Trail Of Tears DBQ

Improved Essays
Annika Swenson
Period 6
11/16/17
Research Paper
Natives had lived on American soil for hundreds of years before Europeans had inhabited it(Document E); however, their birthright did not protect them from the wishes of their American neighbors. Through the Indian Removal Act, Natives were forced to take part in a deadly journey which came to be known as the Trail of Tears. The results of the Trail were catastrophic to Natives, Cherokees alone lost 4000 people on the Trail(Document D); overall, one in four people who relocated died on the way(Document J). Initially, Americans wished for the Natives to adopt the American culture and quit their “savage” and filthy ways(Document J). However, the natives “were a clean people, when compared to the white English, German, and Scots-Irish settlers”(Document A) moving into their territory. For example, many people wanted them to remain in one area (Natives were initially nomadic) and convert to Christianity. Though many tribes had begun to adopt the American lifestyle(Document J), their land was still highly sought after amongst Americans for cotton uses(Document B). Despite their land
…show more content…
Jackson’s face remains in the wallet of many Americans today. It is unreasonable to glorify someone responsible for the alienation and demise of thousands(not even including his time as a general), especially with accepting notions throughout the nation. Moreover, Jackson was partially responsible for the collapse of the second bank of America, it is unfitting for his face to be plastered on money(New York Times). Rather than keep figures of the non acceptance on America’s currency, many people have advocated for more diverse people from our History. The US is supposed to be a welcoming place where opportunities are abundant, an intolerant slave owner is not a good representation of the US(That one book which talks about

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Trail of Tears The trail of tears is one of the saddest and darkest chapters in American history. The trail of tears was part of the Indian removal act. Thousands of Indians against their will were forced to leave their homes and travel westward. Very few escaped this removal.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Trail of Tears Introduction The Trail of Tears was a 1000-2000 mile journey that five tribes had to walk in order to get to their designated land that Andrew Jackson called “Indian Territory.” The Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, were forced out of their homelands, not given any other option but to leave, or be killed trying to stay in their home where you made memories with families and friends. The trail was where thousands of people died from horrible sicknesses, starvation, and the harsh weather. The Trail of Tears, the migration of the Native Americans, is an important event in history because it created understanding of what the Native Americans had to go through, it commemorated their journey, and helps…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There were a few events that led to the Trail of Tears. Native Americans fought alongside the British in both the French/ Indian war and the Revolutionary war. When the Americans won the war they confiscated some of the Native American’s land. Before the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee Tribe was recognized by the Government as their own nation. Gold was another reason that Americans were so eager to get them off their land.…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    After reading the text provided I came to the conclusion that the relationship between the Native Americans and the United States was in constant turmoil. The text is littered with many treaties made with the Natives and the effect these had on all parties involved. The westward expansion caused numerous battles and debates among the politicians and tribes. A quote from the article A Shawnee Argues for an Untied Indian Resistance, 1810 states “After mistreatment of the Native Americans by Presidents Jefferson and Madison, Tecumseh, a Shawnee, tried to organize the Midwestern Indian tribes into a united political alliance to thwart the steady advance of the white settlers.” This quote shows the strained relationship between the Natives and the…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trail Of Tears Summary

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the book “Trail of Tears: The Rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation” a book where more than 18,000 Indians were forced to move to Oklahoma in a march known as The Trail of Tears, John Ehle explains with details all the events that led to this happening. In the book we learn a lot from the Cherokee nation which was one of the most important tribes at that time. There are also many characters discussed in this book, like the life of major Ridge who was one of the most well known and important leaders of the Cherokee tribe and played a major role during the negotiations of the white men and Cherokees trying to fix their issues and come together on laws, culture and land. It also talks about John Russ who was also a well known Cherokee leader like major Ridge, he fought against the federal government to allow the Cherokee nation to stay in Georgia instead of moving to Oklahoma and leave everything they had built as a tribe.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Topic and Research Question Topic: For my historical event analysis, I have chosen to focus on The Cherokee "Trail of Tears" Research Question: How the Indian Removal Act of 1830 affected the Cherokee? Preliminary Writing Plan Introduction The historical analysis focuses on the topic is “The Cherokee Trail of Tears”; the topic is about a historical event that caused suffering and death of one of the tribes that are native in America. The Cherokee are among the Creeks, the Chickasaw, the Seminoles and the Choctaw who constituted the native tribes that assimilated and coped with the white settlers (United States Department of State, 2017).…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    He commented "It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation” (Library of Congress, Jackson, 1830). At that time however only two tribes agreed to leave their land, the others were not in agreement with the Indian Removal Act. In response, the American Indians fought back on a political level, Chief John Ross who represented the majority of the American Indians who did not want to leave their lands tried to diplomatically and legally maintain autonomy with the United States…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Trail of Tears was a series of forced removals of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to a piece of land that was designated as Native Territory. In 1803 the Indian Removal Act was passed leading to the removal of the Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Seminoles, and Cherokees were relocated off their land. The trek was over 1,000 miles long and thousands of people died while being transported. Before the Indian Removal Act, the tribes were thriving in the southeastern United States. White americans saw American Indians as unfamiliar, alien people, causing them to try to “civilize” them by trying to make them as much like white americans as possible.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trail of Tears The Cherokee people called the journey, The Trail of Tears because of its devastating effects and because of the route along which the united state government force several tribes of NativeAmericans including the Seminole,Chickasaw,Choctaw, and Creeks to migrate and give up the land of reservations west of the Mississippi River in the 1800’s. The Trail of Tears is refers to the movement of the Native American communities from the South Eastern regions of U.S. As a result of the Indian removal act in 1830. In the year 1838,with the president Andrew Jackson’s policy of Indians removal. The Cherokee people was forced to surrender their land to the Mississippi River. And they migrate to the present day of Oklahoma Territory…

    • 180 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After 30 years, the Ponca tribe had gave the U.S more land in Nebraska leaving the tribe with 58,000 acres of land. Later, Andrew Jackson had become President and created a law to have all the Native Americans move out of Nebraska, solely for the U.S, so they could start having people live there and start a farm and start growing crops. Standing Bear and other tribe leaders did not favor the new law and wanted to eliminate the law. The tribe had to walk a path to get to Oklahoma, the path was called “The Trail of Tears”. One third of the tribe had died going along the path, either from sickness, disease or starvation.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trail Of Tears Thesis

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Trail of Tears In the beginning years of 1830s, close to 130,000 Native Americans occupied a couple million acres of land across the southern states. Their ancestors had cultivated this land for generations. By the end of the 1830s, Native Americans were forced by the government, to uproot their lives and transfer to a specific area set aside as “Indian territory”, now known as Oklahoma. White settlers has stumbled upon the Indians’ land and wanted to grow cotton on their plantations, forcing the Native Americans out, where they had to walk thousands of miles to their new “homes”, across the Mississippi River.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ever since descendants of Americans came to America we have always had conflicts with the Native Americans also known as the indians. Either it be a war between the two different races or just fighting over irrelevant things. One of the unforgettable events with Americans and the Native Americans was the Trail of Tears which involves the Cherokee nation. When the Americans moved the indians off of the eastern lands and moved them west, it killed off of thousands of Native Americans making it a very memorable and important impact on American history. Strictly defined, the Trail of Tears is the main route or routes that the Cherokees took from the Southeast to the land the U.S. government identified as their new home in Indian Territory (Bjornlund…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethnography Report – Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma The tribe I’ll be discussing throughout my ethnography report are the Cherokee Indians. There are three sub-tribes to the Cherokee’s which are the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokees. Although they all originate from the same tribe/settlement, I’m going to be discussing the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Today, this tribe of Cherokee’s live within 14 counties of Northeastern Oklahoma.…

    • 1038 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trail Of Tears Essay

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Trail of Tears was a dark turn in Native American history, which also affected Mississippi during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Jackson’s Indian Removal Act forced out the Native Americans out of their land by the federal government and walk thousands of miles to designated territories across the Mississippi river. This was caused by white America’s urge to expand and grow cotton in the southern states. Since majority of the states was owned by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek tribes Almost 125,000 Indians preoccupied the states of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Florida during the 1830s since the time of their ancestors. This issue boiled over when white settlers were infuriated by the population of Native…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Trail of Tears begins a short time before the Revolutionary War, roughly 1771, with the birth of a Cherokee names Ridge. Ridge, who was one-quarter Scot, and his family settled in northwest Georgia with several other mixed-blood Cherokees. This territory is where the Cherokee Nation would eventually be centered around. When Ridge reached manhood, around the age of sixteen, he became a warrior. Doublehead, a corrupt Indian chief, taught and instructed Ridge to be a warrior and then took him on raids against white settlers.…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays