We the People: The Trail of Tears, By: Michael Burgan, Compass Point Books, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2001.
The
relationship between the U.S. government and the native Americans who
first inhabited this land is one of great sorrow to our country. In no
story is this relationship more prominent than in the “Trail of Tears”
or “the trail where the cried” translated from the Cherokee. They had
participated in the revolutionary war, as well as the French Indian
War. They were one of the so-called five civilized tribes. The
Cherokee had negotiated several treaties with the U.S. Each subsequent
treaty took more and more land. However this was not enough, and the
United States passed The Indian Removal Act, setting the goal of
removing the eastern tribes. Chief John Ross opposed removal, but he
was undercut by a smaller group of Cherokee lead by Major Ridge.
President Andrew Jackson was a key proponent of the removal of the
Indians. They negotiated a treaty for the removal of the Cherokee to
Oklahoma. They ratified this when only a few Cherokee were present,
even though the majority of Cherokee opposed removal. Ross wrote to
congress, “We are stripped of every attribute of freedom….We are
deprived of membership in the human family!”
The
first to leave left by barge and on waterways. Those who came after
traveled by land, taking several routes through Missouri, Illinois,
Arkansas, and Tennessee. The trip was about 800 miles.
General
Winfield Scott enforced the removal, supported by 7000 troops as well
as many local militia. General Scott tried to treat the forced evacuees
with respect, but the militia did not. 17,000 were forced from their
traditional homes. 4,000 died on the trail due to conditions,
starvation, disease. The concluding statement of the author, “ Many
American Indians suffered because of U.S. government policies. The
Trail of Tears remains the most tragic reminder of the violence and
broken promises that the U.S. government used to force Indians off their
own land.
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