History of Trail of Tears

We the American people have a terrible past that we all share together. They forced many innocent Native Americans of this land, the land they shared with us and helped us live on. They even forced them to the brink of death. We told them sweet words and fed them many lies and nearly wiped them out all in one year. This was a terrible time in our history and changed the course of our nation.

We had multiple important events in this time period that changed the course of this event.

First of all, there was an Indian policy that favored to move all natives west of the Mississippi River. This meant that any Natives east of the river were forced to move no matter what. Many people tried their own way to get out of it yet, in the end, it didn’t work. This area was then known as the” Indian Territory” which took up most of Oklahoma. If they didn’t move the government then forced them to move. The president then sent Winfield Scott and he was commanding over 7,000 soldiers that forced them out of their homes. In the end, Congress decided to create a national trail for the Trail of Tears. This was to honor the Native Americans that had died and struggled because they were forced to move. This was an attempt to try to make amends for a past that most people try to forget.

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There were many things that happened to contribute to the event that changed the outcome of what decided the fate of the Native that lived here. People figured out that there was gold and how fertile and abundant the land was that they were living in. People then went to Andrew Jackson saying that it was their right to expand west because of manifest destiny. People also wanted them gone because they were scared of the Natives. This was because the tribes became more civilized and they did not want them to steal their jobs and money. They also wanted to sell the land they were living off of. This was because the land they were living on was really valuable. Some people sold the land for a lot of profit and money since no one owned the land after. There also was a gold rush in Georgia and many people wanted the Natives off. “In 1829 a gold rush occurred on Cherokee land in Georgia” (Britannica).

After this, there were many effects that have happened during this period. After the Seminoles figured out what was happening they were not happy. They wanted to rebel and decided. “The Seminole resistance in Florida was more formidable, resulting in a war that began under Chief Osceola and lasted into the 1840’s”(U.S.). Then the Cherokee had a big problem and were in a big predicament. A group of Cherokee wanted to sell their land and the other group wanted to keep it. In the end, the group that wanted to sell ended up going behind the backs of the others and ended up selling the land. The Cherokee went to the supreme court and wanted to get it back. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that they had already sold the land. This was just a few of the atrocities that our nation has committed.

This was just a brief overview of the terrible things our ancestors did that changed the lives of many Native American families. In the end, we tried to created amends by creating a reservation. This wasn’t even close enough to the sorry that they needed. This is because most of the people that we named Indians because we thought we were above them died on the trail. They were slaughtered unrighteously and unfairly. This wiped out most of the original Native American population and a race that can never truly be revived.

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