The Trail Of Tears Essay Example
The Trail Of Tears Essay Example

The Trail Of Tears Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 6 (1415 words)
  • Published: March 29, 2022
View Entire Sample
Text preview

The trail of tears refers to the long distance walk by the native America to the designated Indian territory where they were to work on the white settlers farms who wanted grow cotton. This journey was considered trail of tears as it was long and very dangerous as it was crossing the Mississippi river.

The Cherokee were extensive and capable tribe that at first moved from the Great Lakes area toward the southern parts of the Appalachian Mountain as they live over the present conditions of western north and South Carolina, northern Alabama, Mississippi, northern Georgia and south West Virginia among others.

The Cherokee group spoke in their own native language of the Iroquin language different from the other civilized groups who were speaking in Muskogean language. The name Cherokee is a Greek word referring to the people of different speech. The

...

y called themselves the Aniyunwiya that translates to principle people. Other also referred to the Cherokee people as the Tsalagi which was referring to them as the cave people. They were later called the mountain people. They divided themselves in settlements around the areas of Tennessee and savannah rivers and were either Elati Tsalagi, meaning the Cherokee in plains or the Atali Tsalagi refereeing to the Cherokee in the mountains. Dickens (1976)

Their way of life

The Cherokee tribe contrasted from the other Five Civilized Tribes both in their dialect and the antiquated history. They began in the North and persistently moved southwards making settlements in the locale that were once claimed by the general population of the Mississippi culture of hill manufacturers. They choose to expect their way of life as the tribes of the southern eas

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

locale. The made an extensive number of invigorated towns including 30-80 wattle and the smear houses together fitted with a major meeting house.

The general population of Cherokee was both seekers and agriculturists. They developed the three sister's yield of corn at present known as maize, they likewise planted beans and squash and they would observe The Green Corn Festival. They trust that European conveyed the obscure disease and war to them. The European likewise brought numerous new thoughts and the Cherokee at last received the style of dressing from the America furthermore changed to the log lodge lodging styles. In the year 1821, George Gist designed their letters in order as he utilized images to speak to letters. They were expelled by the Indians with their Indian Removal Act of the 1830.The Cherokee customs were quite simple and modernized. They resembled the Iroquois; they had divisions of power among the men and women. The men were to do the hunting, war and the diplomacy. The Cherokee women were expected to do the farming, care for the properties and the family matters. It was the work of the men to make political decision for their tribe as women were charged with decision on the clan matters. The chief’s positions were left for the men as women were the land owners even though both genders were concerned with artwork, music, traditional medicine and storytelling.

The Cherokee tribe, considered Earth a level plate suspended between the planes of a higher world and an underworld. On the higher plane, both creature and human spirits viewed over those on Earth. This shows the importance Cherokee most profound sense of being spots

on creatures, including owls. As indicated by Cherokee convictions, owls and different creatures forces wise spirits and should exist nearby individuals in an agreeable and adjusted mold.
Cultural struggle

The removal of the Cherokee community took place between the years 1838-1839 when the U.S. troops as was prompted by the state under George, removed the Cherokee from their original homeland as they are pushed to India territory which is currently known as Oklahoma. It was as a result of the demand for the arable land which was as result of the increased demand for land for the cotton growing in the Sothern east , the discovery of the gold in the Cherokee land and the racial problem that exist between the white and the American Indians.

The cultural assimilation of the Cherokee people was as a result of the effort put by the America to transform the native America tradition to the system of the European -America culture in the year 1790-1920. It was a suggestion by George Washington and Henry. They organized a policy that to motivated the civilization process. It was seen as the only way to make the native America civilized as they practice standard sets culture as by the majority citizens. This process was seen as the only way to protect the minority as they would learn on their own to do things the better way. The America thought of it as a means to merge the large tribes to form one culture so as to have a peaceful society. After the Indian war, the government then outlawed the traditional ceremonies, and then introduced the native America schools where learners were using the English

as their mode of speaking and learning.

During the year 1887, there was the Dawes Act of 1887; it introduced the land allotment which was meant to change the Cherokee community into America citizens. They were to hand in their lands and then be given citizenship. Through this procedure, the Cherokee became the America citizens as the government also managed to collect about 93 million of acres. After this, the homeland land was introduced in 1924 that gave full citizenship to the Cherokee and they were allowed to own their homes as well. Woodward,( 1963)

The Cherokee alliance with French was as a result of the conflict between the British forces and the North America as well as he war between the French and the India. The Cherokee had been allies with British but there was a miss trust that one team will betray the other. In the year 1750s, the tension increased between the British- America settlers increasing the hostility of the Cherokee. In the year 1759, the union between the two started as the Cherokee were settled in the Chatuga. It was one of the alliances of Muscogee. The alliance had to wait until the day of the Dragging Canoe after the French and India war as stated by Dickens, Roy in his book ‘Cherokee prehistory’
A nation divided

The mixed blood in the Cherokee is one of the mixed European and the fellow native America as they share the ancestry. They become mixed blood as the descendants of the fur traders and the native America women who were in the north frontier. The fur traders were considered as men of social standings as they continue making

relations as they move around giving birth with chief's daughters to consolidate their relationships. The fur traders formed the upper tiers in the community and thus the Cherokee people worked under them.

The changes that occurred were as a result of civilization that the America considered vital for the survival of the small native communities against the rule of India. The Cherokee were given education with the fellow five other groups. They accepted education and was considered one of the civilized groups with the bright people who were able inventing their alphabetical letters for their people to write and read. (King, 78-79)

In their old ways, the Cherokee people were hunters and farmers who lived in the mountains and plains. They were two groups that were on the mountain and those on the plains. They believed in traditional ways of religion with much respect given to some animals like the owl.

Conclusion

It is clear indication that the Cherokee people and the other groups struggled for survival in the hands of the colonial masters of the time. From the book, the Cherokee people are considered talented individuals with a capacity of understanding. Their system of division of duties indicates that they lived as the modern people during that time.

Works cited

  1. Woodward, Grace Steele. “The Cherokees”. Vol. 65. Norman: U of Oklahoma, 1963. Print. The Civilization of American Indian.
  2. Dickens, Roy S. “Cherokee Prehistory: The Pisgah Phase in the Appalachian Summit Region”. Knoxville: U of Tennessee, 1976. Print.
  3. Filler, Louis, and Allen Guttmann. The Removal of the Cherokee Nation: Manifest Destiny or National Dishonor? Huntington, NY: R.E. Krieger Pub., 1977. Print.
  4. King, Duane H. The Cherokee Indian Nation: A Troubled

History. Knoxville: U of Tennessee, 1979. Print.

  • Gaines, W. Craig. The Confederate Cherokees: John Drew's Regiment of Mounted Rifles. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1989. Print.
  • Get an explanation on any task
    Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
    New