Cherokee Indains Essay Research Paper The Indians

Cherokee Indains Essay, Research Paper

The Indians had many little confrontations with the white settlers and the white government. The Indians didn.t always get along with the white people. Even though the Cherokee Indians were a very peaceful tribe they had wars with the whites. All the wars that the Indians went through they lost land or something valuable to them like faith, homes, life styles and sometimes their life. The first major war with the white people the war between 1775 and 1795.( Fremon, Page 17) They lost all of the land which is now Tennessee. The Indians didn.t fight like the white traditional ways of fighting. They used a way of fight call guerrilla warfare of in other words hit and run. Since this war lasted for about twenty years there was a lot deaths. Many people called the Indians savages but in most ways they were more civilized than the whites. Many whites would sneak into the Indians. camps and scalped them.(Fremon page 17) Whites would kill women and children for not getting gold or valuables quick enough. When the war broke out between the French and the British the Cherokee Indians decided the help the British. They were afraid that if the French would beat the British then the white settlers would take more and more land (Brill page 18) There were many Indian tribes that helped the French. When some of the Cherokee Indians rode though Virginia, some white settlers thought that they were going to help the French. They attacked the Indians and kill twenty-five Indians. The rest of the warriors fought back and scalped many Virginians. They also burned houses, destroyed fields and stole horses and guns.( Brill page 19) This was very uncharacteristic of the Cherokee tribe but the Indians had enough of the white man.

The white man has done many things the change the life style of the Cherokee people. The act that changed the lifestyle the most was the Indian Removal Act. This act was passed in the U.S. supreme court in 1849. This act affected the Cherokee nation in many ways. Their land in Georgia was cut up into 160 acre lots. Any Indian had to move if the whites wanted their land. Most had to leave right away.(Fremon page 59-60) The Indians lost their homeland but they also lost a lot of money in gold. They lost 16.5 million dollar in gold. This deposits was found in 1830 in Georgia.(Fremon page 56-58) The Indian people viewed this act in many different ways. One of the most respected men in the Indian nation was Chief Old Tassel. He said ” if we have no land we should have fewer enemies.” (Fremon page 17) Chief Old Tassel had the right idea but it just didn.t work over the greed of the white man. The white man wanted more and more. There were many times of the Cherokee people tried to end the Indian Removal Act. The main leader of the Cherokees was a guy named Jon Ross.(Brill page 19) He led many groups to the Supreme court to try to get the government to reverse their decision. Ross and many other leaders felt that they were forced to sign the treaty that said that they had to go out west. The printer of the Cherokee paper The Phoenix was sent to prison because we was speaking out against the U.S. government. Even though it is okay if the white people speak out against the government because it is part of Constitution and it.s their right. The U.S. government didn.t consider the Indians citizens of the U.S. but they felt they had a right to control them through taxes and laws that the Indians had no control over. Most of the Cherokee Indians didn.t understand what was happening. They felt that the land was every one.s to share and to live on together. Ross and others just felt like the act was just wrong. Ross and the other Indians didn.t give up they went to the Supreme Court many times but unfortunately it didn.t help the white settlers liked the idea of getting more land so did the U.S. government.

The Indian Removal Act finally led to the total removal of all Cherokee Indians. The government gave the nation a little piece of the Oklahoma territory.(Brill page27) Many of the Indians refused to leave. Once again this refusal was led by Ross and the older Chiefs. They tried even harder to try to get the government to change. The Cherokee leaders hired a white lawyer to help them plea their case to the Supreme court. As the Indians found out the government didn.t deal with them in a fair way. The Supreme Court didn.t really listen to their case because they were Indian. The Indians had many different views about the land in the west but the view that was held by mainly everybody was that the west was evil. A young Cherokee girl said ” the west was so evil that the sun even died.” (Brill page 53) When the Supreme court finally said they had to leave one group of wealthy Cherokee went. They went willingly. They really like it out west. There was a lot of resources like buffalo, elk, deer, prairie dogs, squirrels, rabbits and a little bit of fertile land. They liked it to because there were no white people to take their land.(Fremon page 50-52) When some of the Indians liked it out west it scared the Indian nation back east. Ross and the other leader were afraid of losing all the support of trying to stay home. They felt like they were easier to control now because they were divided. Things back east weren.t going all to their plan. People in Georgia would force the Indians out. Many were force by gun point.(The Indians page 157) Whites b