Indian Removal Dbq

The Indian Removal Act was passed in the year 1830 and by 1837 46,000 Native Americans were forced from their lands. “Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when we leave old nation. Women cry and make sad wails. Children cry and many men cry, and all look sad like when friends die, but they say nothing and keep on going towards west. Many days pass and people die very much. We bury close by trail.” (Lynn Peppas pg 4) A Trail of Tears survivor described it like this, imagine walking not really knowing when you are going to stop and watching people, your friends and family, die right in front of you.

It started way before 1830, when settlers came they changed the way the Natives lived. They tried to convert them to christianity, change their methods of farming, etc. They

4,000 of the estimated 15,000 Cherokees died on their march, mostly because the troops escorting them barely ever stopped so the sick and exhausted could recover or sleep.

The Trail of Tears led land west of the Mississippi river but other Native American tribes lived their like, the Caddo, Osage, and Quapaw tribes. All of the tribes had to start over when they got to their new land. They knew nothing about that land, the did not know if their crops were going to grow properly, or at all. Their was nothing the native people could do to stay their because of the selfish acts of the white settlers.

The settlers did not care for what they had done, they only thought about their themselves. According to the Treaty of Echota the United States had promised the Cherokee tribe food and supplies for one year, but the suppliers were really high for their meat, corn, and grain, so often the Cherokee tribe did not get their rations. They turned to their traditional skills to survive they made moccasins of deer skins for their feet and pots and dishes out of