The Cherokee tribe by 1700 claimed the lands North to the Ohio River, west to the Western Tennessee River valley, South to include the northern portions of what now are the states of Alabama and Georgia, and to the East to what is now western North Carolina.

As the European settlers came to the "New World", Cherokees traded with them and even intermarried. They were the only tribe in history to encourage their people to intermarry with the "white man". The Cherokees even adopted some of the European customs. They were forced to give up a lot of their Cherokee customs and live in the ways of the "white man". They began to build houses and communities, much like that of the white man, and they turned to an economy based on Agriculture. A lot of people believe the Cherokees knew the power of these people and they were only trying to preserve themselves as a people while they were being pressured to give up their traditional homeland.

For some of the Cherokees, these new ways worked very well and for others they didn't. Some built beautiful houses, much better than their jealous white neighbors, they owned slaves, like many of the southern whites, and they began raising cattle and other crops. After they learned to "talk on paper" like the white man, they translated the bible into Cherokee, and a lot of them adopted the white mans religion. Despite all their efforts, between 1721 and 1819 much of the Cherokees sacred land was ceeded to the new settlers by the American government.

In 1820, Sequoyah's syllabary brought literacy and a formal government to the Cherokee Nation. They became a very well-organized nation and even adopted their own constitution, asserting that they were a sovereign and free nation, and they were even recognized by World Powers of their time.

In 1830, under the direction of President Andrew Jackson, the Removal Act was signed. In that President Jackson argued that " no state could achieve proper culture, civilization, and progress, as long as indians remained within it's boundaries". Jackson ordered the "five civilized" tribes, the Cherokees, Creek, Chocktaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles be removed from the southern states they occupied and moved to the "Indian Territory", which was and still is known as Oklahoma- meaning "red people". It was "solemnly sworn" in a "permanent treaty" to be the Indians promised land "for as long as th grass grows and the water flows"- which turned out to mean until the "white man" decided they wanted it.

The Cherokees, perhaps one of the largest tribes assembled at the time, about 16,000 in number put up the greatest resistence. They were, in fact, the last to be evicted. A treaty with the American government, preserved their rights to their homeland in parts of Tennesee and Georgia. That was, until gold was discovered in Georgia. The state proclaimed that "all laws, orders, and regulations of any kind made with the Cherokee Nation were null and void".

In December of 1835, a huge wedge was drove into the Cherokee Nation and its people when the Treaty of New Echota was put into place. A small minority of Cherokee felt that the only way to survive as a people was to sign a new treaty with the U.S., giving up the last of their sacred homeland. Only a reported 300 to 500 Cherokees were there and none of them were elected officials in the Cherokee Nation. Out of those, only 20 signed the treaty, ceding all of the land east of the Mississippi to the U.S., in exchange for $5 million and guaranteed new homelands in the Indian Territory.

More than 15,000 Cherokees protested this illegal treaty. They signed petitions that were sent to Washington and even sent some officials from the Nation to Washington personally, but it was no use. On May 23, 1836 the illegal Treaty to New Echota was ratified by the U.S. Senate-- irronically by one vote.

Lotteries were held by the state of Georgia, giving the Cherokees land and gold rights to the whites. The Cherokees were not allowed to conduct tribal business, contact, or testify in courts against whites,or mine for gold. The Cherokees, however, were not going to give up that easily. They took their fight to Washington and challenged the state of Georgia in the U.S. Supreme Court and won. When President Jackson heard of this decision, he was reported to have said,"[Cheif Justice]John Marshall has made his decision. Let him enforce it now if he thinks he can."

Despite all the tremendous efforts of a united people determined not to give up their sacred land, the white man "won" in the end. By the summer of 1838, the U.S. government sent troops to forceably remove the Cherokee. Thus beginning a death march which is one of the saddest and most disturbing events in Americas so-called "manifest destiny". The Army came down with a great force to remove the Cherokees. They raided the homes and moved them out like herds of animals. They had no time to gather their belongings. Few were allowed to take horses or wagons or anything of importance. Many left their homes with nothing but what clothes they were wearing. The sick and the young were made to travel like the rest of the people. Looters followed close behind the Army robbing the people, sometimes before they were even off their land. Some numbers indicate that one quater of the Nation perished as they were herded to the dreadful stockades the Army had set up as a sort of "holding tank" for the Cherokees before the set off on the journey "towards the setting sun" in cold, hunger, illness and complete desolation of the people. Thus beginning the Trail Where They Cried, historically known in our time as The Trail of Tears.

The Army was said to have imprisioned approximately 13,000 people in their stockades while they awaited a break in the drought. With the stockades being a filthy breeding ground for diseases more than 1500 people died there.

The Trail Where They Cried....and Beyond









For more about me!!

My Tribute To Lane Frost

My Outlaws of the American West Page




Thank You to Lady Kali for this beautiful background!!
Visit her many creative pages!!







This page hosted by

Get your own Free Home Page