ipl-logo

Native Americans Experience On The Trail Of Tears

459 Words2 Pages

At the beginning of the 19th, the United States was looking for an expansion of land. The white settlers wanted the lands used by the Indians for their own economic gain. By 1830, President Jackson issued the Indian Removal Act; allowing state officials to override federal protection of Native Americans. Most Indian tribes left their homelands in Georgia during the early 1830s. However, the Cherokees remained. In 1838, the experiences the Cherokee Indians endured on the Trail of Tears could best be described as brutal. Lower social classes were non-existent to the higher social classes. General Winfield Scott states, “Or will you, by flight, seek to hid yourselves in mountains and forest, and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that, in pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts” (General Scott). Any hope of resistance was taken away from the Cherokees. They were given two options; suffer the journey with a chance of surviving, or be hunted and most likely killed. Either option was not favorable, and made them feel inferior. People need be treated as humans not animals. Private John G. Burnett states, “I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep” (Private Burnett). The Cherokees were not viewed at humans, but as livestock. Seeing them as livestock, meant that the white settlers did …show more content…

Elizabeth Watts states, “It was death, sorrow, hunger, exposure, and humiliation to a civilized people as were the Cherokees” (Watts). The Trail of Tears was more than just tears. Tears symbolized all of the pain that was endured. However, the Trail of Tears was more than just tears; there was pain and suffering that white settlers neglected. The trial was described with tears because there were so many crying with what they were forced through. They were treated like slaves; as if they were property. Cherokee Indians had no say in what happened to them, and when they would try to resist, they were met with brute

Show More
Related

  • Did Andrew Jackson Deserve To Be On The 20 Dollar Bill

    1107 Words  | 5 Pages

    ( A Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears, 1838-39) " The long painful journey to the west ended March 26th, 1839, with four-thousand silent graves reaching from the foothills of the Smokey Mountains to what is known as Indian territory in the west. And covetousness on the part of the white race was the cause of all that the Cherokees had to suffer." A white soldier tells the journey of the natives as long and painful because of the natives being forced against their will to leave their homes forever killing four thousand natives. President Jackson didn’t contemplate the natives life's because all he wanted was more land for the U.S..

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Trail Of Tears

    186 Words  | 1 Pages

    On their way there they had faced many cons and had lost many of their families that either died of disobeying Congress or of sickness from traveling on foot or traveling on water. This harsh and inhumane action of them traveling so far for land was called The Trail of Tears. Many things had happened when the Cherokee were forced to move from their land. When they were told to move some Indians left respectfully and many did not. Most stayed for their land which was passed by Andrew Jackson to move and force the Indians away.

    Read More

  • An Example Of Major Ridge: A Hero

    913 Words  | 4 Pages

    In addition, “The people who suffered on the Trail of Tears were the thousands of uncelebrated Cherokee farmers, who had left behind small cabins and few possessions, were those who trudged the almost 900 miles in icy rain”. Many of the successful politicians and congress did not have to worry about being forced out of their homes only those who weren't financially stable. Many people from the Cherokee nation died of hunger, thirst, and weariness. It was said that those who weren’t able to keep up had to be moved alongside the road where they were killed. It was a historical tragedy for the Cherokee nations, especially since one of their

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Andrew Jackson's Ratification Of The Indian Removal Act

    1222 Words  | 5 Pages

    (PBS) This terrible treatment towards the natives led to the future hatred of Americans, and just added onto reasons why the white people should not be trusted. “...the sufferings of the Cherokee were awful. The trail of exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire.

    Read More

  • A Tragic Chapter In American History: The Trail Of Tears

    533 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the autumn of 1838, the U.S. government, now under Van Buren, commanded the vigorous removal of the Cherokees from Georgia to the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Of the 18,000 that began the 1,000 miles, 116-day trek, 4,000 perished on the way of illness, cold, starvation, and depletion. For this reason, the journey is known as the Trail of Tears. Regardless of who was responsible, however, the circumstances of suffering and death remain a tragic chapter in American history. In all, between 1831 and 1839 about 46,000 Indian people were relocated across the Mississippi River.

    Read More

  • Manifest Destiny: Westward Expansion Of The Trail Of Tears

    1022 Words  | 5 Pages

    government had had enough of these protests against the Removal Act, so they began to enforce it. The Choctaw were the first to travel on foot towards Indian Country without food, supplies or their promised help from the government, and had been threatened by the U.S. The Creek Indians were threatened by the U.S. and made their long perilous journey over the border in 1836, but only 3,500 of 15,000 survived. This trail was quickly referenced as the “Trail where they cried”, or Trail of Tears. Only 2,000 Cherokee had left their home by 1838, so President Van Buren sent the army was sent to round up Natives to prison camps. Soldiers forced the Cherokee from their homes, but did not fight back under their chief’s orders.

    Read More

  • Indian Removal Act Research Paper

    778 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Indian Removal Act was signed in 1830 by President Andrew Jackson to remove the Cherokee Indians from their homes and force them to settle west of the Mississippi River. The act was passed in hopes to gain agrarian land that would replenish the cotton industry which had plummeted after the Panic of 1819. Andrew Jackson believed that effectively forcing the Cherokees to become more civilized and to christianize them would be beneficial to them. Therefore, he thought the journey westward was necessary. In late 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their homes and forced into a brutal journey westward in the bitter cold.

    Read More

  • Indian Removal Treaty Essay

    912 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1838, the Cherokees were forced to give up their lands and to migrate to present-day Oklahoma, due to the signing of The Treaty of New Echota. The Cherokees were deported from their homes, betrayed by the government whom they treated with respect, separated them from their land that they nurtured; the Cherokee struggled to understand how to make a new life. The Indian Removal led to thousands of Cherokees to die due to starvation, diseases, and exhaustion during their march known as The Trail of Tears. This paper will discuss the effects it had on the Cherokees and what has happened during the trail.

    Read More

  • Why Is The Indian Removal Act Called The Trail Of Tears

    978 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trail of Tear In the 19th century, the U.S. decides to expand it territories into the homelands of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole (also known as the “Five Civilized Tribes”). Destroying the homes of the natives all for growing cotton. Such an unlawful act for a selfish reason. Starting with Andrew Jackson and the Indian removal act leading to tension rising between the tribes. Contributing to the to the split of the cherokees at pea ridge and the battle of Wilson's creek.

    Read More

  • Cherokee Turning Point

    69 Words  | 1 Pages

    Before the world was made, all beings lived in the sky. - The Trail of Tears was a turning point for the Cherokees in America. Being forced to move westward for the American benefit cost them greatly. The Cherokees’ once rich culture was damaged from this forced movement. Cherokee men were strong and fearless fighters.

    Read More

  • Five Civilized Tribes

    730 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Cherokee lived at the border of the Carolinas and Tennessee on both sides of the Appalachian mountains. Creek Indians had been divided into two tribes, the upper and lower, their members lived either in southern Georgia or Northern Alabama. The Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes lived on either side of the Mississippi (Foreman 548). The Indian Removal Act was put into place in 1830 by president Andrew Jackson, in order to move the tribes into the unowned territory. Initially, the removal was intended for the purchase of the land of the willing tribes, but it turned into forcibly removing these people from their homes.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Trail Of Tears

    277 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Cherokee Removal

    2015 Words  | 9 Pages

    It was said that "they never bow to whatever other animal". When they would speak amongst each other, they did as such each one in turn. At the point when the speaker was done he or she would stop talking and look for the next to begin. At the point when Europeans started to make advances on the scene, the Cherokee began to call them, "monstrous whites". Cherokee men wanted to do three things they saw as important: take care of business with other groups, go fishing, and fight.

    Read More

  • How The Trail Of Tears Affected The Cherokee Indians

    1538 Words  | 7 Pages

    In the 16th century, the Cherokee Indians were classified as the one of the most socially and culturally advanced Native American Tribes. The Trail of Tears forcefully removed the innocent Cherokee tribe from their homelands. In this paper, I will explain the how the Trail of Tears affected the Cherokee Indians. I will do this by explaining the Cherokee Indians life before, what happened during the Trail of Tears, and the Cherokee life after.

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Research Paper

    1086 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Genocide: Trail of Tears/ The Indian removal act During the 1830s the united states congress and president Andrew Jackson created and passed the “Indian removal act”. Which allowed Jackson to forcibly remove the Indians from their native lands in the southeastern states, such as Florida and Mississippi, and send them to specific “Indian reservations” across the Mississippi river, so the whites could take over their land. From 1830-1839 the five civilized tribes (The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw) were forced, sometimes by gun point, to march about 1,000 miles to what is present day Oklahoma.

    Read More

More about Native Americans Experience On The Trail Of Tears

Open Document