Essay On The Trail Of Tears

Three events leading up to the trail of tears were the treaty of Ghent, the Cherokee Appeal in 1830 and the Treaty of New Echota . First off the treaty of Ghent which ended the war of 1812 was a peace treaty between the US and England. The war of 1812 happened because England did not want the US to be trading with France because England was also at war with France. England was harassing US naval vessels and kidnapping sailors and forcing them to fight in England's military. They also passed laws essentially making illegal to trade with the French. Thomas Jefferson tried to pass an embargo act in 1807 but was repealed. He wanted to ban trading all together so England would stop kidnapping merchant ships but no trading equals less money. In 1811, William Harrison defeated Tecumseh in the battle of Tippecanoe. The native americans were still battling the colonists for land at the time and the native americans and britain started working together after the defeat. The war started in 1812 and ended in 1814 with the treaty of Ghent. Now the treaty of Ghent was between England and the US and the native americans had no say in the matter. Britain and the US went back to their status quo and it was neither a win or a loss ,but the Americans still remembered …show more content…
In 1836, the treaty of New Echota was signed by the US government and representatives of the Cherokee nation, giving them land in the west but, kicking them out of their homeland. It gave them two years to leave peacefully. The Senate ratified the treaty even though it wasn't actually the decision of the Cherokee Nation Council to move. In 1838, US troops forcibly moved all the remaining native americans from their home, forcing them to leave with nothing but what they were holding at the time. This begins the trail of tears which brought on an estimated amount of 4,000 deaths upon the cherokee nation due to starvation, malnutrition, illness, and