The Cherokee. One of the many tribes that were ripped away from their indigenous lands in the name of greed and power-hungry men. You would think that they would fight for what had been theirs for hundreds of years, but instead they just walked away. They walked on a trail of pain, hardship, abuse, suffering, death, where they were led to a land that was far from a home. Further more, the "Trail of tears" was born. It began in 1830 when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave him the ability to create new treaties with all tribes east of the Mississippi. Basically, the treaty stated that the Native Americans had to give up their land in exchange for a unreasable amount of money, so it was only beneficiary here was the Americans. The Cherokee were not going to have this theft so they took it to the Supreme court. Although the Cherokee won the case of keeping the land, to Andrew Jackson, that was nothing but a mere warning to his plan, which was already full speed ahead in motion. Jackson proclaimed that they had two years to move on their own to new land that would be ¨provided¨ or at the end of the two years they would be removed by force. At the end of the decision only 20% supported the treaty and moved at will, where as a majority of the tribe was not in support at all with the idea to give up the land that their ancestors had lived on for hundreds of years. So, the idea of leaving their land to the white men without a fight is dishonorable and foolish because they put too much trust that Americans would keep their promises and the natives had no idea what the new land would intale for them. Firstly, how can the Natives trust that the Americans won´t take their new land in later years? The turth is they can't because (a) why would your ever have trust in the people who would like to be rid of you and (b) the americans don't have even the slightest human decency for the Natives let alone respect, they were not even consider human. According to Cotton Mather, a Puritan Minister, natives were "wild, ferocious, and blood-thirsty people". He wrote, "devil decoyed those miserable savages hither, in hopes that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would never come here...", he fully believed that the devil had sent them so Jesus himself would never come to the land. This belief that the Native Americans were unhuman not only became the knowlegde of most the white civilization but was to be believed as fact and only fact. During the time of the "Trail Of Tears" the white soldiers of Andrew Jackson treated the removed Native Americans inhumanably to the point of death. The "helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades," was seen by one american soldier. John G. Burnett witnessed first hand the horrific treatment to the Cherokees, saying he saw that "they had to sleep in stuffed wagons and on the ground without fire" every night even during a snow storm. The treatment was so horrendous that in one night "twenty-two of them died...of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold, and exposure...", emphasized in his personal account. From these acts before and after the trail would you believe a word President Andrew said? Not only did the Natives put trust in an empty state but they put themselves in absolute danger and defiance of protecting their own nation. When the Native Americans decided to sign the treaty they were not viewing the facts that they had no idea what the new land/area (Oklahoma) would contain. A Cherokee author, wrote in a newspaper article about the major concerns with moving to Oklahoma. Seeing ¨nothing but ruins for us¨ if they did not remain on the land ¨of our fathers¨ they knew there would be consequences. One of the problems that the tribe was worried about, was that ¨the inviting parts of it (meaning Oklahoma) are already occupied by various Indian nations,¨ the Cherokee would be regarded ¨as intruders¨. However, an even more pressing matter to the tribe was not the people on the land but the land itself. For most of the Oklahoma region was ¨badly supplied with wood and water...and no Indian tribe can live as agriculturalists without these articles.¨ They had no idea about the land or who was on the land during that time, so they were going into this new "home" blind to it's surrounding. The Cherokee were an honorable and wise tribe, but their actions in this event were misguided in the way of thinking they were doing right in the momment. In fact is was the complete oppisate for the tribe and because of these actions 4,000 mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, died in aggonzinsing ways that no human should ever have to expericence. In reality the person to really point the finger at was Andrew Jackson and Georgia who commited an abominable atrocity that would never had forced the harmless tribe into believing that accepting the treaty was the best and only option for them. The facts of the best reasons on why they should absolutly not accept the treaty were right in front of them such as the terrain for their farming life or the dangers of neighboring tribes. Although, they had too much fear for what would happen with the treaty that they never considered their options. They could have ran away to a land of their choosing or even fought for their land, land that had been passed down through generations of cheifs. Sadly for the Cherokee they were too clouded by their fear to see that instead of a painful meaningless death, they could have had a righteous death of protecting the name of a land that was rightfully theirs. This was the RIGHT choice.
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AuthorSo, I'm Kaya and here is where you can ask me anything and I will also post what's going on in my life as well! Archives
October 2018
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