Photograph of Trail of Tears RemovalOn October 1, 1838, the first group of Cherokee Native Americans set out on their forced removal route from Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama to Oklahoma in what came to be known as the "Trail of Tears" (3, 109), ending nearly ten years of attempts by European Americans to finally drive the native population completely off their lands.
From the period of the Jefferson administration in the early 1800s, the official position of the United States government was to call for the assimilation of Native Americans into the mainstream European American culture of the country (1, 313). The tribes who sought to adopt to the customs of the wider European American culture were allowed to remain on their lands and those who didn't were to resettle in lands west of the Mississippi River (1, 313). Of the "Five Civilized Tribes"-- the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles-- that remained in the southern lands east of the Mississippi River, the Cherokees assimilated into the broader culture the most (1, 313). They became "farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, owners of property", including more than a thousand slaves (3, 104). Their chief, Sequoyah, developed a written form of the Cherokee language (3, 104). The Cherokee learned English from Christian missionaries (1, 313). They also "welcomed...Christianity" from the missionaries (3, 104). In February 1828, they began publishing a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, in English and Cherokee (3, 104). They formalized their government, known as the Legislative Council (3, 104). The Cherokee became the model Native American tribe resembling the European American view of "civilization" (3, 104).
President Andrew JacksonDespite the fact that the Cherokees had successfully adapted their culture and customs to those of the mainstream American culture, and thus kept their side of the agreement with the federal government to assimilate in exchange for remaining on their lands, the demand placed on the state and federal governments for Native American lands from European Americans was too great. In the 1820s, the state legislatures of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi "voted to invalidate federal treaties granting special self-governing status to Indian lands" (1, 314). The actions of the states constituted a challenge to federal authority; however, they had the support of President Andrew Jackson in this disagreement between the states and the federal government (1, 314). In his 1829 message to Congress, President Jackson stated: "I informed the Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt to establish an independent government would not be countenanced by the Executive of the United States, and advised them to emigrate beyond the Mississippi or submit to the laws of those States" (3, 104). With the President's support, the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act the following year (1, 314). In Section II of the Act, it states that the President is allowed to "exchange" land in Oklahoma "...for the whole or any part or portion of the territory claimed and occupied by such tribe or nation, within the bounds of any or more of the states or territories, where the land claimed and occupied by the Indians, is owned by the United States are bound to the state within which it lies to extinguish the Indian claim thereto" (2). Thus, null and voiding the legal rights of Native Americans to their land and of treaties signed between the tribes and the U.S. government. In Section III, the Native American tribes are granted permanent rights to their new land in Oklahoma, provided they didn't "become extinct" (2). Like the treaties that were broken by the Indian Removal Act, this legal promise would be broken in time as well. In Section V, the President is granted authority to appropriate funds to aid native tribes in their relocation (2).
In attempt to underscore the demand for Native American tribes to leave, President Jackson sent "federal officials to negotiate removal treaties with the southern tribes" (1, 314). Most tribes signed treaties; however, the Cherokees fought their removal by using what was on their side-- the law (1, 314). The Cherokee won two cases, Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia (1831) and Worcester vs. Georgia (1832), presented before the Supreme Court (1, 314). Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation", and thus "could not be forced by the state of Georgia to give up its land against its will" (1, 314). At the same time that the Supreme Court was ruling in the favor of the Cherokees, the laws of Georgia allowed for the confiscation of Cherokee land, the abolishment of their government, the prohibition of meetings, the imprisonment of Cherokees advocating staying, the prohibition of Cherokees testifying against European Americans, the prohibition of Cherokees digging for gold on their land, and the suppression of their newspaper (3, 105 + 109). Even though the Cherokees had won their cases before the Supreme Court, the disenfranchisement that had occurred previously under state law would remain, largely due to President Jackson's dismissal of the rulings and his desire to see all Native American tribes removed to west of the Mississippi River (1, 314).
In 1834, after years of languishing in legal limbo, seven hundred Cherokees decided to relocate west (3, 109). Eighty-one people died en route to Oklahoma, most as a result of measles and cholera, and half of those that arrived at the new land died within the year from cholera (3, 109). Restless from the time it was taking for Native Americans to leave their land, European Americans sought to finalize the relocation enacted by the Indian Removal Act by stepping up their attacks on the Cherokee (3, 109).
In 1838, President Martin Van Buren would preside over the finalization of the removal of the Cherokee Native Americans from the lands of Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama (3, 109). He ordered Major General Winfield Scott into Cherokee territory and authorized him to use "whatever military force (that) was required to move the Cherokees west" (3, 109). Under Maj. Gen. Scott's command, five regiments of regulars and four thousand militia and volunteers" rounded up the remaining seventeen thousand Cherokees and placed them in stockades (3, 109). The above photograph taken during the removal, shows Cherokee waiting to leave for Oklahoma. On October 1, 1838, the Cherokee began their hellish journey to Oklahoma-- their "Trail of Tears"-- in which four thousand of their people would eventually die "of sickness, of drought, of the heat, (and) of exposure" (3, 109-110).
In attempt to underscore the demand for Native American tribes to leave, President Jackson sent "federal officials to negotiate removal treaties with the southern tribes" (1, 314). Most tribes signed treaties; however, the Cherokees fought their removal by using what was on their side-- the law (1, 314). The Cherokee won two cases, Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia (1831) and Worcester vs. Georgia (1832), presented before the Supreme Court (1, 314). Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation", and thus "could not be forced by the state of Georgia to give up its land against its will" (1, 314). At the same time that the Supreme Court was ruling in the favor of the Cherokees, the laws of Georgia allowed for the confiscation of Cherokee land, the abolishment of their government, the prohibition of meetings, the imprisonment of Cherokees advocating staying, the prohibition of Cherokees testifying against European Americans, the prohibition of Cherokees digging for gold on their land, and the suppression of their newspaper (3, 105 + 109). Even though the Cherokees had won their cases before the Supreme Court, the disenfranchisement that had occurred previously under state law would remain, largely due to President Jackson's dismissal of the rulings and his desire to see all Native American tribes removed to west of the Mississippi River (1, 314).
In 1834, after years of languishing in legal limbo, seven hundred Cherokees decided to relocate west (3, 109). Eighty-one people died en route to Oklahoma, most as a result of measles and cholera, and half of those that arrived at the new land died within the year from cholera (3, 109). Restless from the time it was taking for Native Americans to leave their land, European Americans sought to finalize the relocation enacted by the Indian Removal Act by stepping up their attacks on the Cherokee (3, 109).
In 1838, President Martin Van Buren would preside over the finalization of the removal of the Cherokee Native Americans from the lands of Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama (3, 109). He ordered Major General Winfield Scott into Cherokee territory and authorized him to use "whatever military force (that) was required to move the Cherokees west" (3, 109). Under Maj. Gen. Scott's command, five regiments of regulars and four thousand militia and volunteers" rounded up the remaining seventeen thousand Cherokees and placed them in stockades (3, 109). The above photograph taken during the removal, shows Cherokee waiting to leave for Oklahoma. On October 1, 1838, the Cherokee began their hellish journey to Oklahoma-- their "Trail of Tears"-- in which four thousand of their people would eventually die "of sickness, of drought, of the heat, (and) of exposure" (3, 109-110).
Above is a dramatic reenactment of the events I have detailed that led up to
and the "Trail of Tears".
and the "Trail of Tears".
(1) Faragher, John Mack, et al. Out of Many. 5th ed. Vol. I. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. 2 Vols.
(2) "Indian Removal Act". A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875. The Library of Congress. 14 July 2007 <http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&
recNum=458>.
(3) Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Vol. I. New York: The New Press, 2003. 2 Vols.
Image Cited:
"Photograph of Trail of Tears Removal". Image Table. Cherokees in Macon County History and Folklore. 14 July 2007 <http://aam.wcu.edu/cohort2/duncan/Picture%20of%20Trail%20of%20Tears%20
removal.jpg>
"President Andrew Jackson". Presidents of the United States. The White House. 14 July 2007
Video Cited:
Rich-Heape Films, Inc. "Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy Native American Indian". YouTube. 14 July 2007 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np-TYoZE5NM>.
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