Trail of Tears

[Alucard]

Its not often that i really talk about anything with significance and or meaning on here, but I've been really thinking about my heritage and my spiritual path and how some people really don't stop to think about certain historic events. I'm going to talk about one in particular
"The Trail of Tears" being a descendant form the Cherokee and Blackfoot tribes I've tried to follow my guide and my heart as much as possible and make myself better when ever i am faced with a choice. knowing some of the history of my tribes gives me strength each day, only when we can accept ones differences and embrace all people as our brothers and sisters can we ever have peace.

Any way enough about me, Here's a little history about the "Trail of Tears."
In 1830 the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law. the Cherokee tried desperately to appeal to the courts,but to no avail they would not here the case because the Cherokee tribe did not represent a sovereign nation.

In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worcester v. Georgia. In this case Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign, making the removal laws invalid. The Cherokee would have to agree to removal in a treaty. The treaty then would have to be ratified by the Senate.

The Treaty of New Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, gave Jackson the legal document he needed to remove the First Americans. Ratification of the treaty by the United States Senate sealed the fate of the Cherokee.

In 1838 the United States began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. Ordered to move on the Cherokee, General John Wool resigned his command in protest, delaying the action. His replacement, General Winfield Scott, arrived at New Echota on May 17, 1838 with 7000 men. Early that summer General Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation.

In something that can only be described as heart wrenching and cruel, men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles. About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny").

And so a country formed fifty years earlier on the premise "...that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.." destroyed and killed for nothing more then the right to say the U.S owns this land and could have potentially wiped out a culture that had done no wrong.

Please if you choose to respond to this use either the tribes name or the term American Indian, It is a symbol of survival and respect for the First Nations of America and Freedom for all Her Peoples, because anyone born in this country is a NATIVE AMERICAN.

[AREA666]

This is a hard thing to reply to and I have been thinking on what all to try and say. It is good you bring something like this up since in general Americans don't seem to think we have done anything bad in our past or they just try to sweep it under the rug so to say. What was done we had no right to do and should be thought of in the same light as how Hitler treated the Jews. As you had said, only 50 years before we broke a part of the Declaration Of Independence. And at that it is the first line. We tend to hold ourselves in such a high level of respect that we forget about things like this.

Then in a vain attempt to remedy some acts commited the government gives reservations to the tribes. Land that was originally theirs and we give the parts we dont want since they tend to be the worst areas (I dont know if that is correct for all states but it seemed that was in Arizona). When I lived in Arizona I got to go through some of the Navajo areas since one of my friends from the Marines was from there. I never would see a large city or really any areas for income for the tribes other then the occasional casino, but casinos are kind of being stereotypical.

Just a little thought on it. Hard to word too since when I say "we" I would mean the government and Americans and not the American Indians.

[Alucard]

I appreciate Your response and I'm happy that this made you think and even happier that it was hard for you to respond too. It was very hard to write and honestly it hurt to a degree. its a topic that most people don't really cover in school if at all.

In further research I was doing I found out that the 4000 + Cherokee people that died was out of 16,000 and that the majority of them were Children and older members of the tribe. Thats also not including the amount that died after the move from small pox and various other diseases.


After the signing of the treaty, many Cherokee saw their land and property sold before their own eyes. The "fertile lands, alive with game, lush with forests" turned out to be bone-dry and covered in alkali pits, and a strange black ooze that stank and caught fire easily. Blistering hot in the summer, freezing in the winter, this land was still their own. And then the whites decided they needed more land. Again, pressure was brought to bear on the Choctaw. By this time the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Cree, Kickapoo, Seminole, Wyandotte, Lenapi, Mohawk, and others whose names you would not recognize, had their reservations shrunk around them.(Do not forget for a moment that in this treaty, the Choctaw traded 10.3 million acres of land east of the Mississippi for 5 million dollars and 7 million acres in Oklahoma and Arkansas that they already owned under previous treaties) Further, it included provisions and monetary annuities, to assist the people to make a new start.
The final blow came when the white decided he needed the black ooze and again the process accelerated.

One half of the people were to depart almost immediately, the rest the next year. The "conveyances" promised turn out to be a forced march. At Gun point, the pace killed many of the old, exposure and bad food killed most. Many of the old and the children died on the road. At each allowed stop, the dead were buried.What supplies were given had been rejected by the whites. Rotten beef and vegetables are poor provisions, even for the idle. Many walked the entire distance without shoes, barely clothed.

Heres a direct Quote from the Treaty of New Enchota
(The United States also agree and stipulate to remove the Cherokees to their new homes and to subsist them one year after their arrival there and that a sufficient number of steamboats and baggage-wagons shall be furnished to remove them comfortably, and so as not to endanger their health, and that a physician well supplied with medicines shall accompany each detachment of emigrants removed by the Government. Such persons and families as in the opinion of the emigrating agent are capable of subsisting and removing themselves shall be permitted to do so)

This cannot directly blamed on the government, nearly all of this was done by unscrupulous men, interested only in maximizing their profits. They government's fault lies in not being watchful of those taken into their charge.

I read an article which quotes a general who was in charge of caring for the Cherokee and he said "I wont be happy until we kill them all, some of my men are trying to expedite the process by giving the savages infected blankets, so if the walk doesn't kill them the small pox will."

Some managed to escape after much harsh treatment. They took refuge in the hills, the swamps, and other places too inhospitable for the whites. Even as this occurred, those in charge reported their "peaceful progress" to Congress, who looked no further.

After being abused and watching families die or even their own children, parents and siblings pass away just to be tossed aside like garbage. the government once again stepped in and told the Cherokee that the 5 million they were promised for their land a portion of which was to be spent as follows (another direct quote form the treaty):
The President of the United States shall invest in some safe and most productive public stocks of the country for the benefit of the whole Cherokee nation. The sum of two hundred thousand dollars in addition to the present annuities of the nation to constitute a general fund the interest of which shall be applied annually by the council of the nation to such purposes as they may deem best for the general interest of their people. The sum of fifty thousand dollars to constitute an orphans' fund the annual income of which shall be expended to wards the support and education of such orphan children as are destitute of the means of subsistence. The sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in addition to the present school fund of the nation shall constitute a permanent school fund. The President of the United States shall make a report of the application of those funds and he shall at all times have the right if the funds have been misapplied to correct any abuses of them and direct the manner of their application for the purposes for which they were intended. The council of the nation may by giving two years' notice of their intention withdraw their funds by and with the consent of the President and Senate of the United States, and invest them in such manner as they may deem most proper for their interest. further more there as also a payment of 60 thousand dollars to just debts owed by the Cherokee. and another 3 hundred thousand dollars for the liquidation of the just claims of the Cherokees by the United States for spoliations of every kind, that have not been already satisfied under former treaties.

The altruistic government, in love and charity removed many of the young to "boarding schools" where they were "civilized," which meant being given white names, speaking only English, and being forbidden to worship their "pagan" gods. To this day most Indians, even full-bloods, are not fluent in their own mother-tongues.


This sickens me to a degree that i can not even describe, but it also rips my heart in two just to read this and type it out. even now tears swell in my eyes thinking about the pain my people had to go through.

more later...