Being one of the more “advanced” tribes, the Cherokee thought early about making sure they could do everything possible to create preventative measures against having their land taken away. Before there was a more serious federal discussion on removing the tribe, they were working hard to becoming a more “civilized” group of people to become more accepted by regular Americans and to better themselves. In order to both help their case and further the process of becoming civilized, they set up a constitution which closely resembled that of the US Constitution. In the Cherokee Constitution, it allowed them to set up an actual border around their territory and set up a government, both which were signs of earlier resistance against their removal
He went to the Supreme Court and won against the US Gov’t. The Court agreed that the Cherokees had rights to the land, but the president would not back down. Then in 1835, a few renegade Cherokees wrote up a false treaty and gave it to Congress. Congress liked it so they passed the treaty by one vote; this treaty gave the Cherokees land and money in Oklahoma in exchange for their Georgia/Alabama land.
Major Ridge, a prominent Cherokee leader, believed in partial assimilation specifically involving education so the Cherokee could gain leverage when using the American legal system. Sequoyah, another protuberant Cherokee, developed a written version of the Cherokee language which allowed them to translate important texts such as the Bible and U.S. Constitution. This gave the Cherokee a more thorough understanding of the United States government. The advancements of having a translatable language and mixed blood/educationally assimilated Cherokee with knowledge of how the U.S. government functioned proved to be quite beneficial when defending their ownership of property. The attempted to write their own Constitution and claim they were a sovereign nation, but were quickly overruled by Georgia state laws.
The Cherokee Tribe that was in Georgia, had chosen to fight the eviction. Instead of taking the path that their grandfathers ad fathers had taught them to take, this generation took them to court. John Marshall took up for the Cherokee, said that they didn’t have to move. Andrew Jackson didn’t like Marshall’s idea about the Cherokees. The result ended up being, the Cherokee was rounded up at gun point and was forced to move.
Since they were foreigners, in their eyes, the Courts should not be hearing the case. With this belief, according to Georgia, the Cherokee Nation had no
The removal of the Cherokee, or more commonly known as the “Trail of Tears,” was a defining American event that left an incredible historical impact. The Cherokee and other Native American tribes were being moved westward by the American government for various reasons such as disputes with white settlers, the desire for the gold on the Cherokee lands, the desire to civilize them and other reasons. However, it was far from a simplistic dispute between whites and Native Americans. There were many whites, including President Jackson, as well as some Cherokee, who supported the policy to move the Indians west. Opponents of the removal also included both whites and Cherokee.
What is to be covered in this essay is the Critical issue, summary of The Trail of Tears, why in some ways what Andrew Jackson has done good and the many ways he had done wrong, and what he could have done to help the whites and the native Americans. Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. It’s important to discuss when talking about the Trail of Tears because President Andrew Jackson had had signed the Indian removal act because the Americans had thought there was gold there and they all wanted the land for that.
As a part of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Native American people were forcefully assembled and made to endure one of the longest walks from Georgia to Oklahoma on what has become known as the Trail of Tears. President Andrew Jackson’s motives for movement of the Native people to a new territory was to eliminate the Native race by stripping the victims of their vital resources needed for basic survival. After 178 years of expansion and growth in the United States of America, the circumstances for Native Americans remain unchanged. President Jackson’s sentiments have permeated the present society in issues associated with the physical and emotional fight to decolonize. Decolonization is both the individual and communal effort to regenerate
Trail of Tears Native Americans experienced a dramatic change in the 1830s. Nearly 125,000 Native Americans who lived on inherited land from ancestors of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida were all cast out by the end of the decade. The federal government forced the natives to leave because white settlers wanted an area to grow their cotton. Andrew Jackson (President of the U.S. during this time) signed into law, the Indian Removal Act, authorizing him to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi River in return for native lands within state borders.
In an article called “Cherokee Towns” it says, “In the historic era beginning around 1700 to near 1800, there were about sixty Cherokee towns and villages in modern North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Most were located in clusters located on various major watersheds and identified by the British trade based in Charles Town (Charleston), SC, as the Overhill, Valley, Middle, Lower and Out Towns. ”This shows that it takes
Cherokee trade with the English colonies of Georgia and South Carolina had increased, the in the 1740s, the Cherokee tribes developed a hunting and farming lifestyle. In 1775, one Cherokee Nation was described as having one hundred houses. Each house had a garden, orchard, hothouse, and hog
Andrew Jackson disobeyed a direct order from the Supreme Court, which it means he was above the law. I really wonder how Americans tolerated him, at that time, he was cruel to the Indian common man. Because of him, the Native Americans have the worst end of the Trail of Tears. They are the ones who are forced out of their traditional homes and sent away on a journey of pain and death. Those who had fallen ill, most of the time died, and those who had the will to move on were able to make it to the end and start new lives.
Under influence of president Andrew Jackson, the congress was urged in 1830 to pass the Indian Removal Act, with the goal of relocated many Native Americans in the East territory, the west of Mississippi river. The Trail of tears was made for the interest of the minorities. Indeed, if president Jackson wished to relocate the Native Americans, it was because he wanted to take advantage of the gold he found on their land. Then, even though the Cherokee won their case in front the supreme court, the president and congress pushed them out(Darrenkamp).
On July 17, 1830, the Cherokee nation published an appeal to all of the American people. United States government paid little thought to the Native Americans’ previous letters of their concerns. It came to the point where they turned to the everyday people to help them. They were desperate. Their withdrawal of their homeland was being caused by Andrew Jackson signing the Indian Removal Act into law on May 28, 1830.
In May of 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed The Indian Removal Act into law.32 This law allowed the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for tribal lands within State borders. Few Natives moved peacefully, most resisted the new relocation policy.35 Approximately 125,000 Natives of the ‘Five Civilized Tribes’ – Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee, lived on the millions of acres in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Florida.36 As new settlers were flooding into the United States, prime farm land was coveted by them.37 Georgia passed laws limiting Native Peoples sovereignty and rights and the Natives used the courts to regain their rights.38 In a few cases, such as Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)