The Trail Of Tears



The Trail Of Tears

Introduction

The trail of tears basically known as the 'Indian problem' because the White Americans, who were living on the western frontier, had certain insecurities about the Native Americans that lived there. The white Americans took the Native Americans as aliens and thought that they were strangers to the land and feared that they would take over the land the whites wanted (www.history.com, 2012)

Discussion

The period between 1790 & 1830, population of Georgia had increased by six-folds. The problem aroused when the western's began evacuating and under taking the land of Native Americans by forcing them into the frontier. Under the provisions of the Treaty of Indian Springs, the Lower Creek had been completely removed by 1825 (ngeorgia.com). The natives were literally forced out of the land.

The Trail of Tear's Importance

These Native American people were also known as Cherokees that were enforced to sign this treaty. The Cherokee tribe was not actually represented by men but in fact they had the authoritative hold amongst their tribe members. They were not accepting the signing of the treaty and when they appealed to the Supreme Court they won the case. The President Andrew Jackson was given the authority to remove the Cherokees from the region and gain all the benefits. Military was used and forcefully evacuating around 60,000 Indians, white spouse, Christian missionaries and African slaves traveling through Arkansas. They were forced to pass through the cruel terrains walking barefooted and wearing thin-ragged clothes by being placed in camps that were harmful and unhygienic for their health and experiencing the driest summers and severe cold winters. Thousands of them died because of the spreading of various diseases among each other. The calculated number of deaths that took place due to the incident stands about 4000 (Sloan, 2011)

The Cherokees stood strong, they fought and appealed for their case in a very peaceful way. The white were greedy about securing lands which were rich in terms of fertility, gold and resources that resulted in dislocating 1000s of natives that had been living in that land for centuries. The tribes plea was over looked by the whites and got all the land that they had an eye for since a long time. This has been one of the most terrible and shameful even in the history of America and Natives called this as “Nunna dual lsunyi” or “The Trails Where We Cried”.

Why Did The Trail Of Tears Take Place?

As the white were increasing in population and after getting the hold of Louisiana, the greed of the whites kept on increasing and they wanted to get hold of more land and control larger areas which were fertile but also the home to the Natives. When the white signed the “Indian Removal Act” in 1830s there act of self-interest and greed was enough to prove it. The main problem that worsened this condition was the gold available in that region which made Indians sign number of treaties. By signing these treaties the Cherokees ...