redondo where starvation, disease, and restriction of their culture was prevalent.

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 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.

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

1f) Trail of tears: In 1838 the United States Army gathered about 15,000 Cherokees and put them in a camp. They were forced to march for about 116 days in groups of 1,000 to get to the camp. Many died during the trip from cold or diseases.

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 was a journey of 900 miles that had took nine months to complete. After being taken out of villages and homes, the Cherokee were put in camps, where they had to wait for weeks before heading out in groups of 1,000, following different paths than others depending on the time of year and season.They would travel to a land unknown to them and have to survive off the land.

Currently, when the losses suffered by the Cherokee Nation as a result of their forced removal are discussed, there is a focus on the loss in numbers. However, Russell Thornton’s “Cherokee Population Losses During Trail of Tears: A New Perspective and a New Estimate” clearly presents a new, suitably researched perspective that argues the focus should not be only on those that died, but also on those that never lived. Thornton is a professor at UCLA in the Anthropology department. He has a number of degrees related to this study, including a Ph.D. in Sociology and a postdoctoral in Social Relations from Harvard, and specializes in Native American studies. He is clearly appropriately acquainted with this field, and his knowledge of the subject matter is evident in this piece. However, he also cites a number of papers and books by other authors, so as not to rely purely on his knowledge.

First, it claimed that the Indians were easily influenced, saying that their tradition of common landholdings could be effortlessly changed. The promise was also ignorant to the fact that Indians have had years of agricultural experience. The focus was mostly on Indian men, however it was the women who traditionally did the farming the Native American civilizatins. Officials believed that Indian women, like those of European descent, should properly limit themselves to child rearing, household chores, and home manufacturing. The Federal government has violated the Indian Tribes independence and sovereignty. The government has forced them to become civilized. The Indians are natural born hunters, yet they have grown to become herdsmen and cultivators as it states in the Treaty of Holston. The government wanted to shape their lives to better accommodate the white peoples need for land because of the ever-growing population. In a letter to Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson says Indians “should be led to an agricultural way of life, thus lessening their need for land.” The Indians had taken up many white aspects of life. A member of the Cherokee nation, Sequoyah, invented a Cherokee alphabet that made possible a Cherokee-language bible and a bilingual tribal newspaper. According to a letter written by Calhoun to Clay, the Cherokee nation also had established two successful schools where children were taught gender-specific subjects [Document J]. This

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.