Cherokee's Removal From Their Homeland example essay topic

The years 1838 and 1839 were not pleasant ones for the Cherokee Indians, a tribe who had, before this date, been settled in the Southeast, and were forcibly removed and made to travel West beyond the Mississippi River during these years. The difficult and heart-wrenching journey that they endured, known as The Trail of Tears, paints a picture of the conflicts between the Native Americans and white settlers at this time and was meant as a solution to these irresolvable differences. Many of the hardships the Cherokees were forced to withstand during their long voyage were insurmountable, resulting in mass devastation of the Native American tribe. President Andrew Jackson had a couple of reasons for proposing the removal of Cherokees from East of the Mississippi and transferring them to the West where white settlers were, at this time, not especially inclined to live. One reason for the Cherokee's removal was that "in 1828, when he was running for President, he knew that in order to win he must sweep the frontier states. Free land for the land-hungry settlers became Jackson's major policy" (Binder and Reimers 152,153).

Since the Cherokees were Indians and unable to vote, Jackson's promise that he would open Georgia, where three-fourths of the tribe resided, to settlers was fulfilled once he took office. He "justified his position by saying that the Cherokees had fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War" (Binder and Reimers 153). Yet he failed to mention that they had been allies in the War of 1812 (Binder and Reimers 153). The prospect of being able to settle in the predominantly Native American state of Georgia sat well with voters and Jackson was subsequently elected President. A second reason that Jackson wanted the Cherokees to move westward was that he could plainly see that Indians and white settlers did not get along together (Binder and Reimers 152). The government was unable to protect the Cherokees from the harassment of whites (Binder and Reimers 152), and by moving West, Jackson concluded that the tribe would be much safer from the prejudices of the white settlers because of the wide open spaces and unsettled lands that the territories offered.

The new President kept his word. "Three weeks after Jackson was elected President, the Georgia legislature passed a law annexing all the Cherokee country within that state's borders (Binder and Reimers 153). Legislation was also passed that abolished all Cherokee laws and customs, and land lots of 160 acres each were mapped out and distributed to white settlers (Binder and Reimers 153). The leader of the Cherokees, John Ross, went to the government to request aid and plead for justice, but the only assistance he could find were anti-Jackson men who did not really care what happened to the tribe itself (Binder and Reimers 153).

While Ross was protesting in Washington, he was informed that his people's land was being forcefully taken over by white citizens of Georgia, causing Indians to lose their homes and requiring them to relocate. The Cherokees stood their ground and refused to leave their homeland. They attempted to appeal to Congress, to whom they offered to cede a section of Georgia in return for protection in the remainder of the state. This attempt was inherently ignored, and Jackson restated that the only solution to the invasion of their land was their movement westward. Consequently, the Cherokees became divided. Some believed that further resistance was futile and that in order to save some of their belongings and prevent deaths, they must leave their homeland and travel beyond the Mississippi.

The majority still remained adamant, with Ross as their leader. Ross's followers attempted to charge the government with bribery, but the charges were denied (Binder and Reimers 155). "Some years afterward it was discovered that the Secretary of War had sent secret agents into the Cherokee country with authority to expend money to bribe chiefs to support the treaty of cession and removal" (Binder and Reimers 155). The treaty for removal was passed by only one vote, and the Cherokees were given two years from that day to permanently retreat from their homeland (Binder and Reimers 156). The signing of the treaty resulted in the voluntary departure of about 800 Native Americans, while around 17,000 still remained (Binder and Reimers 156). As the two-year waiting period neared, Winfield Scott was ordered to bring in his army and forcibly remove the remaining Cherokees (Binder and Reimers 157).

His soldiers had already begun building thirteen stockaded forts spread throughout the South, where the Indians would await transportation to the West (Binder and Reimers 157). The soldiers were ordered to hold fire unless there was resistance (Binder and Reimers 157). The Native Americans realized that compliance was necessary, and most gave in submissively. Troops invaded the lands of the Cherokees and seized men, women, and children without giving some even the opportunity to collect their belongings. Their homes were set on fire, and they were brought to the stockades where they frighteningly awaited transport to lands they knew nothing about. "On June 6 at Ross's Landing near the site of present-day Chattanooga, the first of many departures began" (Binder and Reimers 157).

The Cherokees were stuffed into flatboats attached to the side of a steamboat and sent to Decatur, Alabama, where they boarded a train to Tus cumbia (Binder and Reimers 157). They were then transferred to another steamboat, which traveled "north on the Tennessee River to the Ohio and then down the Mississippi and up the Arkansas to their new homeland" (Binder and Reimers 157). The journey was long and hard, and food and water were scarce. What resources they did have were usually contaminated and resulted in disease that would spread and quickly kill as many as five per day on each boat (Binder and Reimers 158). Because so many of the first to leave had died, remaining Cherokee leaders petitioned General Scott to postpone further departures until autumn (Binder and Reimers 158). They also asked permission to travel across the land in wagons, believing that by camping along the way, less people would die (Binder and Reimers).

They were granted these requests and on the first day of October the first group began their horrendous journey. Their route was long and difficult. They started out from "the mouth of the Hiwassee in Tennessee across the Cumberland plateau to McMinnville and then north to Nashville where they crossed the Cumberland River. From there they followed an old trail to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and continued northwestward to the Ohio River, crossing into southern Illinois near the mouth of the Cumberland. Moving straight westward they passed through Jonesboro and crossed the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Some of the first parties turned southward through Arkansas; the later ones continued westward through Springfield, Missouri, and on to Indian Territory" (Binder and Reimers 160). The journey was no better in wagons than on the riverboats. The rain caused muddy and uneven roads, which made travel extremely slow. The elderly and the young were tiring from the relentless pace, and, although sick and weak, they were forced to carry unbearably heavy loads and walk through muck in the cold without even shoes on their feet.

Because of the bad weather, malnutrition, and close quarters many became ill and family members were forced to give up supplies so that the sick could be piled into the wagons only to spread disease even more quickly. By the time the last of the caravans reached the Mississippi, the water was frozen over and impossible to cross (Binder and Reimers 160). Thousands were forced to wait for almost a month to cross (Binder and Reimers 160). The cold January weather continued on causing many more deaths to those waiting on the banks of the Mississippi. The devastation of the previously powerful Cherokee Indian tribe was and still is, astounding. In March 1839, the last of the caravans reached their destination and survivors were counted (Binder and Reimers 161).

These numbers were weighed against the numbers of those that were originally sent on the journey. It was estimated, quite accurately, that about 4,000 had died, which came out to one out of every four Indians lost to death (Binder and Reimers 161). Although the sad story of the Trail of Tears, is filled with brutality and suffering, there were many who supported the Cherokee's removal from their homeland. Andrew Jackson believed that by forcing retreat of the Indians, "it puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments on account of the Indians" (Binder and Reimers 163). He was also convinced that it would put a civilized population in place of a savage group of hunters and strengthen the southwestern frontier (Binder and Reimers 163). Jackson also naively believed that the separation of the Indians from the whites would enable them to do as they please to make themselves happy and free them from the harassment of settlers.

Under the protection of the government, Jackson believed that the Cherokees would decide to cast off their savage and uncivilized ways and proceed in implementing the practices and customs of European settlers (Binder and Reimers 163). It is not difficult to see the arguments against the treaty that resulted in the death of a quarter of the Cherokee population. The devastating loss of this many people, to any group of any ethnicity, causes bitterness and hatred toward the perpetrators. Not only this, but it places feelings of defeat and sadness into the hearts of those who suffered so needlessly. The decision to remove the Cherokees from their homeland was cruel and morally wrong. Native Americans should have had the right to reside wherever they chose, especially in their native land.

To be forced out of their homes and rounded up like cattle to be carted off to some unknown land with only the clothes on their back shows the prejudices of society back then, and now most can plainly see the unfairness in the decision to send the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears.