“Land, Growth, and Justice: The Removal of the Cherokees” (Chapter 6) in William Bruce Wheeler and Susan Becker, Discovering the American Past: A Look at the Evidence.

[Author’s name] [Professor’s name] [Institution’s name] [Date] Land, Growth, and Justice: The Removal of the Cherokees In 1838-39 U.S. troops, ordered by the state of Georgia, expelled the Cherokees from their hereditary motherland in the Southeast and removed them to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The demand for arable land during the rapid growth in the southeast led to the removal of the Cherokees along with the discovery of gold on Cherokee land. Of course, the racial prejudice that many white southerners harboured toward American Indians was as always. Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). Perhaps the most controversial element of Jackson's presidency was his strategy regarding Cherokees, which involved the ethnic cleansing of several Indian tribes. Jackson was a great supporter of a policy known as Indian removal. Removal of Cherokees was also known as the ‘trail of tears’ was one of the saddest events in the history of United States, whereby thousands of Cherokees were legally evicted from Georgia and were forced to march across the nation in search of a new home. Many tribes and portions of tribes had been removed to Arkansas Territory and further west of the Mississippi River and they suffered great losses and it was a major tragedy. So I believe that they should not have been expelled and the following argument approves it. (Wheeler & Becker. Pp. 55-68). The Cherokee government had maintained that they were a separate nation and not under the control of American government. Strong evidence is provided by the Treaty of Hopewell (1785), which established legitimate borders between the United States and the Cherokee Nation, offered the Cherokees the right to send a "deputy" to Congress, and made white settlers in Cherokee territory subject to Cherokee law. They were not really as barbaric and savage as they were usually portrayed by the general American population, in fact they had adopted very European ideology, traditions and customs. However, discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia; which had caused a major frenzy throughout the nation and many people started to trespass into Cherokee territory. This was the first ‘Gold rush’ in U.S history and had put significant amount of pressure on authorities to drive the Cherokee out. Jackson had a very controversial role by advocating Indian removal from the region and negotiating eviction treaties. He used the various disputes over land and other regions in order to coerce the Cherokees to move down to the western area of the Mississippi River. The principal chief, John Ross, tried to protect the Cherokee territory by political means. Ross joined Charles Hicks and Mayor Ridge in the "Cherokee Triumvirate" and received recognition for his efforts in negotiating the Treaty of 1819. He then continued his work by making legal moves for the Cherokees as president of the constitutional convention. In 1825 New Echota, the Cherokee capital was established near present-day Calhoun, Georgia. The Cherokee National Council advised the United States that it would refuse future cession requests and enacted a law prohibiting the sale of national land upon penalty of death. In 1827 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution, an act that further antagonized removal proponents in Georgia. Basically, John Ross ensured that there was no legal method by which they were ousted. New legislation in Georgia had given the authority to the government to expand their domain in to Cherokee territories tat further placed great pressures on Cherokee Indians to relocate. (Wheeler & Becker. 65). In 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by the American Congress. Even though, most Americans had publicly declared their disapproval of the act and amongst them, the most notable individual to oppose to t...