Unfair Treatment of the Native Americans

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 Indians on the other hand faced conflicts that were not like any of the above Indian tribes. They were the last tribe to fight for their land which was in the Appalachian Mountains. The Cherokees were basically became their own country. They had a developed Republican Government, and their own Constitution. They had many conflicts with America though. For example, they had the same land claimed as Georgia causing a big problem that ended up in the Supreme Court. In this case the judges could not decide who had claim of the disputed land. After this, Andrew Jackson persuaded a small group of the Cherokees to sign the Treaty of New Echota. This allowed the American Government ownership to the Cherokee territory, in return America gave them new land west of the Mississippi River

Henry Knox, the United States’ Secretary of War from 1789 to 1794, wrote a report in 1789 about a conflict between a group of Native American peoples who lived near the Wabash River, and although this group was not tied to the Cherokees, it offers a lot of information pertaining to

The Cherokee people were forced out of their land because of the settler’s greed for everything and anything the land had to offer. Many Cherokee even embraced the “civilization program,” abandoning their own beliefs so that they may be accepted by white settlers. Unfortunately for the Cherokee though, the settlers would never accept them as an equal citizen. A quote from historian Richard White says it very well, “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t. All these things that Americans would proudly see as the hallmarks of civilization are going to the West by Indian people. They do everything they were asked except one thing. What the Cherokees ultimately

The Treaty of Hopewell in 1785 established borders between the United States and the Cherokee Nation offered the Cherokees the right to send a “deputy” to Congress, and made American settlers in Cherokee territory subject to Cherokee law. With help from John Ross they helped protect the national territory. In 1825 the Cherokees capital was established, near present day Calhoun Georgia. The Cherokee National Council advised the United States that it would refuse future cession request and enacted a law prohibiting the sale of national land upon penalty of death. In 1827 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution, an act further removed by Georgia. But between the years of 1827 and 1831 the Georgia legislature extended the state’s jurisdiction over the Cherokee territory, passed laws purporting to abolish the Cherokees’ laws and government, and set in motion a process to seize the Cherokees’ lands, divide it into parcels, and other offer some to the lottery to the white Georgians.

According to the Cherokee Memorials, "Great Britain established with them relationships of friendship and alliance, and at no time did she treat them as subjects and as tenants at will, to her power. In war she fought them as a separate people, and they resisted her as a nation. In peace, she spoke the language of friendship, and they replied in the voice of independence, and frequently assisted her as allies, at their choice to fight her enemies in their own way and discipline, subject to the control of their own chiefs, and unaccountable to European officers and military law" (1032-1033). Since Great Britain treated the Cherokees as a separate nation, the Cherokees were not viewed as a part of the American colonies. Therefore, the Cherokees are not subject to the rule of the United

The government attempted to uphold relations with the Indians on the condition that they establish themselves in the beliefs and values of the United States people (Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress, 2). They wanted the Indians to be of the Christian faith and to learn their practices, such as their agricultural lifestyle and techniques, to help civilize and assimilate the Indian people. This really just rooted the settler’s supremacist temperament into place. The Supreme Court did back the Indians temporarily in the Worcester v. Georgia trial, in which the United States Supreme Court held that “the Cherokee Indians constituted a nation holding distinct sovereign powers” (Garrison, Worcester v. Georgia, 1). While it seemed a concerted effort, it eventually led to the forced signing of the Cherokee people at the “Cherokee capital of New Echota”, and furthermore, to the Trail of Tears and the downfall of the Indian nation (Garrison, Worcester v. Georgia, 1). The Americans ultimately made a frail attempt at civil dealings with the Indian people and their tribes, but when the Indians refused, the government used unnecessary force and aggression to get what they

Paper has to be followed. One treaty the cherokee signed is the echota treaty . this treaty costed 3 lives of men this treaty consisted of the forcible removal of cherokee’s from georgia. The treaty of new echota was signed

Until 1828, the federal government agreed that Cherokee had rights to their land, but when Andrew Jackson was elected President, that all ended. Jackson refused to believe that the tribes were sovereign and thus viewed Indian treaties, as an absurdity

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 order to begin their "civilization" project, there were a few first steps that were taken towards the goal of making the Cherokee a part of the American society. Washington and Henry Knox worked towards a plan to buy back the land that had been illegally used, and to negotiate a new treaty between the Cherokees.

filed with the U.S. Supreme Court an action challenging the authority of Georgia's laws. The Cherokees disputed that the laws desecrated their chief rights as a nation and criminally interfered into their treaty relationship with the United States. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), the court held that it did not have the authority to strike down Georgia's laws. In dicta that became particularly important in American Indian law, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the Cherokees constituted a "private, dependent nation" that existed under the custody of the United States.

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.

. . regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” The Constitution further enumerates these powers denied to the states in Article I section x. The state of Georgia challenged the federal government’s power over states rights, a precursor to the Civil War, when it challenged the trust relationship and the autonomy of the Cherokee. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall in three decisions (Marshall Trilogy) upheld the United States’ federal power, defined the responsibility of the doctrine of federal trust, and clarified the sovereignty of Indian nations: Johnson v McIntosh 1823, Cherokee v Georgia 1831, Worcester v Georgia 1832.

Ever since Columbus first set his eyes on the Indians, accounts have been kept of their tribulation, slavery, and bloodshed. Nonetheless, resilience and harden spiritually has helped Indians conquer and solidified their existence in human history. Every human has a mental break and the Removal Act 1830 had a profound emotional effect on the Indian race to give future generations the lack of growing. American Indians have endured hundreds of years of physical warfare, but never had the Indians faced psychological warfare. Prior to the Removal Act, there is enough evidence to show that the Cherokee had adopted current religious, education, text mill, and farming techniques. Under the Civilization Plan program created by President Washington in the 1790’s to help the Cherokee adapt to white American customs. Social programs were created to teach the Cherokees self-reliance on current productive commerce, land ownership, and education. So successful the programs were, that in 1817 the Cherokees established a national capital in New Echota, Georgia to protect themselves from the threat of land removal. Created their own 3 branch government system, coded laws, drafted a Constitution, and elected Jim Ross as Principal Chief.