Cherokee Trail of Tears
In 1838, the Cherokee were forced to leave their homes and resettle in Indian Territory. The painting above depicts what the artists thought this event might have looked like. No doubt, it was a trecherous journey.
Your task is to analyze past opinions for and against removing the Cherokee. This investigation will help you create a poster representing one of these perspectives.
Not everyone wanted the Cherokee to leave. On the following pages you will analyze several sources. Use the graphic organizer to document who was for and against Cherokee removal, and select one vocabulary word (civilized , incompetent , protected , vulnerable ) that best summarizes each perspective's view of the Cherokee. Finally, assess how well the person uses (or ignores) information about the Cherokee people's culture to support an argument for or against removing the Cheorkee.
The Constitution declares that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State,” without the consent of its legislature…
By persuasion and force, [the Indians] have been made to retire from river to river, and from mountain to mountain; until some of the tribes have become extinct, and others have left but remnants, to preserve, for a while, their once terrible names. Surrounded by whites…[who] destroy the resources of the savage, doom him to weakness and decay; the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware, is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek…
As a means of effecting this end, I suggest, for your consideration, the [decency] of setting apart an ample district West of the Mississippi, and without the limits of any State or Territory, now formed, to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes, as long as they shall occupy it: each tribe having a district control over the portion designated for its use…
This emigration should be voluntary: for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers, and seek a home in a distant land. But they should be distinctly informed that, if they remain within the limits of the States, they must be subject to their laws.
From speech by Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen of NJ:
True, Sir, many tribes have melted away—they have sunk lower and lower…
[However, the Cherokee] flourish under this culture…They have shown themselves to be highly [capable] of improvement, and the ferocious feelings and habits of the savage are soothed and reformed by the mild charities of religion…
For is it not clear as the sunbeam, Sir, that a removal will [increase] their woes…
[The Cherokee] have established a regular constitution of civil government, republican in its principles…The people acknowledge their authority, and feel their obligation. A printing press, conducted by one of the nation circulates weekly newspapers, printed partly in English, and partly in the Cherokee language. Schools flourish in many of their settlements. Christian temples, to the God of the Bible, are frequented by respectful, devout, and many sincere worshipers…
Speech from Cherokee Nation's Council to the people of the United States, July 1830
We are aware, that some persons suppose it will be for our advantage to remove beyond the Mississippi. We think otherwise. Our people universally think otherwise.
We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain... The treaties with us, and laws of the United States ... guarantee our residence, and our privileges and secure us against intruders. Our only request is, that these treaties may be fulfilled, and these laws executed.
But if we are compelled to leave our country, we see nothing but ruin before us. The country west of the Arkansas territory is unknown to us.The far greater part of that region is, beyond all controversy, badly supplied with wood and water; and no Indian tribe can live as agriculturists without these articles. All our neighbers, in case of our removal, though crowded into our near vicinity, would speak a language totally different from ours, and practice different customs. The original possessors of that region are now wandering savages lurking for prey in the neighborhood. They have always been at war, and would be easily tempted to turn their arms against peaceful emigrants. Were the country to which we are urged much better than it is represented to be and were it free from the objections which we have made to it, still it is not the land of our birth, nor of our affections . It contains neither the scenes of our childhood, nor the graves of our fathers. It contains neither the scenes of our childhood, nor the graves of our fathers.
A Letter by Wilson Lumpkin, Governor of Georgia, May 4th, 1835
To Eli S. Shorter, J.P.H. Campbell, and Alferd Iverson, Esqrs.
Gentlemen:
...in regard to our Indian population ... I most fully concur with the President [to remove the Cherokee] and still believe, that it is the duty of the Federal Government to cooperate with the States ... to speedily remove the evils of an Indian population from the States. I consider it a perfect farce ... to pretend any longer to consider or treat these unfortunate remnants of a once mighty race as independent nations of people. [They] should be treated with tender regard, as orphans and minors who are incapable of managing and protecting their own [possessions].
This course of policy, if pursued by the Federal Government, would soon relieve the States from the inquietudes of an Indian population, and settle the Indians in a land of hope where they could be shielded and protected from enormous and degrading frauds which have been so often perpetrated on these sons of the forest by a selfish population of our white population.