Matthew Aaron McVickar
January 20, 2002
AP American History Block A
Matthew Aaron McVickar
Mrs. LeVangie
Honors English Block C
11 December 2001
The Cherokee Trail of Tears: America’s Ethnic Cleansing
Thesis: The forced removal of Native Americans during the late 1830s,
specifically the Cherokee removal along the Trail of Tears, was a poignant
historical event and has had lasting effects on different cultures in our
society.
I. Causes of expansion and removal
A. Territorial greed
B. Foreign pressure
C. Search for gold
D. Population increase
II. Andrew Jackson and the American people in the 1820s-1830s
A. Feelings towards the Indians - many tribes affected
B. Andrew Jackson’s feelings on the issue
C. Protest of the Indian Removals – TN Congressman Davy Crockett
III. The Cherokee in the 1820s-1830s
A. Highly civilized
1. Language
2. "Cherokee Phoenix" newspaper
3. Adoption of American and European customs
B. Political structure and location - Chief John Ross
IV. Legal tribulations
A. Indian Removal Act
B. Supreme Court Battles
1. Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
2. Worcester v. Georgia
C. Indian agreements to secession and treaty
1. Treaty of New Echota
2. Major Ridge and Elias Boudinot
V. The Trail of Tears
A. Parties leaving under their own supervision - "The Lost
Cherokee"
B. Timeline
C. Location and Route
1. River crossings
2. 1,000 mile trek
D. Treatment
E. Hardships
1. Upwards of 4,000 deaths
2. Long-term effects
VI. Today’s Cherokee and the Trail of Tears
A. Establishment of rights – government recognition
B. The Trail today
1. 1987 – establishment of Trail of Tears Historic Trail
2. 1980 - establishment of Trail of Tears National Park
a. Citizens’ preservation
b. Otahki Memorial
C. Culture thrives
1. Pride in the present-day Cherokee Nation
2. Continuation of Cherokee Phoenix
D. Remembrance
1. Cherokee Rose – symbol of the Trail of Tears
2. "The Lament of the Cherokee" poem by John H. Payne
3. Reenactments along the Trail
4. Education about the Indian Removals and the Trail of Tears
Matthew Aaron McVickar
AP American History Block A
Mr. Houston
20 January 2002
At What Cost?: The Cherokee Removal Along the Trail of Tears
Land-hungry and inexperienced, the government
and people of the United States enacted and followed through with several
acts and policies that resulted in the removal of several Native American
tribes and nations during the first half of the 19th century. Perhaps one
of the most tragic of these events was the Cherokee Trail of Tears. After
failing to fight their battles in the courts of the country that was trying
to get them out, the Cherokee were rounded up into concentration camps,
separated, and moved approximately one thousand miles to “Indian Territory.”
Forced to abandon long-established lives, families, and a complex and vast
nation, upwards of three thousand Cherokee died while on the long and arduous
march. Despite these trying events, the Cherokee Nation has prospered to
this day, remembering and continuing their glorious culture and honoring
those lost on the horrible trek. The removal of the Cherokee Nation, however,
was hardly an overnight decision. Almost half a century of background events
and motives built up to their eventual ejection.
Southerners and Westerners in the United
States were hungry for more land to expand economically, but demographic
issues were equally pressing: a resource detailing the historical events
of Northern Georgia states that “in the period spanning 1790 and 1830,
the population of Georgia increased six-fold” (Golden Ink 1). The increasing
population caused overcrowding and Georgian settlers pushed farther west
looking for land and opportunities for agriculture and riches. It was then
that they ran into the Cherokee.
Jefferson had promised action to remove
the Native Americans early in the nineteenth century, but it was his successor
Andrew Jackson (called “Old Hickory”) that acted on his promises. Jackson
was a tough Indian fighter by reputation and a well-known military leader.
The Cherokee Nation’s official website notes that “President Andrew Jackson’s
… command and life [were] saved due to 500 Cherokee allies at the Battles
of Horseshoe Bend in 1814.” Obviously his past experience with the tribe
did not influence his decisions to remove them. In fact, Jackson thought
removal would be best for the Cherokee, “because they were not only unhappy
living among the white Americans but also threatened with extinction.”
(Blum 239) Jackson considered “the policy of the General Government toward
the red man is not only liberal, but generous,” (239) and believed that
the government “need only open the eyes of those children of the forest
to their true condition [to make them appreciate the] humanity and justice
of removal.” (239) In his Second Annual Message to Congress on December
6, 1830, Jackson questioned the assembly: “What good man would prefer a
country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our
extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms…?”
(240)
Although the majority of the government
and citizens were for the removal of the Cherokee, a minority of Americans
was against the Indian removals, especially the Indian Removal Act of 1830
(discussed later). Most notably, Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, who
said, “I would sooner be honestly damned than hypocritically criticized.”
(Golden Ink 1) Crockett’s political career was destroyed because he supported
the Cherokee, and he left Washington and headed to Texas. Daniel Webster
and Henry Clay also spoke out against the removals.
The Cherokee was not merely a small tribe
of Native Americans wandering about the wilderness – their civilization
spanned nearly eight states and their culture was highly civilized despite
the beliefs of the American majority and President Andrew Jackson. They
called themselves “Ani Yunwiya” – meaning “The Principal People.” (Jahoda
43) The Cherokee had built roads, schools, and churches, and had perfected
methods of farming and cattle ranching. As their homelands became invaded
and infested with white settlers, however, the Cherokee Nation became increasingly
more agricultural. A Cherokee alphabet, the “Talking Leaves” was perfected
and is still in use today, and a newspaper entitled Cherokee Phoenix started
in the early 1820s and was edited by Elias Boudinot and printed weekly
by Isaac Harris. (Fuller 1081) The Cherokee had developed a system of social
order and democracy long before European settlers had begun to create civilization
in what they saw as the New World. (1082) Society was divided among seven
matrilineal clans. Both men and women participated in the general council
and Principal Chiefs were elected to maintain order and act as representatives.
A “Beloved Woman” was the head of the Women’s Council. (Filler 67) This
system worked for countless years, but as is true with any nation and its
government, changes are and were inevitable.
America developed, and so did the Cherokee
Nation, borrowing customs and political ideas from the white settlers.
In this regard, the Cherokee developed a Constitution, modeled after that
of the United States. Additionally, intermarriage with Europeans led to
the eventual adoption and adaptation of European customs in society, fashion,
and government. (Farrow 6)
In the same year that Jackson addressed
Congress, gold was discovered on Cherokee land in the mountains of northern
Georgia. Needless to say, a sort of “gold rush” ensued and provoked Georgians
to again plead for the removal of the Cherokee. (Jahoda 95) Congress passed
the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and President Jackson wasted no time in
passing it into law. Once effective, Georgians began a series of policies
that meant to destroy the Cherokee nation. They held lotteries to give
Cherokee land and gold rights to white United States citizens. This, like
the majority of the other damaging actions that led to the eventual demise
of several Native American tribes, was enacted without the consent of the
Cherokee. Furthermore, Georgia declared that Cherokee Indians would no
longer be able to conduct tribal business, contract, testify in courts
against whites, or mine for the gold that was located in their own territory.
(Nichols 113) Clearly, the people of Georgia were going to show no mercy
or respect for the Cherokee in their attempts to expand further westward.
While it seems as though Georgians were
the most avid supporters of Cherokee extraction, most Americans agreed
with Georgia and President Jackson on their position on the Native Americans.
Lewis Cass, a Jacksonian politician from Michigan, well demonstrated the
attitude: “the Creator intended the earth should be reclaimed from a state
of nature and cultivated; …a wandering tribe of hunters… have very imperfect
possession of the country over which they roam.” (Blum 239)
For many Americans, the idea of “land allotment”
justified the expulsion of Native Americans. This plan allowed Indians
to take a portion of land to cultivate, with the stipulation that they
must become a state citizen. Doing so would require them to “accept the
burdens of the civilized white man and give up the ways of his tribe. Should
he not be able to do so, he should emigrate beyond the frontiers of white
settlement.” (Nichols 111) Early in the 1800s, Georgians were not as driven
to expel the Native Americans, so “a treaty with the Cherokee in 1817 [that]
secured the land allotment principal among them [was ineffective because]
only 311 Cherokee took advantage of the offer and few emigrated.” (Jahoda
83) In addition, the policy was not enforced, so for the most part the
Cherokee paid little attention to it.
The Cherokee were not the only Native American
group ostracized by the people of the United States. Another tribe subject
to such damaging policies and removal were the Creeks of Alabama. A land
allotment principal similar to that of the Cherokee issue was implemented
with more success with the Creek, and their attempts to settle disputes
over territory and rights ended in violence and defeat. Governor Gayle
of Alabama said of the Creeks: “…you speak a different language from ours.
You do not understand our laws, and from your habits, cannot be brought
to understand them. You are ignorant of the arts of civilized life. You
have not, like your white neighbors, been raised in habits of industry
and economy… In these respects you are unequal to the white men, and your
people remain where they are, you will soon behold them a miserable degraded,
and destitute condition.” (Nichols 119) This potent and daunting statement
may have been meant for the Creek Indians of Alabama, but the majority
of Americans shared the mindset that carried such xenophobic overtones.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the
government’s long-awaited action to remove the Cherokee from the state
of Georgia, where, as aforementioned, the settlers were growing restless
and taking matters into their own hands. Not to be defeated easily and
give up their ancient and intricate culture, the Cherokee attempted to
fight their battles in the courts of the United States. Their first attempt
in 1831 was short and unsuccessful, for the court in Cherokee Nation v.
Georgia “refused to hear a case extending Georgia’s laws on the Cherokee
nation because they did not represent a sovereign nation.” (Jones 18) Their
appeal to the Supreme Court was more successful. In Worchester v. Georgia,
the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall announced that the
Cherokee Nation was a distinct community occupying its own territory, acting
as a “domestic dependent nation.” Therefore, reasoned Marshall, the laws
of Georgia had nothing to do with the Cherokee. (Jones 18) Nevertheless,
their success was short-lived, because the Supreme Court at the time had
no way of enforcing its decision. Knowing this, Jackson refused to accept
the Supreme Court’s decision to both continue his removal policy and prove
that the Supreme Court had no power. “John Marshall has made his decision,
now let him enforce it,” President Jackson was quoted as saying. (Jones
18) The Cherokee had won, and yet they had lost. The court’s decision was
not enforceable… the Cherokee had no hope of defending their homes from
the white man.
“By 1835, the Cherokee were divided and
despondent,” reads an excerpt from Gloria Jahoda’s account of the Cherokee
Removal. (Jahoda 156) A preponderance of the Cherokee Nation supported
their chief John Ross, who had fought the encroachment of white settlers
from the beginning. However, a small group of Cherokee who called themselves
the “Treaty Party” were willing to forfeit Cherokee lands to the United
States. (157) Led by John Ridge and his son Elias Boudinot (editor of the
Cherokee Phoenix), the Treaty Party ended up sealing their own fates, and
ultimately, the fate of the Cherokee Nation. In the May of 1836, a minimal
number of Cherokee (anywhere from 200-400 members of the tribe) showed
up at the Treaty of New Echota. None of the attendees were Cherokee officials,
and only twenty ended up signing the treaty, which gave the United States
the totality of the Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River. Needless
to say, the rest of the Cherokee nation was furious, and began to lose
what little hope remained. Agreeing to an accord that would concede Cherokee
lands to the United States was punishable by death, and little time passed
after the Cherokee had been relocated that the majority of the Treaty Party,
including Ridge and son, were killed. (Golden Ink 2) Their losses in court
and the traitorous acts of members of their own tribe combined with the
intensity of the American manifest destiny principle to create the formula
that led to the destruction of the Cherokee Nation.
Although the Trail of Tears was the biggest
and most dramatic (forced) emigration of the Cherokee, there were members
of the tribe who had left their traditional home in search of a better
place long before the 1800s. As early as 1721, many Cherokee migrated to
Northern Arkansas and Southeast Missouri and other areas west of the Mississippi
due to French and Spanish occupation of the southern parts of North America.
These early emigrants are referred to as the “Lost Cherokee.” (Farrow 7)
Beginning in 1835, Martin Van Buren took
up where Jackson had left off in his presidency by gathering up United
States troops to initiate the rounding up and removal of the Cherokee.
Richard Fuller, one of the many who authored The Reader’s Companion To
American History summarizes the Trail of Tears well: “The Cherokee were
forced to abandon their property, livestock, and ancestral burial grounds
and move to concentration camps. From there, in the midst of severe winter
weather, they were marched another eight-hundred miles to their new Indian
Territory.” (Filler 1081)
General John Wool, originally ordered to
move on the Cherokee, resigned his command in protest of his orders, thus
delaying the removal action. He was replaced by General Winfield Scott,
who arrived at the city of New Echota on May 17, 1838 with 7,000 men. Within
two months General Scott and the United States army began the invasion
and removal of the Cherokee Nation. (Nichols 117) Many Cherokee did not
believe that they would be forced to relocate, including Chief John Ross.
Unfortunately, Ross had no choice but to
believe. Federal and state militias began to round up Cherokee and put
them in concentration camps in the summer of 1838. (Nichols 118) In spite
of warnings to treat the Cherokee kindly, the roundup proved to be more
of a harrowing and massive arrest. Families were separated, and white looters
wasted no time in burning or occupying the homes and villages that the
Cherokee had lived in just days or hours before. Private John Burnett,
an observer of the gathering, said, “I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested
and dragged from their homes, and driven at bayonet point into 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 and started
toward the west.” (Farrow 8)
Three groups of Cherokee left in the summer,
traveling from the present-day city of Chattanooga by railroad, boat, and
wagon. One of the groups traveling by wagon through Arkansas suffered up
to five deaths each day due to illness and drought. However, fifteen thousand
still awaited removal, and their situation was no better. (Jahoda, 286)
Hundreds died while in the prison camps due to crowding, substandard sanitation,
and drought. Even more perished in the next series of marches to Indian
Territory. (Farrow 8)
In November, groups of 1,000 began the
800-mile trek over land. The last party, including chief Ross and several
“sick and infirm” members of the tribe, traveled over water on boats towards
Tennessee. Torrential rain made travel along the muddy roads infeasible
for the hundreds of wagons. There was little to graze for the cattle to
graze on, and very little game could be found to supplement the meager
governmental rations. Harsh weather ended up causing two-thirds of the
removed groups to be stuck between the ice-flows of the Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers. (Farrow 9) A native of Maine traveling in the western country recalls
“the sick and feeble carried in wagons … a great many ride on horseback
and multitudes go on foot – even aged females, apparently nearly ready
to drop into the grave, were traveling with heavy burdens attached to the
back – on the sometimes frozen ground, and sometimes muddy streets, with
no covering for their feet except what nature had given them.” (9)
By March 1839, the surviving members of
the Cherokee Nation had arrived in the Indian Territory, but the losses
along the trail were innumerable. Over four thousand Cherokee (nearly a
fifth of the Cherokee population) died on the march from sickness, cold,
and the harsh treatment they were given. (Nichols 119) Chief John Ross
lost his wife Quatie Ross, but he was just one of the thousands to lose
sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers. Not only were
lives lost, but a once-great people was brought to its knees, and deep-rooted
traditions and a vast civilization were destroyed. The long-term effects
were inconceivably horrifying. It took almost two hundred years for the
Cherokee to fully recover, and by the time they had, they had been further
exploited and pushed around. (120) Although they have retained much of
their culture and tradition, the Cherokee may never return to the position
they once held in North America.
Yet, there is hope, and the Cherokee Nation thrives
today. It is the second largest Indian nation in the United States, and
the Cherokee continue to express themselves and practice the culture and
traditions of their ancestors. Surely, the attitudes of Americans towards
Indians and the Cherokee have changed. The Trail of Tears became a national
monument in 1987, and the American people have done much to apologize recognize
the Cherokee Nation as sovereign. Additionally, “old traces, historic buildings,
and other sites are being preserved to commemorate the sorrowful journey.”
(Farrow 4)
Among these efforts was the establishment
of the Trail of Tears National Park in 1980. “A variety of local, state,
and national efforts have commenced to preserve and interpret Trail resources.
A growing awareness of this important story – and those of other removed
tribes – has stimulated interest to nationally recognize this chapter in
our nation’s past. (4)” The Trail of Tears State Park is located in Cape
Girardeau County in Mississippi. The citizens of Cape Girardeau wanted
to preserve the route for all, and they secured bonds and purchased the
property to make it all happen. The park boasts dual functions: it commemorates
a tragic piece of American history, and the park is scenically beautiful
and preserves outstanding natural features. The park contains two miles
of the National Historic Trail of Tears, two campgrounds, and an abundance
of wildlife. The park also contains the Princess Otahki Memorial, “dedicated
to all the Cherokee who were forced on this march – those who survived
and those who did not. (5)”
Ray Morris, an agricultural specialist
at the University of Illinois, reenacted the Trail of Tears in a “commemorative
wagon train made up of 32 horse-drawn covered wagons, one buggy, several
mules, and more than 1100 men, women, and children set out to reenact the
trek [in order to honor the event and the Cherokee in the region.” (Shaw
199) Most moving, mentioned the travelers, “were the greetings from descendants
of Cherokees who had made the original march – they stood by the roadside
with tears in their eyes.” (199) Additionally, there has been an increasing
amount of education in all grade levels pertaining to the Trail of Tears
and the events surrounding it. (Scott 32) Not only have the American people
preserved the honor of the Cherokee, they Cherokee have done a very fine
job of it themselves.
A visit to the official website of the
Cherokee Nation at www.cherokee.org is a great indication of the pride
and continuation of the Cherokee spirit. A plethora of information can
be obtained on the daily updated website, as well as an online copy of
the now semimonthly-published Cherokee Phoenix. The Cherokee Nation has
rebuilt itself: they have schools and are recognized as a sovereign nation
by the United States government. (Cherokee Nation, 1) Having already displayed
their amazing resilience, it is clear that the Cherokee Nation will not
fade anytime in the near future, and that their pride and honor are truly
admirable.
The Cherokee Rose is the primary symbol
of the Trail of Tears and the hardships the Cherokees endured while on
it. Although the flower is believed to have been introduced from China,
the legend of the Cherokee Rose follows thus:
“Mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed
for a sign to lift the mother’s spirits and give them strength to care
for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new rose grew wherever
a mother’s tear fell to the ground,” (Golden Ink 2)
The Cherokee Rose is as rich in symbolism as it is in legend. The
white rose symbolizes the mother’s tears; the gold center represents the
gold taken from Cherokee lands. The seven leaves on each stem are seen
to symbolize the seven clans of the Cherokee Nation that made the journey.
The rose prospers along the Trail to this day and is the Georgia State
flower. (Golden Ink 3)
John Payne, author of Home, Sweet Home,
has written a poem entitled “Lament of the Cherokee” that shows both the
tragic circumstances and effects of the Trail of Tears as well as the effect
it has had on Americans generations later. A particularly segment of the
poem well characterizes its message:
“Can a tree that is torn from its root by the fountain,
The pride of the valley; green, spreading, and fair,
Can it flourish, removed to the rock of the mountain,
unwarmed by the sun and unwatered by care?” (Farrow 6)
This poem emphasizes the pain, suffering, and long term effects
of the Cherokee removal along the Trail of Tears, abandoning optimism or
hope in an emotional lament.
The Cherokee Nation, however, has most
certainly not abandoned optimism or hope. They have rebuilt and retained
their pride, despite the horrors and hardships they were forced to endure.
They have not let this regrettable chapter of American history influence
their existence. The American people may have expanded their economic and
territorial claims, but we have to ask ourselves, “at what cost?”
Works Cited
Blum, John M., et al. The National Experience: A History of the
United States. Ed. Ted Buccholz.
8th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
College Publishers, 1993: p239
Cherokee Nation Online: Official Website of the Cherokee Nation.
1992-2001. Cherokee
Nation. 15 December 2001. <http://www.cherokee.org>
Dowling, Denise. “Trail of Tears State Park.” Missouri Resources
Magazine Summer 1999: v16
Farrow, Danny. “The Cherokee Trail of Tears.” 1998. 4 December 2001
<http://rosecity.net/tears>
Filler, Louis, and Allen Guttmann. The Removal of the Cherokee Nation:
Manifest Destiny or
National Dishonor? Boston: DC Heath and
Company, 1962
Fuller, Richard, et al. The Reader’s Companion to American History.
Ed. Doug Rome. 4th ed.
Seattle: Houghton, 1991. p1081
Golden Ink. “Trail of Tears – North Georgia History.” 1996-1997.
4 December 2001
<http://ngeorgia.com/history/nghisttt.html>
Jahoda, Gloria. Trail of Tears. New York: Holt, 1975
Jones, Peter M. “Three great decisions: what would you have done?”
Scholastic Update 26 Feb.
1988: v120 n12 p18
Nichols, Roger L. ed. The American Indian: Past and Present. 2nd
ed. New York: John Wiley and
Sons, 1981. p111-120
Sandefur, Gary. “The Legacy of the Trail of Tears.” Knight/Ridder/Tribune
News Service 15 June
1998: p615
Scott, Beverly, “Remembering the Trail of Tears” School Arts April
2000: v99 p32
Shaw, Bill. “Paying homage to a brutalized people, a wagon train
follows the infamous Trail of
Tears” People Weekly 12 December 1988:
v30 n24 p199