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The Trail of Tears

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 5 months, 3 weeks ago

 

Image from Five Civilized Tribes Museum

Image from Five Civilized Tribes Museum  

Topics on the Page

 

Event Summary

  • Multimedia resources
  • Multicultural resources 
  • Primary sources

 

The Indian Removal Policy

 

Supreme Court Decisions and Native American Opposition

  • Chief John Ross

 

Discrepant Event Inquiry Learning Plan for Trail of Tears

 

 CROSS-LINKS:

 

Sequoyah: The Native American State That Almost Existed

 

The Trail of Tears, Chief John Ross, and Supreme Court Cases Involving Native Americans

 

 

PAGE SUMMARY (by Vanessa Vincent, March 2022)
This page summarizes the Trail of Tears, which was the removal of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi River to present-day Oklahoma. This occurred in 1838 and 1839 as part of then President's Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal policy. The Cherokee faced hunger/starvation, disease, and exhaustion from the forced march/removal.

 

The Indian Removal policy was first suggested by Thomas Jefferson under the premise that it was the only way to ensure the survival of Indian cultures.

 

There were previously issues with Cherokee land which was brought to the Supreme Court in the cases Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831 and Worcester v. Georgia in 1832. The Cherokees continuously resisted Andrew Jackson's efforts to get them to sell their tribal lands in exchange for new lands in Oklahoma and Arkansas. 

 

Trail of Tears Event Summary


"In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma."

 

The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects.

 

 

Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory. Claudio Saunt (W.W. Norton, 2020)

 

Trail of Tears Map, National Park Service (2005)


Trail of Tears Map, National Park Service (2005)
See The Trail of Tears and the Forced Relocation of the Cherokee Nation, National Park Service

 

 

1884 Map of Land Surrendered by the Cherokee People to Colonial Governments and the United States Government from 1721 to 1835

 

 

 

 

  Multimedia Resources


Trail of Tears from Crash Course


Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, National Park Service

 

Interactive Timeline of Events Leading to Trail of Tears

 

Interactive Lesson on the Trail of Tears

 

Reading on Trail of Tears

 

Multicultural Resources

 

Family Stories from Several Perspectives

 

  • This site contains family stories from the Trail of Tears. It is a great resource for students to understand multiple perspectives of those who endured the Trail of Tears and what came after. It is a great resource for educators to plan lessons around as well.  


Primary Sources

 

Major General Winfield Scott's Order No. 25 Regarding the Removal of Cherokee Indians to the West

 

Primary Source Set for the Trail of Tears

 

A Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears

Two Accounts of Life on the Trail of Tears

 

Our Hearts Are Sickened: Letter from Chief John Ross of the Cherokee, 1836

  • In this letter, John Ross (1790-1866), the principal leader of the Cherokee Nation, and other Cherokees, petitioned President Martin Van Buren for claims against the government during the removal of Cherokee from western Georgia to Oklahoma.

 

 Teaching Resources

 

Discrepant Event Inquiry

 

A young boy named John lived on a farm in a beautiful, mountainous, wooded area in Eastern Tennessee in 1837. His family planted corn and raised animals for meat, milk, and eggs. John had four brothers and three sisters. The family appeared happy and prosperous. In 1839 the family moved to a treeless, dry, flat prairie. During the journey, two of John’s brothers and one of his sisters died. When they arrived at their new home, the family could not grow enough to feed themselves. John’s father became a member of the legislature and his mother helped publish the local newspaper. John missed his brothers and sister, and his beautiful home in the mountains.

 

When the short tale is complete teachers say to students: what you must figure out is why John’s family would leave their beautiful farm for a difficult life in this flat dry prairie. Using only Yes/No questions.

 

 

 

Perspectives on the Trail of Tears from Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

 

 

Discover the Trail of Tears:  A Lightning Lesson from Teaching with Historic Places, National Park Service

 

 

The Indian Removal Policy

 

  • First suggested by Thomas Jefferson as the only way to ensure the survival of Indian cultures, the removal policy sought to encourage Native Americans to migrate westward to lands where they could live free from white harassment.

 

  • In 1825, President James Monroe set before Congress a plan to resettle all eastern Indians on tracts in the West where whites would not be allowed to live.

 

  • Under Presidents Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren (1782-1862), federal Indian policy emphasized removal. A dispute between the Cherokee nation and the state of Georgia encouraged the shift toward removal.

 

 

John Ross, a Cherokee chief, 1842
John Ross, a Cherokee chief, 1842

 

John Ross, Chief of the Cherokee Nation

 

 

Supreme Court Decisions and Native American Opposition

 

  • After the Cherokees adopted a constitution asserting sovereignty over their land, the state of Georgia abolished tribal rule and claimed that the Cherokees fell under its jurisdiction.

 

  • The discovery of gold on Cherokee land triggered a land rush and the Cherokees sued to keep whites from encroaching on their territory.
      • Two important cases, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831 and Worcester v. Georgia in 1832

 

  • The Supreme Court ruled that states could not pass laws conflicting with federal Indian treaties and that the federal government had an obligation to exclude white intruders from Indian lands.

 

          • Angered, Jackson is said to have exclaimed: "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it."



Emboldened by the Supreme Court decisions, the Cherokees resisted Jackson's efforts to get them to sell all tribal lands in exchange for new lands in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

 

  • The federal government bribed a faction of the tribe to leave Georgia in exchange for transportation costs and $5 million, but most Cherokees held out until 1838, when the army evicted them from their land. (Both before and after removal, traditionalists assassinated a number of Cherokees who cooperated with white missionaries and government officials).

 

 

 

 

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