The Trail of Tears Essay example

On may 28, 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by the congress and was signed by the current president at the time Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of Mississippi in exchange for the Native Americans land. This forced Native American tribes to march their way west of Mississippi. Some tribes left in peace but most of the tribes resisted. In 1835 the agreement to, Treaty Of New Echota allowed Jackson to order Cherokee removal. Some Cherokee leaders signed the treaty and left but people under the leadership Chief John Ross resisted until they were forced to move to a new location 1838. Their forced journey to their new location was called the Trail Of Tears. Ever since, Native Americans have been living in reservation lands and the government has taken notice but don’t know if they should give them land or money. The government should be giving Native Americans land instead of money because the reservation lands are not

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 Cherokees had lived in the interior southeast, for hundreds of years in the nineteenth century. But in the early eighteenth century setters from the European ancestry started moving into the

supported a man by the name of Andrew Jackson who was running for President of the

In 1830, gold was found in Western Georgia. Unfortunately, The Cherokee had lots of land there. Settlers ignored that and began to invade western Georgia. President Andrew Jackson then decided to sign the Indian Removal Act, because he believed that assimilation wouldn’t work. This act gave him power to order the removal of any tribe at any time. In 1835, The Treaty of New Echota was signed, which said that the Cherokee would leave their land and walk to Oklahoma. They refused to leave so after two years, they were forced out. Andrew Jackson and the U.S. Government had many reasons for the removal of the Cherokee people, but the Cherokee also had many reasons for why it shouldn’t have happened. Eventually, their removal had devastating effects on the Cherokee culture.

The Trail of Tears is part of the immoral history of the United States. The information in this paper will be about the causes, history, deaths, and the hopes that were lost. There were at least four causes for the Indian removal act of 1830. The history of the trail discussion about the Native Americans, and what happens to them when they were moving to their new home in the west, as well what happened after the removal act.

Next were the Seminole, Creeks and Chickasaw to be relocated. The Creeks tried to resist, but in 1836 they were driven through Alabama and across the Mississippi. In 1835, some Cherokee’s decided to move and signed a treaty with the U.S. government. However, most of the Indians wanted to stay and were led by John Ross. These Native Americans felt betrayed. They traveled nearly 1,000 miles in rain and bad weather conditions. Along the way nearly 5,000 Cherokee’s perished. They died from whooping cough, dysentery, cholera, and starvation.Their route had taken them through Tennessee, Kentucky, Southern Illinois,Missouri, Arkansas, and finally into Indian

They soon received about 32 million acres of land in Oklahoma. Jackson soon after the act relocated 10,000 members of the 5 tribe. The Cherokees tried to sue the government because they have adapted well to the "white culture" and now is being moved to a different location. Unfortunately because they were just Native Americans they had no legal standing in the court. They were forced to move and when the refused the event Trail of Tears occurred.

Since international law said that England had discovered the American colonies, they therefore owned all of the land. That meant that the natives or "uncivilized" people no longer owned the land. This group of the "uncivilized" consisted of many Indian tribes which were forced out of their homeland, including the Cherokee.

Gold was discovered near Cherokee territory in Georgia. As result, Georgia desired to remove the Cherokees and relocate the Cherokees to lands west of the Mississippi river. This struck a major debate. Andrew Jackson was known to support the removal of Native Americans, so the state of Georgia took advantage of the scenario. With little difficulty, the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The Cherokees did not relocate without a civilized fight. They sent several documents to Congress to argue their case. These documents included three arguments to support the sovereignty of the Cherokee nation. These three arguments were Great Britain saw the Cherokees as separated nation from the Colonists, George Washington saw them as an independent nation, and the Cherokees had the same natural rights as the United States.

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

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.

Andrew Jackson knew that to win the 1829 election he had to first win over the votes of the frontier states (North Dakota through Texas). Jackson's main election selling point was to provide free land for the eager settlers. This was especially important in Georgia because new settlers were coming in and greatly desired the land the cherokee had. In order to justify his actions, Jackson stated the Cherokees had fought with the British during the Revolutionary war. However, the Cherokees were actually his allies during that time. One indian even regretted helping Jackson and said if he would have know it was going to be this way he would killed jackson right there. Just a few weeks after he won the election, the Georgia legislature passed a law removing all the Cherokee within the state borders. When the Indians went to the president for help he said, “No protection could be afforded to the Cherokees” unless they moved west of the Mississippi.” Caucasian citizens began to claim the homes of

splendid courtroom ruling that Georgia had no authority over native American tribal lands. In 1835, the Cherokees signed a treaty giving up their land in change for territory west of Arkansas, in which in 1838 a few 15,000 could head strolling alongside the so-referred to as trail of Tears. The relocation resulted inside the deaths of hundreds.

Hundreds of years ago, the Native Americans were known to be the first people on the land of America. To be specific on who the natives are the Mandan they lived where Cannonball and Missouri rivers meet together.