...Book Review: John Ehle’s Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation The book Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle is a book about the Cherokee Indians and the suffering they endured during the late 1830s. Ehle wrote a book that was more than just a documentation of what happened on the Trail of Tears; he wrote a detailed documentation of Native American history. It centered more around the Cherokees than any other textbook could considering it helped visualize who the Cherokees were as people and not what they went through during such a political time period. Ehle used an abundance of historical facts to convey the Cherokee way of life before and during the Trail of Tears like no author of any textbook ever could. Furthermore, the way Ehle helped the audience envision the Cherokees is what I really enjoyed about this book. Starting out Ehle shapes the Cherokees in a way that helps the audience distinguish that they were not entirely blameless for what actually happened. He helps us take a look into the darker sides of the Cherokee culture we many not read in our textbooks or generally many websites that describe the culture. White Americans are generally blamed for always pushing themselves forward and at the rise to the top stepping over whomever comes their way, but now we see who America was stepping over. Regarding this, Cherokees were not so different from White Americans. Just like many other races the Cherokees held...
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...The Trail of Tears In the early 1800’s, The United States was a young, but ambitious nation. Despite being a more primitive period in time, there was still the modern day lust for land and wealth. Native Americans occupied the land early Americans desired. In spite of attempts by the Native Americans to acclimate to American society, they were still forced from their tribal lands. Their treacherous journey west became known as The Trail of Tears. This forced mass exodus has left a blemish on the legacies of both President Andrew Jackson and America. The Trail of Tears was the path the Native Americans were forced to take from the southeastern United States to west of the Mississippi River. The entire length of this forced journey was...
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...Americans were marched over 1,200 miles of rugged land. Over 4,000 of these Indians died of disease, famine, and warfare. The Indian tribe was called the Cherokee and we call this event the Trail of Tears. As you will soon learn, it is one of the most brutal and racist events to happen in America. The Trail of Tears happened when Hernando De Soto took his adventures to America. After he came to America more and more Europeans came and began to invade on Indian land. The Indians became lost in bewilderment and anger. Some tribes didn’t feel this way until later on, for some helped the new comers win wars during the colonial periods. Often when the Indians’ side lost the war, the Indians would have to give...
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...Trail of Tears In “Race, Religion, and the Trail of Tears,” Patrick Minges addresses the experience Native Americans, especially the Cherokee tribe, experienced before, during, and after the Trail of Tears. Minge points out that although the Native Americans appeared different from the whole population, they were actually similar in many ways and did not deserve the harshness they received. He views the topics of religion, slavery, and the trail of tears through the eyes of different races. Minge first discusses the relationship of African Americans and Native Americans in slavery. He goes on to state how the Native Americans were similar to African Americans when it came to how they are seen by the whites, as laborers. In fact, Minges declared...
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...The Trail of Tears is the journey of Native Americans that were forced to leave their home in Southeast Georgia and move to the new Indian Territory in moderate-day Oklahoma. People in Georgia continued to take American lands and force both Cherokee Indians and Creek Indians out of Georgia. By 1825 the Lower Creek was completely gone. In 1827 the Creek was gone. In 1838, the Cherokees were the fifth major tribe to be forced to relocate to Indian Territory. More than 15,000 Indians were forced out by the U.S. Army. The name of the other five tribes that were forced to leave their homeland were the Choctaw, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Creek. 16,000 of the Choctaw Indians who journeyed across the Trail of Tears between 5,000 and 6,000 died in route. The “Trail of Tears” got its name because of the devastating effects it had on the Cherokee people. The Cherokee faced hunger, diseases, and exhaustion on the forced removal. Over...
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...The Trail of Tears: Cherokee Tribe November 16th, 2015 The Trail of Tears remains one of the worst human rights disaster in United States history. At the beginning of the 1830’s, more than ten thousand Cherokees were taken from their homes. They were forced by the United States government to leave their homelands because of the white settlers. They ended up in the future State of Oklahoma. By the end of the decade very few Native Americans remained in the Southern United States. However due to the horrid conditions, masses of them died due to starvation during relocation. It caused a large amount of stress among the Cherokee people. This difficult journey was known as the Trail of Tears. Migration from the original Cherokee nation began in the early 1800’s. Some Cherokees moved west on their own and settled in other areas of the country. A group known as the old settlers had voluntarily moved in 1817 to lands given to them in Arkansas. While there, they established a government. Later, however, they were forced to migrate to Indian Territory. They were not given an alternative if they “wanted” to move or not. It wasn’t up to them as far as decision making. The move was extremely difficult and treacherous. In 1835 the United States government used the Treaty of New Echota to justify the removal. Known as the Treaty Party, signed by approximately one hundred Cherokees, it relinquished all lands, and the promise of livestock, various precision tools, and other benefits...
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...Indian Removal Act The United States of America found gold in Georgia in 1838. This was found on the Cherokee’s ancestral land. Andrew Jackson, who was the president of the United States at the time, ordered all of the Cherokees to move to territory that is now Oklahoma. In 1831, the Cherokee nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the state of Georgia depriving them of their rights within its boundaries. The Supreme Court didn’t hear the case. They ruled that it had no original jurisdiction in the matter, as the Cherokee was a dependent nation. In 1832, the United States had forced the Choctaw tribe to move west. In 1833, the Choctaw completed their move west. In 1834, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had the responsibility of trading with the tribes. In 1835, The Treaty of New Echota, which ceded Cherokee land to the United States was signed on December 29, 1836. This also provided the legal basis for the Trail of...
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...Date Today there are more than half a million Indians in the United States. They are still trying to adapt to the white civilization, being in all stages of development. There are a few Indians who have made money from natural resources found on their lands, but there are still thousands who live at close starvation levels. Many live in almost complete isolation from Americans who are not Indian, but there are some who are educated and living among the white society. Hundreds of Indians work in cities close to their reservations; thousands of other Indians hold onto the security of their reservations in hope of gaining education and being able to develop the resources of their lands and provide for their own needs without help from others. Today, there are about 300 federal reservations in the United States largely found west of the Mississippi. There are many environmental issues that have created many tragedies among the American Indians, which have left most of them facing poor living conditions. There is a long history of tragedies among the American Indians starting back in the 1830s. The Trail of Tears, also known as the “death march,” was the first initial tragedy that caught the attention of many historians to this day. The Trail of Tears is known as the enforced relocation and movement of American Indian tribes from southeastern territories of the United States with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 following. This removal included the members of Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole...
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...In Trail of Tears , John Ehle draws and creates images of the people and the events and problems that led up to the trail of tears also known as the removal and killing of thousands of Cherokee Indians . This Act was put into place to make the indians move to Indian Territory in Arkansas and Oklahoma . This book takes place in the time periods of 1771 through about 1841. The settings takes place during the time when white settlers were trying to take over the Cherokee lands. Many of the lessons in this book helped shaped the world today , most importantly it keeps us to correct the past mistakes and not let these problems reoccurs .The Cherokee were a very religious tribe. They mainly worshipped the sun and prayed for great harvests. The...
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...Seminole had to be relocated west, opening twenty-five million acres of land to white settlers. The discover of the “New World” by European explorers caused endless problems for Native American Indians. First contact between the Europeans and Native Americans, resulted from the expedition of Hernando de Solo in 1540. De Solo took captives for slave labor, and left new diseases that the Native Americans encountered that began to dramatically decrease their populations. Even after the American...
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...vagrants, and strangers in our own country.” states former cherokee chief, John Ross upon revealing the tragic, but true fact that Indians were being discriminated and taken from their homes. The U.S was growing rapidly in the mid 1800’s, yet, there was no room for white plantations or people. As America expanded, the east was being explored and the discovery of gold on the eastern states was valuable. The five civilized tribes, The Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole were being forced to relocate West of the Mississippi river due to Americans believing Indians were savages and the discovery of gold in the area. MIgrating the Indians gave the United states an abundance of room to established plantations and continue slavery. The infamous “Trail of Tears” forced thousands of Indigenous people to walk through harsh weather and experience...
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...Understand the circumstances that led to the Louisiana Purchase The circumstances that led to the Louisiana Purchase were the transcontinental railroad that would connect Atlantic to the Pacific that allowed settlers a faster and safer way to California and the West. It led to the now famous Lois and Clark Expedition to the Pacific Ocean. We championed westward expansion and exploration which doubled the size of the landscape. He fanned fundamental disagreement about the spread of slavery to the western territories. Jefferson learned that Spain had transferred title to the entire region to France. Congressmen urged Jefferson to prepare for war against France. When he heard that Napoleon had become impatient for his money, Jefferson rushed the treaty to a Senate eager to ratify it. Know the function of cities in Jeffersonian America The function of cities in Jeffersonian America became important commercial ports. They became deports for international trade. Only about 7 percent of the nation’s population lived in urban centers. Most of these people owed their livelihoods either directly or indirectly to the carrying trade (major port cities of the early republic—New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore). Understand Jefferson’s views on economy and federal debt A top priority of the new government was cutting the national debt. Jefferson also wanted to diminish the activities of the federal government. He urged Congress to repeal all direct taxes, including the tax...
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...The Trail of Tears was a brutal encounter with nature, disease and the American government. It was an unjust tragedy that forced Native Americans to leave their homelands and endure unthinkable misfortune. The events leading up to the actual exile of the Native Americans was felt prior to the Trail of Tears and the repercussions of these events were felt far after the journey. Many unimaginable laws were passed to benefit the colonists in their pursuit of a better life at the expense of the Native Americans. Even though the Trail of Tears occurred in 1838 the events leading up to it started long before that time. 25,000 Native Americans lived on such lands as Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and Tennessee and included various tribes...
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...of the American Indians Today there are more than half a million Indians in the United States. They are still trying to adapt to the white civilization, being in all stages of development. There are a few Indians who have made money from natural resources found on their lands, but there are still thousands who live at close starvation levels. Many live in almost complete isolation from Americans who are not Indian, but there are some who are educated and living among the white society. Hundreds of Indians work in cities close to their reservations; thousands of other Indians hold onto the security of their reservations in hope of gaining education and being able to develop the resources of their lands and provide for their own needs without help from others. Today, there are about 300 federal reservations in the United States largely found west of the Mississippi. There are many environmental issues which have created many tragedies among the American Indians, which have left most of them facing poor living conditions. There is a long history of tragedies among the American Indians starting back in the 1830s. The Trail of Tears, also known as the “death march,” was the first initial tragedy that caught the attention of many historians to this day. The Trail of Tears is known as the enforced relocation and movement of American Indian tribes from southeastern territories of the United States with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 following. This removal included the members...
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...Controversy document 2, Jackson argues that he is trying to make a more constitutional nation, as having a National Bank is not in the constitution, nor is it implied. At that time, the Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act relocated Native Americans from their homelands to Oklahoma, along what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson’s letter (Indian Removal document 3) begs the Native Americans to leave ‘voluntarily’, yet in another autocratic move he forces them to move. As they did not have time to prepare as whites looted their homes, more than 4,000 people died along the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee pleaded back in Indian Removal document 2, that they had occupied the land for many years, and did not wish to leave. They stated that they had the rights to the land, and have lived in peace with the Americans for over 40 years. Yet Jackson forced them off their beloved land. The election of 1828, as most people will argue, was democratic, and the presidency of Andrew Jackson was one of the most democratic for that point in history. But how democratic was it really? The election of 1828 was democratic for their time, allowing for a more democratic president choice. But due to actions concerning the National Bank Controversy, Spoils System, Indian Removal Acts, all of which were acted upon autocratically, it has been concluded that Andrew Jackson’s presidency was in fact, very autocratic. ...
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