Cherokee Indian Removal

The Removal of the Cherokee The tragedy of the Cherokee nation has haunted the legacy of Andrew Jackson"'"s Presidency. The events that transpired after the implementation of his Indian policy are indeed heinous and continually pose questions of morality for all generations. Ancient Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in an effort to increase the aggressive expansion of white settlers during the early years of the United States. The most notable removal came after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee, whose journey was known as the '"'Trail of Tears'"', and the four other civilized tribes, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, were forced to emigrate to lands west of the Mississippi River, to
The basic problem was how to get the Indian Territory. The Washington Administration viewed four possibilities for the Indians. First, extermination was often favored but impractical. Second, isolation was equally impossible. Third, citizenship many believed the Indians should become citizens, but the Indians refused this. Fourth, removal was at first rejected by the Indians but became the only alternative.# The Washington Administration first tried regulating the Indians under the Secretary of War, Henry Knox. The administration then began a policy of '"'Indian civilization.'"' It wanted to create a race of Indian people that relied less on hunting and more on agriculture. The Washington Administration continually entertained the notion that once the Indians were proficient in agrarian sciences, they would be able to cede their lands in the east and move westward. Certain Cherokee refused to assimilate into the '"'white'"' agrarian way of life and voluntarily immigrated to the western regions of the country. These Cherokee were a minority, for most Cherokee stayed in their homelands and worked toward a more '"'civilized'"' way of
If it be true that wrongs have been inflicted, and that still greater are to be apprehended, this is not the tribunal which can redress the past or prevent the future. #6 By this Marshall asserted the Cherokee Nation grievances would need to be brought before the Georgia court of law. The charges were never heard in a Georgia courtroom. The Cherokee Nation forged ahead in defiance of Georgia. The Cherokee Chiefs sent a letter to both the governor of Georgia, George Gilmer and to President Andrew Jackson relaying that they wished to remain on the land of the ancestors. The Cherokee believed that the treaties of the past guarantied them the right to stay.