Cherokee American Expansion

The original thirteen colonies of the United States were settled along the east coast of North America. For many years, few colonists went beyond the Appalachian Mountains. However, as the country gained independence and continued to grow, more land was needed. In the early 18th century the country began to expand into the west even further because many people needed new land to farm and hunt. This called great disturbance to many Native tribes. The Cherokee tribe decided to fight back to keep their land and decided to come forward to the Supreme Court, but this did lead to a bad future for the Cherokee nation later on. American expansion changed the lives of the Cherokee tribe by illegally defying Supreme Court ruling, removing their culture, …show more content…
The Cherokee’s did not agree to this act because they believed that they were no threat to the white settlements. Due to the tribe being very well educated they decided to go to the Supreme Court with their case.
The U.S. Government used treaties as one means to displace Indians from their tribal lands, a method that was strengthened with the Removal Act of 1830, but in some cases the government violated both treaties and Supreme Court rulings to help the spread of Americans westward. On May 28, 1830 Andrew was granted the power to exchange native land east of the Mississippi with land to the west. This however greatly upset the Cherokee tribe, because this was their homeland and the land of their ancestors land. “The Act established a process whereby the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands. As incentives, the law allowed the Indians financial and material assistance to travel to their new locations and start new lives and guaranteed that the Indians would live on their new property under the protection of the United …show more content…
Jackson decided to continue on still with his plan and forced the tribe westward. Due to Jackson now enforcing the Indian removal act, The Cherokee tribe had to assimilate new ways of living to be able to survive. “They had adopted many skills of the white man to improve their living conditions” (Indian Removal Act). All the skills that the tribe adopted assisted them when they had to uproot their lives and leave their homeland. They had to leave their past their but bring the culture along with them. Due to the Americans dividing up the Cherokee into small groups so they would have better chance of living on their journey west, children had to step up and take the role of an adult. “Separated from their parents, Cherokee children learned other aspects of white American culture: boys were taught not to hunt but to farm; girls were taught not to farm but to keep house” (Klots). Children had a tough time during this time because they had to “grow up” very fast and learn skills of white Americans to help their living conditions. Uprooting their culture and assimilating west was a tragic truth for the people of the Cherokee nation. The Cherokee tribe was sent on a violent and deadly removal west of their lands, resulting in numerous deaths along the way. Few members of the Cherokee nation went willingly to the west, trying to avoid conflict, but many stayed back and fought