West Of The Mississippi River: The Trail Of Tears

Settlers would often steal their livestock, kicking Native Americans out of their homes and taking them, and harming any single person who opposed to their invasive tactics.(Thornton290).

The purchase of Louisiana doubled the United States in size and was the key to the beginning of westward expansion. This expansion of the U.S. served as one of the defining topics of American history but contrarily, it nearly demolished the entire democracy. Because of Louisiana’s high birth rate and rapid immigration, the United States’ population increased from about five million to more than twenty-three million people. Such expeditious growth as well as economic depressions drove millions of Americans to the west in search of fresh territory and opportunities also known as manifest destiny. At the start of the 1830’s almost one hundred twenty-five thousand Native Americans lived on southeast acres that their ancestors had inhabited for generations. But then President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act which gave the government the authority to trade native held land for land to the west that the United States had obtained with the purchase of Louisiana. By the closing of the decade, only a few Natives were left because the Federal government mandated that they abandon their homeland and go to designated Indian territory. This expedition was better known as the Trail of Tears. The purpose of these reservations was to bring the Native Americans under United States government control, eliminate conflict between the Indians and settlers, and finally to further encourage Native Americans to take on the habits of settlers. In exchange tribes usually received money but it was never a lot and the majority were spent on purchasing food and supplies from traders. But the daily living conditions of the reservations primarily had the most catastrophic results with devastating and long lasting effects. Overall, the rapid territorial expansionism resulted in relocation and brutal mistreatment of Native American occupants of territories now occupied by the United

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

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.

Did you know about 16,000 Cherokee were forcibly moved from their homeland, while a whopping 4,000 Cherokee died in this process? The Trail of Tears was the act of 16,000 Cherokee having to be forcibly moved from their land, while 4,000 other Cherokee died during this process. The Trail of Tears took place in Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and more. This event happened in the late 1830's. President Andrew Jackson allowed the Trail of Tears to happen.

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

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,

Trail of Tears, a Historical Perspective Trail of Tears is a historical event that highlighted the unstable relationship between the United States government and American Indians. As stated in Marsico, the trail of tears was an event that symbolized government’s biasness when dealing with Native Americans. From the viewpoint of a Cherokee Indian, the Cherokee tribes were fighting to preserve their way of life and their land rights. The U.S. government at that time was anxious to expand its territory to take advantage of the beautiful farmland occupied by the Cherokees. The government could only accomplish its mission by encroaching on land belonging to the Cherokee tribes.

The Natives did not leave at the same rate and in the same group, because only 2,000 agreed to leave at the desired time and the rest refused. Their refusal caused the president to send in soldiers to move them out. While the soldiers moved them out on a route known as “The Trail of Tears,” a vast majority of the population of Natives contracted diseases and died on their movement to their designated lands. After the first group moved, in 1840 tens of thousands of Natives had been driven off their land in the South and were then forced to move across the Mississippi Indian territory. Even though the federal government had promised that the Natives could still continue to own their land, it ended up being a lie. As the Indian settlement traveled further to the West the “Indian Country” got smaller and smaller over time. It resulted in Oklahoma becoming a state and the Indian Territory gone

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.

Most of us have learnt about the Trail of Tears as an event in American history, but not many of us have ever explored why the removal of the Indians to the West was more than an issue of mere land ownership. Here, the meaning and importance of land to the original Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States is investigated. American land was seen as a way for white settlers to profit, but the Cherokee held the land within their hearts. Their removal meant much more to them than just the loss of a material world. Historical events, documentations by the Cherokee, and maps showing the loss of Cherokee land work together to give a true Cherokee

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.

On May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was passed. It stated that the Native American were to be removed from the Southern states (Indian Removal Act). The act ended the Native American’s right to live in the states under their own traditional laws (Indian Removal Act). They were given the options to assimilate and acknowledge the United States’ laws or leave (Indian Removal Act). They were forced to leave their land, their homes, everything they ever knew or face the consequences. They were forced to go to a land that they knew nothing about, and hope that they would be able to survive where ever they ended up. When the Cherokee were forced to leave, out of the 18,000 that left 4,000 died on the way (Primary Documents) As a result of all of the death on the trail, it was named the Trail of Tears (Primary Documents).

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.

At the start of 1830s, about 125000 Native Americas were living on more than 25 million acres of land on Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida, the region that would be referred to as the Deep South. However, by the end of the decade, only a few of these Native Americans remained in this region . While following the interests of the white settlers, who wanted to cultivate cotton on Indian Lands, president Jackson and the federal government forced the natives to vacate their homeland and have thousands miles walk to a designated “Indian territory” which was at the west of the Mississippi river. The journey and the route that they travelled was hindered with many adverse and sometime deadly challenges and it came to be referred to as the trail of tears from the Cherokee phrase “Nunna daul Tsuny” that directly translates into “The Trail Where They Cried” . This Population transfer led to the removal of many members of the tribes that did not want to assimilate into the European lifestyles.