Cherokee History and Culture
For a thousand years, the Cherokee inhabited a land that encompassed Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In this area they lived in over 50 small towns where they grew crops, hunted, and made war.
Adoption of Anglo-American Culture
By the early 19th century, the Cherokee began to adopt aspects of Anglo-American culture and society. Despite this, the Cherokee still retained a sense of their homelands and tribal integrity.
Reasons for Cherokee Removal
In the late 1820s and early 1830s, President Andrew Jackson sought to remove the Cherokee from their homelands. This policy was driven by a number of political, economic, and ideological factors. First, the federal government needed land for agriculture. Second, it wanted to protect Indian land and culture from rapacious white settlers. Third, it was motivated by a desire to "civilize" Native Americans and put American expansion and Indian dispossession on firmer moral ground.
Cherokee Governance
The Cherokees had a national territory consisting of more than ten million acres. They were governed by a council of elders and religious leaders.
Treaty of New Echota and Cherokee Removal
A small faction of Cherokee leaders agreed to sign a removal agreement in 1833 called the Treaty of New Echota, which was ratified by the U.S. Senate in May of 1836. As a result of the Treaty of New Echota, the Cherokees were forced to relocate to the west. This move was known as Cherokee Removal and it is considered one of the most traumatic experiences for Native Americans.
Opposition and Resistance
Many Cherokees were upset by the relocation plan, and a few tried to resist it. Some formed a group in the Cherokee nation called the Treaty Party, led by longtime Cherokee political leader Major Ridge. They thought a new treaty would at least compensate them for their lands. Others feared that removal would destroy their tribe. These leaders decided to organize the Treaty Party in October 1832 and presented a resolution to the Cherokee National Council calling for a new treaty.
Divisions and Consequences
While the majority of Cherokees opposed a new treaty accepting cessions of their land, Ridge, Ross, and their supporters felt that a treaty would at least protect the tribe's lands from further trespass by white settlers. The Cherokees feared a recurrence of the influx of white settlers into their lands and were afraid that they could lose their culture and their identity if they did not emigrate. By the end of the year, the Cherokees had divided into two camps: those who opposed a new treaty accepting cessions and those who supported a new treaty in favor of removing them from their homelands.
Trail of Tears
As a result of the split, a large amount of money was spent by both parties to promote removal. As a result, some of the most powerful people in the Cherokee Nation were removed from their homelands and relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. While the United States promised to provide the Cherokees with a new home and help them acclimate, they were not given much time or money to prepare for relocation. As a result, the Trail of Tears became a death march, and thousands died or were killed along the way.
