Of all of the tragic chapters inNative Americanhistory , none bring out the brutal , state - approve persecution of aboriginal peoples quite like theTrail of Tears . In 1838 and 1839 , tens of 1000 of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their tribal homelands in the American Southeast and shipped like Bos taurus to " Indian Territory " west of the Mississippi . historiographer estimate that up to 15,000 man , women and children died en itinerary to these first Native American reservation .
Gregory Smithersis a professor of American history at Virginia Commonwealth University , where he specializes in autochthonal history , particularly theCherokee , whose homelands used to extend from North Carolina and South Carolina through Tennessee , Georgia , Alabama and Texas . Smithers explains that from the birthing of the United States , Union and province governments wrestled to found a workable " Amerind policy . "
The ultimate goal of such an Indian policy was to gain memory access to rich farming acres held by native tribes in the Eastern United States , Smithers says . The propose methods for gain those lands ranged from violent confrontation to peaceful diplomatic negotiations to underhanded coercion .
George Washington ’s administration favor an " desegregation " approach , avoiding armed conflict by " school " the tribes and integrate them into the American economy and political system . Thomas Jeffersonvoiced his subterranean motivesfor support the civilization of tribes , contend that if Indians could be convince to buy goods on course credit , they ’d become indebted and be forced to sell off their lands .
The integration method acting quickly lost favor by the early nineteenth century , says Smithers , and growing segments of Americans in the Midwest and the Southeast were " unhappy that the U.S. was spend what they see as their ' gem ' on Indians that could n’t be reform and did n’t have the same capacity to live in a republican club as White multitude . "
The Indian Removal Act
As slave - owning expanded sharply in the nineteenth century , slave owner became desperate to get their hands on native lands . They pressured their state representations to buttonhole the Union government for lawmaking to force Native tribe off their country . Those representatives institute a likable ear with President Andrew Jackson , no respecter of Indian sovereignty , who signed theIndian Removal Actin 1830 .
The Act itself did n’t authorize the mass removal of native peoples , but it created a process by which the Union government could sign treaties with individual aboriginal tribes in exchange for acres in the new strike Indian Territory in modern - sidereal day Oklahoma . Many tribal leaders " saw the composition on the wall , " says Smithers , knowing that if they did n’t signal the treaty , they ’d probably be chased out anyway . At least these treaty , as unjust as they were , carried the hope of set about a newfangled animation on new realm .
The Cherokee were one of the fiercest and longest holdouts . They fought the Indian Removal Act all the elbow room up to the Supreme Court , which ruled that the resettlement system was unconstitutional . Upon hear the decision , a dismissive President Jacksonreportedly said , " [ Chief Justice ] John Marshall has made his decision ; lease him impose it now if he can . "
In 1835 , a diminished chemical group of Cherokee striver - possessor kick the bucket against the wishes of the tribe and ratify the Treaty of New Echota , which handed over all Cherokee lands East of the Mississippi to the U.S. governmentin interchange for $ 5 millionand promised new land in Indian Territory .
With the treasonable pact sign , the federal government began a viciously bureaucratic campaign of relocate an estimated 100,000 Native Americans , including members of the Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaws , Creek and Seminole tribes . The governance built strategically placed fort across the southeast body politic and used them as processing sites . Tribal citizenry were stripped of all their self-possession and taken to collection points likeFort Hembreein North Carolina , where they would wait in sordid conditions , many dying from dysentery even before the punishing westward trek began .
The Trail West
Smithers says that the popular opinion of the Trail of Tears being a forced borderland on substructure is n’t whole accurate . About one-half of the forcibly removed aboriginal peoples were shipped out on flatbed barges that followed a twisting river route out West . For the overland route , most traveled in ox - drawn paddy wagon . But that does n’t mean that the journey was any less traumatic or lethal .
" The river routes were infamous for the great unwashed becoming very tired of very quickly and contagious disease spreading quite rapidly , " says Smithers , author most recently of"Native Southerner : endemic story from Origins to Removal . " " It did n’t give up anyone . "
Food was scarce and disease ran rampant on the overland road as well , which proceeded in spite of lethal frigidness or searing warmth for more than 1,000 miles ( 1,609 klick ) . In some cases , military man were march in double - file lines with shackles on their foot and hand . A Choctaw leaderdescribed the experience to an Alabama newspaperas a " trail of tears and death . "
The last death toll of the Trail of Tears is insufferable to verify , says Smithers , he notice that contemporary historiographer believe that between 4,000 and 8,000 Cherokee perished during the force removal in 1838 and 1839 , as well as 4,000 Choctaw ( a third of the entire kindred ) and 3,500 Creek Indians .
Smithers say that the traumatic legacy of the Trail of Tears still reverberates within tribal communities . Tragically , it would n’t be the last meter that the U.S. government imposed its will on aboriginal citizenry , just one of the big . Despite promise that the tribes would be left alone after this hale removal , blank settlers continue promote against " Indian Territory , " which eventually became Oklahoma . The state wasadmitted to the Union in 1907 .
