Trail of Tears - Very Unnecessary Injust Event

Even after the Native American people showed they were not a threat, adopted the ways of the settlers, and became civilized, Andrew Jackson and his men decide to pursue the Trail of Tears and unjustly remove the Native Americans from their homes and destroy their peaceful people and culture.

The Trail of tears was not fair for the Native American tribes. The Native American Tribes were thriving with no issues in the southeastern states, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia (Bowes). There were 5 civilised tribes, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Chickasaw, and the Creed. The Native Americans didn’t have any problems, they were just living life until Andrew Jackson got involved. Andrew Jackson thought that the Native Americans were savages and had no rights to their land, he thought the native americans were living off the rich mining material (Denson). Andrew Jackson thought that the Native Americans were not good enough to be living in the mineral populated land so he decided to create a agreement with them. Andrew Jackson created the New Echota Agreement or The Treaty of New Echota, it was signed in 1838, ceding all Native American land for $5.6 million (Berlatsky). Andrew Jackson thought it was a good idea to remove the Native Americans from their land in exchange for money, most of the Native Americans did not agree to the Treaty of New Echota. Any Native American who refused to accept the agreement was held in a concentration camp for multiple days (Sherfy). In the spring of 1838, the US rounded up 15,000 Native Americans in 25 days (Denson). Once Andrew Jackson and his men were able to hold or kill all the Native Americans who did not accept the Act he sent them on a 2,200 mile walk from Tennessee and Georgia all the way to Oklahoma, many of the Native Americans tried to rebel but nothing was successful. On the trail the Native Americans were only allowed to bring 600 wagons, 5,000 horses, and 100 Oxen (Denson). All that might seem like it was a lot, but out of the 4,000 Native Americans that was barely anything for all of them.

Along the trail, many of the Native Americans passed away. The Native Americans were forced to walk 2,200 miles along the Mississippi river (Denson). The Native Americans were organized into group of about 1,000 people for the journey on the Trail (Berlatsky). Most of the native Americans had to travel it all on foot and it took about 2 whole years to complete the whole journey. Out of the 15,000 Native Americans who begun the Journey, only about 4,000 perished along the route (Bowes). Along the way many of the Native Americans died due to, lack of resources or just because of how long the whole journey was. The U.S. soldiers did not allow any of the Native Americans to take extra clothing, food or blankets for the Journey (Bowes). This can lead back to one of the reasons so many of the Native Americans died, they were limited on how much resources they could bring by the government. The Fatal diseases that killed the Native Americans were, Smallpox, Malaria, Cholera, and Pneumonia and much more (Berlatsky). All of these diseases were very fatal and common for anyone to get, there was no suitable shelter or sanitation, the camps were infested with disease and the water was polluted, and there was no cure for any of these and no medicines or doctors on the trail. Finally in April the Native Americans arrived in Oklahoma, out of the 15,000 that started on the trail, only 4,000 were still alive (Bowes). The Native Americans set up a new camp and that’s where they stayed for the remainder of the time.

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