The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail - Research Paper Example

Trail of Tears When colonists from England first arrived in what would become the United s they lived in relative peace alongside the natives of the “New World.” After the U.S. government was formed it regularly waged war with the natives, making then breaking treaties when deemed in the best interest of the new nation. The indigenous population was progressively reduced in a variety of ways. They were killed directly by firearms during organized wars and individual acts of vigilante violence and were killed indirectly by the addition of European diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza. In addition, they were starved, froze to death and were murdered due to the mandatory relocation policies of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This Act sought to create a “white only” America therefore many tribes, predominantly the Cherokee Nation, were forced to leave familiar ancestral lands. The thousand mile journey out of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole and Muscogee lands in the eastern U.S. to present day Oklahoma during the 1830’s is known as the Trail of Tears. This shameful episode in American history is one of the best known and worst examples of how the natives suffered at the hands of the government. It is difficult to visualize the government confiscating a person’s home due their ethnicity alone and forcing them, their family, friends, relatives and neighbors to walk hundreds of miles during a harsh winter but this is what happened 180 years ago to thousands of natives of America. The United States was established by and for the people and built on precept of justice for all. However, barely a half century from its founding, this same government and its supposed democratic values subjugated all persons of color. Blacks were enslaved, taken from their lands and Indians subjugated, slaughtered and forced off their lands. The natives who survived the mass exodus found themselves in strange place which is a frightening prospect for people whose life depended on knowing every feature of recognizable territory. Today, the horrific story of the Trail of Tears stirs the emotions of all American citizens but at the time of the removal this crime against humanity of historic proportions symbolized the existing feelings towards the natives, feelings which were represented by laws directed against them. The incident questioned the widely held perception that America was a fair and just country. In April of 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a letter to President Martin Van Buren regarding Cherokee removal. The letter said, in part, “You, sir, will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy; and the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world.” (Logan, 2004) In May 1938, in opposition to the nation’s guiding principles precept and a week before the deadline of eviction, government troops began the cruel process of forcibly removing native people from their ancestral homeland. Those still remaining were not given enough time to collect any personal effects such as food or clothes before being forced to live in make-shift camps. Many Indians, including children, were separated from their tribes and families. Their now empty homes were plundered by soldiers even while they were being taken away at gunpoint. “Families at dinner were startled by the sudden gleam of bayonets in the doorway. Men were seized in their fields or going along the road, women were taken from their wheels and children from their play. They saw their homes in flames, fired by the lawless rabble that followed on the heels of the soldiers to loot and pillage. Hunts were made by the same men for Indian graves, to rob them of the silver pendants and other valuables deposited with the dead.” (Logan, 2004) Removing the native people from their former lands was inevitable and had been wanted by many long before it occurred. The European descendents had been steadily intruding on native territories for the past 150 or so years but before 1828, the right of native persons to stay on their lands through treaties had usually been honored by the government. However, this quickly changed when Andrew Jackson became president which coincided with when gold was found on Indian lands. The natives found no value in the yellow stone but white man certainly did. Jackson was heavily promoted as an “Indian fighter” during the 1829 president election. It was no surprise that Jackson supported the Indian Removal Act because he had been an influential voice for Indian removal from lands occupied by white persons. “Jackson’s attitude toward Native Americans was paternalistic and patronizing. He described them as children in need of guidance” (“Indian Removal”, 2007). The Jackson administration considered the Indian Removal Act a priority upon entering office but it was passed only after a heated four month debate in Congress. The Act allowed Jackson the ability to make treaties with eastern tribes who wanted to keep their independence and move west of the Mississippi River. However, the Act also granted full U.S. citizenship to Indians who wanted to remain in their eastern homeland. At that early time in American history, most could not imagine the country ever expanding west of the Mississippi River. The Act stipulated that relocation was to be voluntary, that no tribes or individuals were to be forcibly removed from their homes or lands. The southeastern Indian tribes did not want to leave or become citizens therefore Jackson sent military force to impose his will. A portion of the general public thought that removal was beneficial to the tribe’s people. “Removal would save Indian people from the depredations of whites and would resettle them in an area where they could govern themselves in peace” (“Indian Removal”, 2007). On the other hand, some citizens thought the removal policy was simply justification for Jackson to implement his long-standing inhumane and sadistic treatment of the Indians and loudly objected to his policy. In 1832 the Cherokee Nation took their case before the Supreme Court (Worcester v. Georgia) which agreed with the Cherokee’s in that theirs was a sovereign nation and the U.S. government could not legally make them relocate. Jackson disregarded this ruling saying “Well, (Chief Justice) John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it” (Sage, 2008). Along with Jackson the State of Georgia also decided to disregard the ruling by ordering the Georgia militia to build temporary fortifications designed to place unruly Indians. This occurred before the Act was passed and continued afterwards. Approximately 25 percent of all deaths associated with the removal happened before the long march began. “One fourth of the Cherokees perished as they were first herded into stockades and then set toward the setting sun in cold, hunger, illness, and in complete desolation. Even before starting their trip on the Trail of Tears the Cherokee had to first survive the poor sanitation and close quarters of the internment camps” (“Quotations”, 2005). Private John G. Burnett eye witnessed the removal process in 1838 and described the inhumane treatment suffered by the Indians. “I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons. The sufferings of the Cherokees were awful” (“Quotations”, 2005). The Indians were forced to make a journey far away from their hunting lands to be incarcerated in what amounted to government sanctioned death camps. This was just the first chapter of the Trail of Tears story for many Indians. Several groups of 1,000, mainly Cherokee Indians, left these forts on their miserable trip to Oklahoma which was designated as Indian Territory at the time. The long journey was horrendous with many suffering from exposure, hunger, rampant disease and exhaustion. The mortality rate of the youngest and oldest was very high. While no records were made of the removal, according to members of the Cherokee tribe who were there both at the beginning and the end of the journey, it is estimated that of the 16,000 Cherokees that survived the brutal treatment at the forts and 14,000 finished the trip alive. “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t” (“Quotations”, 2005). The Trail of Tears ended in March, 1839. Native Americans lived on this continent for about 10,000 tears prior to European intrusion. They revered the pristine lands that supported them but have now been made to languish in outlying impoverished regions of the country. The U.S. was founded on the concept of justice and freedom but for white men only particularly during the early years of the republic. The Trail of Tears is a disgraceful episode in American history. Incredibly, it is only one example of the cruel treatment suffered by the Indians in the midst of an infamous period which demonstrated the U.S. government’s general lack of fairness and human decency regarding the native peoples. The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail was built in 1987. Works Cited “Indian Removal: 1814-1858.” Judgment Day. PBS Resource Bank. 2007. Web. December 10, 2011 Logan, Charles Russell “The Promised Land: The Cherokees, Arkansas and Removal 1739-1839” June 30, 2004. Web. December 10, 2011 “Quotations from The Trail Where They Cried.” Cherokees of California. Sugar Land, TX: Powersource. July 19, 2005. Web. December 10, 2011 Sage, Henry J. “John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Court Supreme” Academic American History 2008. Web. December 10, 2011 Read More