Analysis Of Andrew Jackson 's ' The Trail Of Tears '

supported a man by the name of Andrew Jackson who was running for President of the

Throughout America’s History Native Americans have had their land taken away from them. This started with the Europeans landing in America with Native Americans, claiming they conquered the Americas. This was all allowed by the doctrine of discovery, that allowed European Christians to claim land if documented first (Meyers). Columbus and his crew took the claim of discovering the Americas, also labeling the Natives as Indians because he believed he landed in India. Europeans brought of countless diseases such as bubonic plague, chicken pox, pneumonic plague, cholera, diphtheria, influenza, measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhus, tuberculosis, and whooping cough (Ojibwa).This caused countless Natives to die because they had no immunity to these diseases. Next one of the first treaties were broken which cause the Native Americans to endure a great journey and travel countless miles to their new land known as The Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was a part of Andrew Jackson 's Indian Removal policy, which made 15,000 Cherokees up and leave their land because whites wanted their land(Historical Documents: The Trail of Tears). During this journey, 4,000 out of the 15,000 Cherokee’s died because of lack of food, exhaustion,and diseases(Historical Documents:The Trail of Tears). The continuing mistreatment of Natives has not ended, it is still going on today.

The death and burials of the Cherokee along the Trail of Tears, will determine if the forced relocation can be considered an act of genocide. However, determining the number of how many people lost their lives on the Trail of Tears is difficult to calculate. An exact death toll of the round-up alone cannot be verified by historians. Most modern historians and other professionals agree on the number 4,000 deaths or one-fourth of the Cherokee Nation (Thornton, 1984). 4,000 deaths, is an estimate determined from the 1835 Census that tallied roughly 16,000 Cherokee in Georgia. Only 12,000 made it to Oklahoma, so the death estimate is 4,000 (Wilkins, 1986). A missionary by the name of Dr. Butler, who traveled with the Cherokee, estimated the death toll using eyewitness accounts and his personal observations along the journey. One traveler from Maine described an encounter of one of the detachments stating, “…we learned from the inhabitants on the road where the Indians passed that they buried fourteen or fifteen at every stopping place, and they make a journey of ten miles per day only on an average,” (Wilkins, 1986). Observations like the traveler’s, were the kind Dr. Butler would use to determine his estimate. Later he did bump his estimate up to 4,600 Cherokee deaths when presented with more evidence. However, the 4,600 is still an estimate and the exact number of lost lives is still unknown.

The Trail of Tears is part of the immoral history of the United States. The information in this paper will be about the causes, history, deaths, and the hopes that were lost. There were at least four causes for the Indian removal act of 1830. The history of the trail discussion about the Native Americans, and what happens to them when they were moving to their new home in the west, as well what happened after the removal act.

The “Trail of Tears,” was an unmitigated disaster-at least for the Native American Tribes involved. – (Page 269) “As the population grew, white citizens demanded that their governments, at both the state and national levels, do something about the Native American tribes in their midst who held claims to land …” – (Page 249) “The United States had recognized the Cherokee as a nation in a number of treaties, and in 1827 delegates of this tribe initiated action to draft a constitution that would more formally recognize this status.” – (Page 249). This caused a problem with the constitution, because new states could not be established in pre-existing state. “Georgia, where most of the Cherokee lived, opposed the plan and called for the removal of all Native American.” – (Page 249). In fact, the Cherokee nation fought back. “The case reached the United States Supreme Court, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia.” – (Page 250). The Cherokee lost; but a year later Chief Justice John Marshall “ruled that the state had no right to extend sovereignty over the Cherokee within its borders.” Andrew Jackson disagreed with the chief justice, and wanted for the chief justice to enforce his decision.

Abraham Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural Address” is a solid example of a man that displays key leadership qualities to sway the many to do the right thing even though it is not the easiest path. For example, Abraham Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery for the greater good of mankind and to prove that freedom and equality was a right given to us all by God. He displayed great courage and integrity to pursue

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

Jackson did not have the characteristics of a great president. First of all, he was notorious for being to rash and impetuous. As a military leader, he often disobeyed direct orders (Florida campaign), and acted on instinct rather than reason. He also had many enemies among colleagues, including John Calhoun, John Quincy Adams,

Many times Andrew Jackson would work separately from other parts of government and political people, usually demanding that it had to be his way. As a result of his desire to have things as he wanted, Jackson vetoed many bills that went through Congress, earning himself a reputation as “King Andrew the First”. This made a great number of common people happy, especially when the bills working through Congress to be passed were not favorable for the commoner. Other than fighting for equality for all people, Andrew Jackson also passed an Indian Removal Act during his terms in office.

The Trail of Tears was a route that the Cherokee Indians had to travel on when they were forcibly removed from their homes in the southern Appalachian Mountains. They were made to travel miles and miles away from their homes, so the residents of Georgia could begin looking for gold. All of this began because in 1829 when someone found gold on Cherokee land. The Cherokee were going to be forced out of their homes so they decided to take their case to court. The case went all the way up to the supreme court and was then voted on in the Cherokee's favor, but President Andrew Jackson went against the courts ruling and allowed the Cherokee to be removed from their homes. The Trail of Tears is a terrible route where over 2,000 Cherokee lives were lost, and many became sick and injured. Even though the Cherokee had the rights to the land and they even had their own constitution, still Jackson ignored this and allowed them to be removed. This was a terrible time in American history because it showed how malicious one of our presidents was in allowing these peaceful Indians to be taken away from their homes, just so we could find some gold.

“Our nation was born in genocide when it embraced the doctrine that the original American, the Indian, was an inferior race.”

Imagine your mother, father and other siblings having to be forced by the government nevertheless to move away from the only home you have ever known. This is not fiction, but actually what happened to many Native Americans in the United States. The Trail of Tears had a huge impact on Native Americans all across the South, moreover their journey often hard with many cruelties, but they persevered and eventually settled in new places.

For yet another third period, I walked through the faded pink door into the fluorescent-lit room. I walked along the back wall, past the poster of the “Pledge of Allegiance” spelled out with license plates. I sat down in my seat. This would be my first of two periods in a row with Mrs. Sorenson, the quirky history/English teacher who would bring out her fiddle and sing songs based on the unit of U.S. history we were working on. This day, Mrs. Sorenson wasn’t singing any songs. There weren’t many songs she knew about the Trail of Tears. She reminded us about how the American Indians had owned the land before the Europeans came and how the new settlers wanted to keep the natural resources found in the

President Andrew Jackson's policy towards Native Americans was highly partisan, favoring Americans of European ancestry, and detrimental to Indians. Jackson essentially wanted Native Americans to vacate lands that were integral to the U.S. at all costs. What is most significant about this fact is that he was not the only one who wanted to see this wholesale change in the landscape of the country. Despite some noble efforts on the part of Native Americans to integrate and to learn the customs, behaviors and habits of Europeans, displeasure fomented as early as the 1820's when certain states in the South Eastern portion of the country decided to forgo federal regulations that provided for land in these areas for Indians, and to have them removed.

The Trail of Tears is a name given to the Cleansing and forced relocation of Native American nations from Southeastern parts of United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The phrase originated from a description of removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831.