The Many Cries Of The Trail Essay

Improved Essays
The Many Cries of the Trail
When most people think of the ancestry of history in the United States, many think of the first settlers, Christopher Columbus and the Pilgrims. Not many recognize the Native Indians, Indians were the first people to settle in the lands and the many to be taken away from their sacred motherland. White Americans had said that they feared the Indians because they we’re aliens who took over land more so savages. President Andrew Jackson was the supreme ruler of the Nation and he was determined to remove the Indians from their land. In 1830, Jackson had signed a very important document which enforced the Indian Removal Act. This Removal Act had affected five “Civilized Tribes” of the South, the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws,
…show more content…
They had fought hard for what was truly their own and tricked to believing that their new land awaited a new and yet better journey for them. Jackson had made a penniless decision to remove these people. Because of hate and out of jealousy he unlawfully used his high power to kill the many who resided in this territory. The act had promised the Natives food, clothing and medical attention. Yet the Indians had died because these materials were not given to them. Most of these innocent people suffered from the cold to what clothing could had helped. They were in search of food and died of starvation in which the act had said they would provide. The many diseases that were spread were left untreated as to which a doctor could have helped save lives of the sick. Jackson had knew that it would be easy to remove Indians forcibly with the right aggression. He as well as the other hungry white folk were desperate for land. To take credit for one’s life savings and hard work and claim as their own. Jackson and his committee that stood behind him were ruthless. He swept the precious land from those who truly knew its value. He robbed the blind and caused the innocent to suffer. He might have been out of money and thought, but he did not provide what he said he would ending the lives of thousands, all the pain and suffering for soil. I had stated that I would argue the poor decision of Jackson and yet I did. The raid, sufferings and tears were not worth the land that was taken. In most cases, several would agree that the Trail of Tears was devasting. Little do we know the true feelings and aches of pain that were shed over a thousand miles and to put one’s self in the shoes of the Natives? Our inner mind and soul could not begin to imagine the pain. Therefore, Jackson did make a foolish judgement, he took lives of the

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    The Cherokee Removal

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Perdue and Green’s “The Cherokee Removal, A Brief History with Documents” is an introduction to the social and political period surrounding the removal of Cherokee Indians. The authors’ inclusion of many documents, shares with readers, the Indian voices as well as key political figures’ position on sovereign governance. This complex period is successfully outlined by Perdue and Green, with a chronological account of the Indians’ first encounter with Europeans through the inevitable journey, “Trail of Tears”.…

    • 933 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Native American response paper This response paper will be on the articles A Tour of Indian Peoples and Indian Lands by David E. Wilkins and Winnebagos, Cherokees, Apaches, and Dakotas by Debra Merskin. The first article discusses what the Indian tribes were and where they resided. There are many common terms to refer to the native people including American Indians, Tribal nations, indigenous nations, first peoples, and Native Americans. Alaskan natives are called by their territories like the Inuits or the Aleuts.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When the Georgians invaded their land for the gold within it the Cherokees decided to go to court. During the trial the judge decided that the Cherokees land was for the Cherokees and separate from the United States, but the Cherokees were still invaded in the end. Jackson decided to ignore the invaders not enforcing the verdict saying the judge should be enforcing it. He also ordered the Cherokees removal leading to the violent march, The Trail of Tears, which resulted in the deaths of around 4,000 Cherokees. This travesty is another reason why Jackson is a villain not a…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This action caused the Indians to suffer, and many of them died along the way. Jackson’s message to congress regarding the Indian removal explained that many Indian tribes were becoming extinct and asked congress to consider setting aside territory west of the Mississippi specially for the Indians (Doc. J). This proposal was used to solely benefit the eastern territory to benefit farmers and working men by opening up lands. Jackson benefitted himself economically at a cost, which was removing the Indians from the territory without their consent, proving his egotistical behavior. Correspondingly, responses from the Cherokee tribe verified Jackson’s injustice.…

    • 1166 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved 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

    Cherokee people lived all over the land before the United States even existed. “The Cherokees lived on land extending from North Carolina to South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama for hundreds of years” (Green & Perdue, 1). They were constantly moving around involuntarily. The Cherokee tribes were often forced to leave their land when Americans found use of the land that the Cherokees were living on. White Americans were wanting their land because they found gold, wanted their livestock and they were able to evict the Cherokees out of their homes” (Green & Perdue, 92)…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Indian Removal Act, which was passed by Congress in 1830, completely changed the path for the future in multiple aspects. In determining what impact this event still has on our country today, one must start by analyzing the relationships between Native Americans, the United States government, and the common white settler. Additionally, one must analyze how the removal of these tribes affected not only them, but the white settlers. Socially, Native Americans were viewed as no more than objects in the way of what the Americans viewed as rightfully theirs.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It forced the Native Indians to surrender millions of acres of land and to move to west. Throughout the removal many Indians suffered through sickness and death. The Indian Removal Act not only removed the Indians from their rightful lands forcefully but also is responsible for over 4000 deaths of the Native Americans, that today is known as the ‘Trail of Tears’. Bibliography Calloway, Colin G. Kill the Indian and Save the Man 1870s-1920s. (In Bedford/St. Martin’s (Ed.), First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, 4th ed., 2012) 412-483.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Jackson uprooted seventy thousand Indians from their homes and drove them west of the Mississippi River. He was clearing the way for the rise of the Cotton Kingdom”(Tamaki 82). This showed how disrespected the native American’s were from the society. The native American’s had no choice to stay they would have been attacked by the American…

    • 1207 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
  • Great Essays

    The south wanted land and were willing to kill the Indians to get it. Jackson believed that it was wise and humane and would save the Indians from annihilation. In the article, Feller says “the terms offered for their evacuation were reasonable and even generous” (Feller). Historian H. W. Brands wrote that given the "racist realities of the time, Jackson was almost certainly correct in contending that for the Cherokees to remain in Georgia risked their extinction” (Brands).…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    There were five great Indian tribes that were affected by the Indian removal act. The Cherokee being the most notable and famous of the five great nations, and the only tribe to take their case to the Supreme Court. The removal of the Cherokee nation is what is known as the trail of tears. Thesis statement.…

    • 922 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert V Remini Summary

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Remini says Jackson felt that the only solution for both the Unites States and the Native tribes was that they had to be removed. This attitude towards the Indians followed him into the White house when he was elected President in 1828. Of all the things Jackson accomplished during his presidency, his Indian Removal Act was most important. Jackson finally accomplished his long thought solution to the Indian problem. Today’s historians see this a cruel act against his seemingly long term enemy.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 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
  • Superior Essays

    On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The law authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate with Indians for their removal to federal land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. Andrew Jackson was able to convince the American people that Indians could not coexist peacefully with them. He argued that the Indians were uncivilized and needed to be guarded from their own savage ways. As a result of his actions, thousands of Indians were forcibly ripped from their homes and onto a journey to a unknown territory, that was not as fertile as their home grounds.…

    • 2378 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays