On the Removal of the Cherokee In the first half of the 1800s, the United States was experiencing tremendous growth. Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase and acquisition of the Texas, California, and Oregon areas helped expand the United States into a nation that spanned the continent from "sea to shining sea." This massive expansion, however, did not occur peacefully. Of particular difficulty were the five civilized Native American tribes of the Southeast. The most civilized of these tribes, known as the Cherokee, had westernized to the point of having an elected government, a written constitution, and a written language. They had their own towns and shops and even owned slaves. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In 1839, most of the Cherokee tribe was relocated to designated Indian territories west of the Mississippi River in accordance with the Treaty of New Echota, in what became known as the “Trail of Tears” period. This essay will investigate the context and justification behind the federal Indian removal policy, particularly as it pertains to the Cherokee Indians, and the validity of this argument by examining the history of the Cherokee Tribe and its relationships with state and federal governments. After the colonization of the eastern coastal areas of what would become the United States, the Native American population in these areas began to be pushed inland by newcomers. European settlers used a variety of techniques to displace the Indians, with hostile takeovers and treaties being favorites. The Cherokee were no exception. V. O. King notes that between 1785 and 1866, the Cherokee "made thirty-five treaties with the United States, by which they ceded fifty-six thousand square miles of territory." This was due to a strategy developed by President Thomas Jefferson who as early as 1803 "suggested exchanging with the Indians their lands east of the Mississippi for equal areas to the west, included in the Louisiana Purchase." In the years following the American Revolution, Americans began pushing westward with renewed vigor. This westward movement was stimulated both by the availability of cheap land through the government's sell-off of public lands and by the feeling of manifest destiny. The first obstacle to this westward movement were the Native American tribes that had lived on this land for centuries. Friction between the newcomers and the Indians led to small-scale wars started by both sides. The Cherokee had suffered badly during the Revolutionary War because of their loyalty to the British crown. To show their support, they attacked various American forts in the South in the 1770s. These military actions by the Cherokee were repelled and led to counterattacks by the American military. As a result, “the power of the Cherokee was broken, crops and villages were destroyed, and the warriors scattered.” After the war the Cherokee no longer had any military power and therefore the option of armed resistance against the colonists' invasion was not feasible. The new American government had to decide what to do with the Indian problem. In reality there were only three choices: annihilation, Westernization or removal. The first choice was discarded for various reasons. Westernization of the Indians became one of the first alternatives advocated by George Washington who sought to integrate them into American society. William McLoughlin comments that “Americans wanted two things from the Indians: peace and land.” He goes on to note that the president's planWashington, presented to Congress in 1789, was based on the idea “that the Indians could and should be civilized to the point of becoming 'incorporated' or integrated as citizens with equal rights.” Thus began the Cherokee movement toward Westernization. Due to the continued loss of Indian lands, the Cherokees found that hunting was becoming increasingly difficult and thus their need for meat became great. Following Washington's policy, the chief federal Indian agent among the Cherokee, a man named Dinsmoor, began giving aid to the tribe. Mcloughlin notes that Dinsmoor helped “persuade the Creeks and Cherokees to abandon hunting and take up farming,” which was not difficult given the tribes' continued lack of hunting as a source of food. Dinsmoor then proceeded to distribute "plows, spinning wheels, cotton papers, and looms at government expense and employed white women to teach spinning and weaving to Indian women." tribe that ushered them into a society that would have many of the same attributes as their American neighbors. The Cherokee eventually overcame their traditional idea that agriculture was women's work and adopted it on a large scale. The Cherokee also began to possess light textile manufacturing resources. Some Cherokees even became richer than their American counterparts through their own business ventures. In 1821, a Cherokee leader named Sequoyah developed a written language for the Cherokee people based on their language. This made the Cherokee tribe the only North American Indian tribe in history to have a written language. The tribe caught on quickly and within just a week of learning it, people could use it to convey information perfectly. Mcloughlin notes that "Sequoyah's invention provided a new means of self-expression among the Cherokee." By 1825, most Cherokees could read and write in their native language. Sequoyah's advancement also helped promote further advancements in Western style. In 1828, Cherokees in New Echota founded the first Native American newspaper called the Cherokee Phoenix. The newspaper was distributed in both the English and Cherokee languages. Another major milestone in the movement of the Cherokee into Western society was the translation of the Bible into the Cherokee language by the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix named Boudinot. Mcloughlin comments that these advances helped the Cherokee cross the “great dividing line between a primitive (pre-literate) and a civilized (literate) society.” Mary Young comments that by 1830, through Washington's Westernization plan, "the Cherokee had schools, churches, plantations, slaves, and a written language, a newspaper, and a constitution." By all accounts, Washington's plan to Westernize the Indians was at least demonstrated possible by the example of the developing Cherokee tribe. Danial Howe notes that in an official report on the nation's Indian tribes to the U.S. government, Jedidiah Morse reported that the five civilized tribes were "progressing economically and educationally and advised to leave them alone." His report was published in 1822 but did little to affect the hostile sentiments directed toward the various Indian tribes by their white neighbors. “The white settlers bitterly resented the presence of the natives; in addition to occupying good cotton-growing lands, they traded with free blacks and sometimes provided refuge for runaway slaves. One of the uses to which the report was put was to invalidate the main justification for removal prevalent at the time. “In the past, whites justified the occupation of Aboriginal lands on the grounds that Indians were not making full use of them.” Eliminatedthis justification, advocates of Indian removal moved toward legal deposition of Indians without concern for any kind of justification. Greed for land and resources, as well as general racism, governed most people's thoughts whenever the removal of Indians was discussed. There were many motivations for carrying out the removal of Indians by whites. A major cause of this motivation was that of Manifest Destiny, the sense that God had ordained a new and expansive nation to expand from coast to coast. This idea was shared by many Americans at the time and thus helped smooth out any little pockets of resistance to the idea of ​​Indian removal. Another major motivation for implementing the removal was the immense growth the cotton industry was experiencing at this time. Advances in cotton production such as Cotton Gin, as well as the existence of a growing global demand for the product, have contributed to the industry's boom. Prucha notes the “seemingly endless demand for cotton to power new mills in England and the North East” as an indication of this growth. It was becoming increasingly profitable to grow cotton using slave labor. Plantation owners, as well as others, avidly eyed the land occupied by the Cherokee Indians as perfect for growing cotton. Perhaps the biggest motivation came with the discovery of gold in the Georgian mountains in 1828 and the subsequent "gold rush" in 1829. The only problem was the fact that most of the gold was discovered on the tribe's land Cherokee. This obstacle hasn't stopped the flow of fortune seekers trying to make it big. They didn't take into account the fact that they were trespassing and went to work. With Americans pouring into Cherokee land, the Georgia state government was under intense pressure to remove their Indians altogether. Howe comments that “at times, during the Georgia Gold Rush, neither the Cherokee Nation, state authorities, nor the federal government could enforce law and order.” The situation was chaotic with tens of thousands of lawless miners in the area. The state of Georgia had long coveted lands owned by the various Indian tribes living within its borders. As early as 1802 the State of Georgia realized that it would be a legal nightmare to try to remove the Indian tribes themselves. The state government's solution was to strike a deal with the federal government. In effect, Georgia renounced its claims to the area that is now part of Alabama and Mississippi. In exchange for this, the federal government promised the final renunciation of all Indian land titles in the state of Georgia. This became known as the Compact of 1802. By the late 1820s, Georgia was increasingly concerned that the federal government would not keep its promise. As pressure mounted and demand for Indian-held lands increased, the state of Georgia “accused the federal government of bad faith for failing to uphold its end of the bargain.” Georgia threatened the federal government that if they did not honor the compact, they would extend state law to all Indians and that is exactly what they did. Prucha observes that “the state has taken the law into its own hands. His course of action was to extend the state's authority and its laws onto Cherokee lands, effectively withdrawing Cherokee territory from Indian country status, bringing the lands under Georgia's control. This action began a major legal battle to address the issue of the sovereignty of the Indian nation. In the1785, the United States government signed a treaty with the Cherokee Nation. This treaty, known as the Treaty of Hopewell, defined the boundary of the Indian Nation and recognized the right of Indian law to everything within the nation so that if an American citizen committed a crime within the nation "such person shall lose his protection of its territory". United States, and the Indians may or may not punish him as they please” Ironically the treaty goes on to state that “The hatchet shall be forever buried, and peace given by the United States and friendship re-established between the aforesaid states on the date of one side, and all Cherokees on the other, will be universal.” Also of interest is the fact that the treaty confirms the right of the American government to regulate trade with the Indians and that the Indians existed “under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other sovereign.” Problems arose for the state of Georgia when the Cherokee Nation decided to take a case to the U.S. Supreme Court, after attempting to ask Congress for help and the president went unanswered, to challenge the loss of law on their territory. They hired, arguably, two of the best constitutional lawyers in the nation, John Sergeant and William Wirt. Wirt "had been attorney general under Monroe and Adams." The lawyers "sought an injunction against Georgia's invasion of Indian Territory in violation of the tribe's treaty rights." They argued that Georgia law was invalid since the Cherokee Nation was a sovereign nation under its own jurisdiction and only the United States government had any kind of power over them. This would also be the basis for taking the case to the Supreme Court which has jurisdiction in matters between states and other nations. Wirt also highlighted the various treaties made between the federal government and the Cherokees and how they demonstrated the sovereignty of the Indian nation. The case now known as Cherokee v. Georgia was an abject failure. “The justices voted 4 to 2 to sidestep the issue.” Their reasoning was summed up by Chief Justice John Marshal when he explained that the Cherokee were not really a sovereign nation but more of a “country-dependent nation.” Therefore, without sovereignty, the Cherokee could not bring cases to the Supreme Court because the court would have no jurisdiction over the matter. After the Cherokee v. Georgia case was dismissed, the state of Georgia was quick to test its new power. of jurisdiction when they convicted a man named Corn Tassel of a murder committed within the Cherokee Nation. Before his punishment could be carried out, the Supreme Court “called for arguments on appeal.” The state of Georgia blatantly ignored the Supreme Court and carried out a death sentence on Tassel. The Supreme Court has done nothing to punish this disobedience. Howe speculates that this occurred because of a recent movement to repeal the Supreme Court's ability to hear appeals from state courts. “Although rejected, the bill appears to have intimidated the Court, as it took no action regarding the contumacious behavior of Georgia authorities.” After the state of Georgia assumed control over the Cherokee Nation, the state decided to flex its muscles a little. After the Revolutionary War there was a wave of religious missionaries moving into the Indian territories. These missionaries founded schools and churches and ministered to the local Indian population. They taught children to read and taught them the ideals of the Christian faith. Missionaries were sometimes even sponsored by the US government in an effort to aid in the fight forthe westernization of the Indians mentioned earlier. The state of Georgia did not like to see missionaries with the Indians because the state knew that “Christian missionaries were among the most effective opponents of removal. A Westernized Indian tribe would be nearly impossible to eliminate. Therefore, the state of Georgia “decided to interrupt this educational process and expel the missionaries.” He did this with a state law in 1831 that stated that no white man could live in Indian Territory without a license. Another problem arose for the state of Georgia when two Christian missionaries, named Samuel Worcester and Elizur Butler, refused to leave the Cherokee Nation and were arrested by Georgia state authorities because they were not licensed under the new state law. This event finally brought the case of Indian sovereignty to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Worcester v. Georgia. The court ruled in favor of the Indian tribe. John Marshal expressed the court's opinion when he "declared the extension of state law to Cherokee lands unconstitutional." Despite this being a monumental decision, the State of Georgia refused to accept the ruling because the state had "consistently denied the Court's right to hear the case." With the Supreme Court ruling effectively ignored, the only federal authority that could have influenced the release of the two missionaries was President Jackson. Jackson, however, was completely against the idea of ​​Indian sovereignty and refused to act on the matter. He is believed to have said "John Marshall has made his decision: now let him enforce it!". Therefore, although the decision was a great victory for the Cherokee, it was effectively undone by the state's refusal to implement the ruling. The situation was finally defused when Georgia released the missionaries and repealed the part of the law that outlawed whites within Indian Territory. The state continued to assert its right to Cherokee law. Finally, the way was paved for the complete elimination of the Cherokee Indians. Both the Jackson administration and the State of Georgia were strong supporters of the idea of ​​total removal. The unofficial justification for India's total removal was that it was a humanitarian action by a benevolent nation. The idea was that, faced with an increasingly advanced and hostile Western population, the only way the Indians could maintain their culture and autonomy was to simply get out of the way. Jackson demonstrated this principle in a speech to Congress when he said that to save "the red man" from this "or perhaps from total annihilation, the General Government graciously offers him a new home and proposes to pay the entire expense of its transfer and settlement". .”Although a good majority of the US population supported the deportation of the Indians based on the above argument, they nevertheless supported the rights of the Indians. John Ehle notes that over “six thousand people signed a petition to Congress supporting the Cherokee cause.” The general population was, for the most part, against the involuntary removal of the Indians. To establish legal precedence for removal, President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act allowed for the voluntary, compensated removal of Indian tribes holding land in the East to special territories west of the Mississippi River at government expense of the United States. The Cherokee Nation withstood the overwhelming pressure against them and continued to hold their ground as best they could. Eventually, however, the tribe split into two distinct groups under this..