Trail of Tears vs. the Long Walk of the Navajo free essay sample

They both had a culture that focused upon hunting and gathering, UT they also had to focus on finding an eventual homeland. The government of the United Sates stripped them of their rights and forced them to stray away from their traditional culture. Many lives were lost, but more importantly the pride of the Navajo and the Cherokee was lost as well. The Cherokee suffered the largest loss when being compared to the Navajo. They were brave and listened to the government, but they still lost their tribal land. During the 1 asss the East coast was burdened with new settlers and becoming vastly populated. President Andrew Jackson and the government had to find a way to move people to the West to make room. He passed the Indian Removal Policy nil 830. The Indian Removal Policy, which called for the removal of Native Americans from the Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and the Georgia area. They also moved their capital Echoed in Tennessee to the new capital called New Echoed, Georgia and then they eventually moved to the Indian Territory.The Indian Territory was declared in the Act of Congress in 1830 with the Indian Removal Policy. The government of the United States did not really try all that hard to avoid the conflict even though they knew what kind of tragedy it would cause. According to President Andrew Jackson: Humanity and national honor demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is too late to inquire whether it was just in the united States to include them and their territory within the bounds of the new States, whose limits they could control (Filler IS).Alias Button, Major Ridge, and John Ridge accepted the responsibility for the removal of the Cherokee, which was one of the largest tribes in the Southeast that were the earliest to adapt to European ways. There was a war involving the Cherokee and the Chickasaws before the Indian Removal Policy was passed. The Cherokee were defeated by the Chickasaws, which caused Chief Dragging Canoe to sign a treaty in 1777 to split up their tribe and have the portion Of the tribe in Chattanooga, Tennessee called the Chicagoan. Chief Doubleheader of the Chicagoan, a branch of the Cherokee, signed a treaty to give away their lands.Tribal law says Death to any Cherokee who proposed t o sell or exchange tribal land. Chief Doubleheader was later executed by Major Ridge. There was another treaty signed in December 29, 1835 which is called The Treaty of New Echoed. It was signed by a party of 500 Cherokee out of about 17,000. Between 1785 and 1 902 twenty-five treaties were signed with white men to give up their tribal lands (Woodward 192-205). The Cherokee would find themselves in a nightmare for the next year. In 1838 General Winfield Scott got tired of delaying this longer than the 2 years he waited already so he took charge in collecting the Cherokee.The Cherokee were taken from their homes and their belongings. They were placed in holding camps so no one would escape. The Cherokee were to be moved in the fall of 1838, but the journey did not occur in October, 1838 because of bad weather. They were now supposed to move 13,000 Cherokee in the bring of 1 839 a distance of eight-hundred miles. The Cherokee were not fed enough so they suffered from malnutrition. They were badly clothed for the spring and many caught diseases, which caused death. The Cherokee that knew the woodlands were able to escape.The white men couldnt find them without the help of other Cherokee and bribes. During the eight-hundred mile trek many children and spouses were separated from their families. About one-third of the original Cherokee they collected died in the holding camps and between the trek from the Southeast section of the Union to Indian Territory. In the words of a British officer, Lithely are like the Devils pig, they will neither lead nor drive (Woodward Preface). They would have to learn a new way of life and adjust. They lost their Negro slaves, and their possessions (Brachia 35).The Cherokee were farmers, and their new land was infertile. The land was meant for cattle raising, which they didnt know ho to do. They built a capital city called Tattletale, and their nation was declared in September 6, 1839. John Ross who was elected by the Cherokee as the president Of the Cherokee nation in 1827 continues his roll in the land, shared tit another seventy tribes. They had opened up schools in the Indian Territory to continue their education for their children. The first Cherokee school opened in 1801 when the people were learning their language.Their written language, which consists of 85 characters, was said to be created by a Sequoia (1760-1843), a Cherokee leader. The Cherokee had mixed blood from the early British settlers and traders. Therefore, the Cherokee were educated in both languages. For over half a century the Cherokee have abstained from becoming American Citizens until 1906 when the Unites States made all tribal embers U. S. Citizens. A year later the Indian Territory was admitted into the Union as the state of Oklahoma. During this period many Cherokee started breaking away and mixing their blood.In 1930 forty-five thousand two hundred thirty-eight Cherokee left Oklahoma and headed East from where they came (Brachia 9). The 10,000 Cherokee that survived the Trail Of Tears and the other Cherokee that were not taken for the removal slowly gained back in population in a century. The Tattletale Agency in Oklahoma has said there were 42,992 Cherokee living in Tattletale in 1982. The U. S. Census has shown 293,074 Cherokee are living in more than 30 states in the United States. Now the Cherokee Nation is under control of the first woman chief.In November 1983 Wilma Manlier was elected to the office of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee survived the hardships of the Trail of Tears and the loss of their loved ones. Their population continues to grow despite losing everything that belonged to them (Brachia 9). When the United States assumed control of the Southwest the Navajo had been at war with the Spanish and the New Mexicans for over 250 years. In 1862 Gene. James H. Carleton, territorial commander in the Southwest, reposed removing all the Navajo from their homeland east to Fort Sumner.Led by Kit Carson, more than 8,000 Navajo were herded into Fort Canny and Fort Winning. Carbons men and the soldiers who will follow them over the next year will lay Dinette to waste, burning homes and fields of corn and wheat, destroying stores of food, girdling peach trees, killing more Navajo by starvation than with bullets (Brachia 1 15). In August of 1 863 the first group of Navajo began their 400 mile journey. It took the Navajo three weeks to reach Fort Sumner, where hundred of Indians perished. By the time he Navajo reached Fort Sumner their clothing was tattered and their children were dying.Similar to the Trail of Tears the Navajo that were arriving at the fort had tears in their eyes because they were forced to leave their beloved land. In a way the Long Walk of the Navajo was also seen as a trail of tears. Carbons orders at the time were to not make peace with any of the Navajo and to destroy anyone that opposed the rules that were being put into place. In 1868 the reservation was declared a national scandal and the Navajo were allowed to return to their homeland. You have deceived us o often and robbed and murdered our people too long to trust you again at large in your own country.This war shall be pursued against you if it takes years, now that we have begun, until you cease to exist or move. There can be no other talk on the subject. (Brachia 117). These words about robbery and murder applied to the actions of the whites rather than the accused Navajo. More Navajo than white men were killed and thousands of Navajo remained slaves in the hands of the Mexicans (Brachia 117 ; 120). In 1962, when the Spanish started to invade their way into New Mexico, the Navajo lied with the Pueblos to resist the white invaders. A continual war existed between the Navajo and the New Mexicans, which eventually helped lead to the Navajo Long Walk. Apparently every time the Navajo signed a treaty, it was broken by the New Mexicans. In 1845, when the United Sates annexed Texas, they took possession of all of Mexico Northern provinces. In August of 1 946, Gene Stephen Carney declared control over all citizens of the Territory Of New Mexico, including Indian tribes. America thought that the Navajo would make a peace treaty binding all Navajo, but that was not the ease.The Navajo were considered independent and if another province made a treaty, they would ignore it and continue to makes raids. The United States did not take this very well because if one Navajo committed a crime then the IS. S. Believed that all Navajo should be punished. The Americans totally took away the land that was rightfully theirs, but more importantly they took away their pride. The Navajo fled before them, looking down from the heights above while there harass went up in flames. All their horses and sheep were killed, the canyon floor was left bare, and the spirit of theIndians was broken (Coolidge 25). Although the Long Walk of the Navajo caused fewer casualties than the Trail of Tears, it seems that it was more of a political issue involving a corrupt government In today word something like this would never occur, and if it die their would be a mass riot against the government. Americans! You have a strange cause for war against the Navajo. We have waged war against the New Mexicans for many years. You have lately commenced a war against the same people. You have therefore conquered them, the very same thing we have been attempting to do for so many years.You now turn upon us for attempting what you have done to yourselves. We cannot see why you have cause to quarrel with us for fighting the New Mexicans on the west, while you do the same on the east (Brachia 144). These were remarks made by Maroon, who was a well respected elder of the Navajo (Coolidge 23-30) It is obvious to see that the destruction caused to the Cherokee was much more fatal than the punishment inflicted to the Navajo, but that should not take anything away from them. Both of these tribes at one time were forced to flee their homeland and everything that they were familiar with. They were forced to adapt to a new culture and a new way of life. The attitude of the government of the United States during those time periods was corrupt and insensitive. In todays world the people of the United States would not allow such a tragedy to happen. The Cherokee and the Navajo had established a culture that they were used to, but the united States flipped the script and forced a move that caused the loss of many people. The Cherokee and the Navajo are considered people as well as Indians. The government at the time may not have taken this into consideration as silly as it sounds.