The Cherokee Removal directs attention to an assortment of documents presenting several important themes and main points such as the discussions within the Cherokee Nation, Georgia’s role in pressurizing the Cherokees off the land and settlers pleading to the US government to remove them by way of force. The "civilizing" of the Cherokees (their adoption of European culture), the national debate between promoters and opponents of expulsion, and a brief look at the deportation itself are all discussed at length. One of the reasons I have enjoyed Perdue’s book thus far is because of how in-depth the book goes. Examples of this can be found on pages 50-53 where it actually displays the Cherokee census of 1835. I thought examining this document…
In the case Worcester vs. Georgia. Cherokee Indians fought for their right to control their land which was roughly ¼ the size of Georgia. “We have a perfect and original right to remain in our lands without interruption or molestation.” (Document B) Georgia fought to have them removed saying that they were uncivilized and couldn’t assimilate into American culture, and that they made a contract with tribe leaders. In the case the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Worcester and the Cherokees. John Marshall said “The Cherokee Indians have an unquestionable right to their territory until title should be extinguished by voluntary cession to the United States” (Document B). Jackson disregarded this ruling and had the Indian Removal Act of 1830 put in place where he forced the Indians west of the Mississippi River along what is now known as “The Trail of…
In the late 1780’s the US began urging the Cherokees to stop hunting and their traditional ways of life and to instead learn about how to live, farm, and worship like Christian Americans. Despite everything the white people in Georgia and other southern states that abutted the Cherokee Nation refused to accept the Cherokee people as social equals and urged their political representatives to take the Cherokees land. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 gave Thomas Jefferson the chance to relocate the eastern tribes beyond the Mississippi River.…
There were some reasons why the Cherokees moved in the first place. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 justified because the Indians did things that are very uncalled for. They did things like, scalping men, women, and children alive. and They also burned them on stakes. Also the Cherokees agree to move because they signed a treaty that if they sign it they agreed to move. Plus when they move they get to receive five million dollars and they also get a lot of land. So the Cherokees agree to move and get land and five million dollars and the Americans don’t want to die.…
The cherokee was the last to move and one reason they didn’t want to leave is because the other tribes that went to the Indian territory got their horses taken and people died from diseases. The place had a lot of land for the people probably because everyone who lived there moved because of thieves. In the eyes of the Americans, the Indians should be thankful that we even gave them land. In the Indians eyes again, why kick us out and give us junk land because we won’t want to move.…
There were many events that led up to the removal of the Eastern Cherokee in the early-to-mid 19th century. However, it all really begins in 1830. Major Ridge was discussing treaties regarding selling land to the U.S. Government. The Cherokee believed that lived in their own sanctuary, their paradise, and that their ancestors had always lived here. Major Ridge felt if he could die to preserve his people land’s he would gladly do so. The Cherokee picked the wrong side during the American Revolution which caused American soldiers to desecrate Cherokee lands. He did not wish that same tragedy amongst his people. President Jefferson believed that eventually through cultural assimilation the Indian people and Americans would become one and we would…
When the first Hispanic colonists came to North America in 1769, the population of the Native Americans dropped critically. There used to be over 300,000 Native Americans in California. The Hispanics forced the Native Americans into slave labour and in no time, European diseases such as smallpox, influenza, measles, and typhus which the Spanish and French settlers brought from Europe to America broke out and killed over 100,000 Native Americans in California alone. The first treaties guaranteed reservations and in some cases even economic aid for the Native Americans. For example, the first ever treaty with Native Americans, was the "Treaty with the Delawares" on the 28th September 1778, which not only asked the Delawares to forgive the past…
In the early 1800s, White settlements were expanding westward. This threatened the Cherokee land which was located in the Southeastern part of the United States. This left the Cherokee with a big decision to make for their entire tribe. Would they relocate West ,or stay for the White settlements to invade where they call home. After all, the Cherokee had owned the land for over 10,000 years. It was not the United States’ land to take. This is why many of the Cherokee Nation felt the need to stay. Others wanted to move because they felt that if they did not, then the United States territory would override the Cherokee customs and they would have to follow United States laws. Clearly the best chance of survival for the Cherokee was to stay in…
The government didn't give them options; basically gave them land Oklahoma and told them to move there. The Cherokee refused to leave which is exactly what I would have done. The Cherokees wanted to continue on with the traditions of their ancestors. They wanted to live on the land of their ancestors,…
The Chief of the Cherokee tribe, John Ross strongly opposed Indian removal, because it was not right to the Indians, and the way the Treaty of New Echota came to be was fake and wrong. In the letter that John Ross wrote to the U.S. congress following the Treaty of New Echota, he explains that the treaty was fake, because the Cherokee tribe leaders picked a group of Indians to make a treaty with the U.S. officials, but a treaty was not made. Therefore, a group of random Cherokee individuals not chosen by any Cherokee tribe leaders met up with United States citizens and made a treaty and the president signed off of it, even though he knew it was wrong. Ross also says that, Indian removal was not right, because the United States took away any…
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a policy established through congress, that allowed the federal government to move the Native Americans out of their lands further west. When white Georgians discovered gold in western Georgia, they requested that the Cherokee Natives be removed so a gold mine could be established. In the Cherokee v. Georgia case, the Cherokee were found, by the Supreme Court, to have their own sovereignty and that the U.S state could not interfere with their land without permission. However, president Jackson disregarded the Supreme Courts decision and revoked the the Cherokee's rights to their land and began their removal. The Nation was forced to travel one thousand miles, leaving Georgia for Oklahoma on a grueling walk…
Have you ever made a trade that was fair to you, but unfair to someone else or vice versa. Well, you're not the only one. On May 28, 1830 there was an act signed that stated that the Congress and Government could trade and negotiate for their land in return for the land on the west side of the Mississippi River. John Ross a Cherokee chief, Andrew Jackson the president, and the congress were all involved in the signing of this act. The Congress and the other people involved on the government side wanted the land because they had more access to it and had better quality than the previous land. “The bold effort the president Central Bank had made to control the government… are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded…
The removal of American Indian tribes from lands east of the Mississippi River to what is now the state of Oklahoma is one of the tragic episodes in American history. Early treaties signed by American agents and representatives of Indian tribes guaranteed peace and the integrity of Indian territories, primarily to assure that the lucrative fur trade would continue without interruption. American settlers' hunger for Indian land, however, led to violent conflict in many cases, and succeeding treaties generally compelled tribes to cede large areas to the United States government.…
Most Native Americans resettled from Georgia and Florida to the Great Plains. The Cherokee tribe of Georgia did not move. This group of Native Americans wanted to stay in Georgia because they had established communities and laws. The Cherokee Tribe wanted to remain on its territory and be viewed as independent and self-governing (sovereign) nation. In 1825 Samuel Worcester moved to Georgia to support the Cherokee Nation. Worcester became a close friend of the Cherokees and provided advice to this tribe about their legal rights. The state of Georgia was not pleased with the Cherokees that they were refusing to…
Even if it was quite a good deal for the federal government, a lot of people who were part of the Cherokee tribe felt betrayed because the negotiators did not represent the tribal government. John Ross, the principal chief of the Nation once wrote “The instrument in question is not the act of our nation,” to the Senate of the United States of America protesting against this treaty. Furthermore, a large number of Cherokees (about 16,000) signed Ross’s petition, but the treaty was approved anyway by the congress. By 1838, just a few Cherokees had left their “former land” for what was called the Indian Territory. After this, nearly 7,000 soldiers were sent to expedite this removal process. The Cherokee were thus forced to march more than 1,200 miles to Indian Territory. Unfortunately, along the way, as said earlier, it was easy for Indians to die contracting diseases such as whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, or cholera. Moreover starvation was also a big issue for the Indians. The federal government back then promised that their new land (Indian Territory) would remain intact forever, the truth though was quite different, and the more whites had envy of conquest, the more the Indian Territory shrank.…