Native Americans History: Trail of Tears Essay

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Trails of Tears is often referred to as the American Holocaust. The Trail Of Tears is the battle between European settlers and the American Indians. Native Americans were treated with great disrespect and manipulation by the Europeans, referred to as the “White man.” “In 1835 the Treaty of New Echota was signed by a “Treaty Party” of about 100 Cherokees. In this agreement, Cherokees gave up all claim to lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in the Indian Territory and the future promise of money, livestock, tools, and other provisional support.

This treaty signing and the subsequent removal led to bitter factionalism within the Cherokee Nation and the eventual deaths of many of the Treaty Party leaders. Regardless of the opposition and disagreements of the Cherokee, Georgia and the US Government’s viewpoint prevailed and the New Echota treaty was used to justify their removal. In the summer of 1838, the US Army began enforcement of the Removal Act. Cherokees were rounded up and temporarily held in stockades. 3,000 Cherokees were loaded onto boats to travel the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi Rivers, and on to Arkansas into Indian Territory. Over 14,000 other Cherokee remained in the prison camps until the winter of 1838-39.

Then they were marched 1,200 miles through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas to their new home. The Cherokee endured torrential rains and other inclement weather conditions, inadequate food and water, and lacked proper clothing. It is estimated that at least 4,000 died of starvation, exposure, and disease” (The Topic- Trail of Tears). Therefore, The Trail of Tears was a battle between the Europeans and Native Americans, often referred to as the American Holocaust because it completely outcast a group of people due to the fact they were different, which was what the original Holocaust was all about.

Native Americans were forced off their land which was the beginning of the “Trail of Tears.”. Three thousand Cherokee and Creek men, women, and children moved west through Marion County. From they were well dressed while riding horses however many of the women had only a blanket wrapped around them. Those with babies had them strapped in cloth attached to their backs (Ehle 1999). In history stories of the trail of tears, the chief is portrayed as a person in denial, which may have contributed to their downfall. This is because he did not believe his people would be defeated by the American people, which basically led to an American holocaust.

In 1973, Richard Nixon finally allowed the Cherokee nation to vote, this was a revitalizing period for the tribe.

The congressional response to President Nixon’s 1970 Indian Message was to enact the ISDA.n154 It authorized the tribes to contract with the Secretary of the Interior for the direct tribal administration of those federally-funded Indian benefit programs presently run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or the Indian Health Service (IHS) (Tribes as Rich Nations).

From there, it is apparent that the Cherokee Nation prospered after this time and made impressive strides under the leadership of Chief Wilma P. Mankiller. The Cherokee Nation has its own structure of government, chief executive called the Principal Chief, legislator called the tribal council, judicial branch called a tribunal made up of three tribal justice.

The answer is that they will enjoy the success in building an ethic of the tribe, which has made the Cherokee people come a long way from the events that occurred during the Trail of Tears, which adversely affected their whole way of life. This is due to the fact they had to suffer because the white man did not approve of their way of life because it was different and close to nature. Like any other minority group, they had to wait for the 20th century to see some acceptance from the white man.

After the acceptance from the white man, the Cherokee people have established a life for themselves in peace. From there, they have redeemed themselves from the events of the Trail of Tears, which was harsh and cruel for them to experience for a reasonable explanation other than discrimination from the white man who upheld more of a threat than they did to anyone else that crossed their path.

It was a long hard trail with many casualties on the way. A new Trail of Tears flows from the laughter of Native Americans, as they have in some ways successfully outwitted the federal government and brought justice and compensation to some of their people through their own efforts. Another point of Trail of Tears certainly will flow when a consumerist society believes it is okay to consume humans as long as someone receives monetary compensation from it, which is a wrong way of looking at it. This only promotes discrimination among a race or ethnic group, which could trigger another Trail of Tears.

If people keep the same attitudes in life, history will, unfortunately, repeat itself and nothing will be resolved by not having unity among minority groups. There are some things in history that need to be repeated because people benefited from them, however, the Trail of Tears caused too much pain to too many innocent people to repeat. Moreover, if history like this repeats itself, every race and religion will become divided, which would put all groups at war with one another in order to be the primary group. From there, in order to live peacefully, people must have unity, which was not found in the time of the Trail of Tears. To sum this time period up, it is extremely apparent that it could very well be considered the American Holocaust since one set of people were outcast from society

References

The Topic- Trail of Tears. Web.

Ehle J. (1999) Trail of Tears The Rise and Fall. Wing.

Tribes as Rich Nations. Web.

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