The Trail Of Tears

So the treaty signed by about 100 Cherokees determined the lives of about 17,000 other Cherokees to live in Indian Territories, and caused the Cherokees to be forced to leave their homeland. In conclusion, the U.S. government ordered the Indian Removal Act of 1830 because of their greed for gold and expansion of land. The white settlers greed for gold and more land caused the Cherokees to leave their homeland, and resulted in the deaths of about 4,000 thousand Cherokees. So the journey of the Cherokees is widely remembered today as “The Trails of

President Jackson was far from done, he passed the Indian removal bill, which was arguably the cruelest law passed by the United States government. It called for exchanging Indian territories in the East for the land west of the Mississippi River. Many people, including American citizens, themselves, objected to the Indian Removal Act. A deeply Christian man by the name of Frelinghuysen, questioned the statement of the American nation having native ‘brothers’. The Indian Removal Act proved how the United States government stole the land that the Cherokees called home.

Native Americans were greatly affected by the expansion of the United States during the 1800s. As the U.S. moved west, they stole large amounts of Native American land by settling the land and killing the Natives who once lived there. Also during this time, their culture was being taken from them due to assimilation. While United States citizens were expanding into the west, many Native American lives were lost. They were also responsible for destroying a major food and supply source for Native Americans.

This group was made up mostly of the Cherokee elite, who unfairly decided the future of the Cherokee nation. Led by major John Ridge, who saw the writing on the wall in that the government had planned to take their land for farming and gold-mining. Instead of protecting his people he sought to profit from the situation and sign the treaty for generous compensation. John Ross, who led the majority of the Cherokee nation in resisting the pressure to leave their lands, led the second party. John Ross tried multiple times to arrange meetings with President Van Buren to renegotiate these terms.

The Cherokees of Georgia tried to accept new customs and fought against the removal in court. After Jackson’s signed the Removal Act, in 1838 (under President Van Buren), 7000 soldiers sent to force 15000 Cherokees west. It was This difficult and dangerous journey is known as the Trail of Tears. The Cherokees had to leave everything behind and on the journey 4,000 had died. Jackson ignored that the Indians had lived on that land for many generations and were being forced to give up their homes.

Andrew Jackson during his time was considered a very patriotic politician he hated the rich, he hated the Indian, and loved the idea of slavery. It has been said that he grew up not educated and had a bad up bring but still managed to get to a high political suture. Jackson at one point was general and had a very decorated portfolio, which made sense he would become president, Andrew was most well know for “The Battle of New Orleans” where Andrew Jackson, prevented the British Army and General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans nearing the end of that war.

Just as Hitler wanted to destroy the Jewish race, Trujillo wanted to rid the country of blacks. "He had this thing about being white," Bartlett says. "He used to put powder on his face. In three weeks' time, I think, he had 15,000 black Haitians killed."” . ( King, Susan)

“Jackson argued that the United States policy of attempting to assimilate the tribes into white society had failed and the Native Americans’ way of life would eventually be destroyed.” (thehermitage.com) Thousands of Native Americans died due to his decisions; he seemed to show his total disregard for their culture and rights. This displays his autocratic tendencies, but his crisis involving South Carolina does as well. When the Tariff of 1832 began to harm South Carolina but aid the North, our state threatened to leave the union in order to protect our economy. However, Jackson was going to use force to make us follow his laws; he wasn 't willing to bend at all.

The reconstruction period was a failure because African Americans, mainly males, were not treated with equality although the constitution said that the they were free and had the right to vote, be educated and had the right to liberty, life and the pursuit to happiness. Organizations, like the KKK, were created to harm freed slaves and their families. Laws were created such as the Black Codes restricting former slaves from their rights. African Americans endured a lot of violence over the years. “In Grayson, Texas, a white man and two friends murdered three former slaves because the wanted to ‘ thin the niggers out and drive them to their hole’”.

What was the Trail of Tears? The Trail of Tears was in 1838 to 1839. It was part of Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy. The Cherokee were forced to give up their land east of the Mississippi River and were forced to migrate somewhere in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee then called this movement the “Trail of Tears”, because of the horrible effects they faced.

“ On the 29th of October 1869, [the Klansmen] broke my door open, took me to the woods and whipped me three hours or more and left me for dead.” “ About two days before they whipped me they offered me $5,000 to go with them and said they would pay me $2,500 in cash if I would let another man go to the legislature in my place.”. The KKK tried to silence a former slave who ended up becoming a Georgia State Legislature to drain the support of Reconstruction policies and to attack the empowerment of the African-American community he represented. As political violence was still a thing in the South the North started to become weary of fighting for equal rights.

The seminole chief at the time was Chief Neamathla he tried to change to course of the war. Chief john ross lead a protest against jackson 's treaty land promised to natives were taken away and they were sent to camps. The aftermath of the indian removal act was just as devastating as the act itself only 2% of the native population remained left this act was a major setback to the natives which now life in poverty and low employment. Most of the native population lives on reservations and many native americans suffer still affects of the

Lastly, we should not honor a criminal. Columbus 's repulsive actions made him enemies within his own colony and as well as in Europe. This lead to a rebellion in 1498. Soon after, the king and queen sent a royal investigator to evaluate the situation.

After reading chapter 7 of Zinn’s book, I began to realize that a good president really does matter. Take Andrew Jackson for example, he was a president who passed the “Indian Removal Act of 1830,” driving the Native American southeast of the United States. This caused the death of thousands of Indians, commonly known as the Trail of Tears. He was also an arrogant person who can’t keep his promises with the Creeks, burning down their village, killing men, women and children. He was also a slave trader.

stood to gain copious amounts of land and in return the American government would sacrifice its honor. The Trail of Tears and the 1830 Indian Removal would be the beginning of a great division that would occur within the U.S. Americans would later watch in disgust WWII would occur speaking to the similarities of the events and the comparisons of leaders. But what remains a fact is the 1830 Indian Removal was nothing short of ethnic cleansing. The loss of thousands of Cherokee people had to be answered for and balanced out according to Cherokee Law.