Cherokee Tribe Quotes
It would be useless to recapitulate the numerous provisions for the security and protection of the rights of the Cherokees, to be found in the various treaties between their nation and the United States. The Cherokees were happy and prosperous under a scrupulous observance of treaty stipulations by the government of the United States, and from the fostering hand extended over them, they made rapid advances in civilization, morals, and in the arts and sciences. Little did they anticipate, that when taught to think and feel as the American citizen, and to have with him a common interest, they were to be despoiled by their guardian, to become strangers and wanderers in the land of their fathers, forced to return to the savage life, and to seek a new home in the wilds of the far west, and that without their consent.
The petition was ignored and the Cherokee were “removed” on the infamous Trail of Tears.
Cherokee Tribe, Memorial [petition] to Congress, 1836
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Jackson ignored the decision of the Supreme Court and forced at bayonet point the Indians in the South East to leave their land and relocate to Oklahoma in what has been known as “the trail of tears”.
His Indian Removal Policy forced Native American to leave their lands which were theirs by treaties signed by the United States and marched to the poorest land in Oklahoma where they were "resettled". This is often referred to as the "Trail of Tears". What made his actions evern wors was the fact that The Supreme Court had already ruled that such land belinged to the Cherokee Indian Tribe and the government of the United States may not force them from it. Jackson was the only President in Amrican History to defy a Supreme Court order.
Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills lands that were sacred to the Lakota Sioux and were reserved for exclusive use of the Indians by the Fort Laramie Treaty. Greedy whites, ignoring the treaty provisions not only entered the Black Hills to pan and mine for the gold, but killed many Indians they ran across Sherman was angry and wrote to his old friend President Grant. Grant, now a political, had to contend with public opinion that thought it absurd that gold should not be mined because a few Indians regarded the land as sacred. Meanwhile Grant was working with a few others to portray minor clashes between whites and Indians in the Black Hills as violent and dangerous Indians breaking the treaty.
Published 100 years after it was written. This is the first known written statement of what became a de facto policy regarding the American Indian.
“Cleaned out” meant destroyed. He had been a strong advocate of peace with whites. See {610679} .
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson, institution one of the most unjust, immoral and outrageous policies in all of American history. He ordered that all the Indians of the Southeast, be forcibly evicted from their lands—including those protected by treaties—and at gunpoint marched by the military to the Oklahoma territory, where they were in effect jailed in reservations that were generally far inferior to the lands from which they were forced. No sooner had the ethnic cleasing of the South East been complete, than the whites took the Indian lands without paying the Indian owners at all.
This quotation illustrates the racist view of Native Americans that prevailed at the time. The Mexican government invited settlers and would give then the Indian lands. In addition to Mexicans who came to Texas, many Americans also went to Texas, changing their citizenship to Mexico. Later, they banded together and broke from Mexico and Joined the United States. The Indians lost most of their lands.
President Jackson was the most extreme President in terms of abuse of Native American Rights. His racist views and policies were a large reason for the continuing problems that Indians have had gaining fair treatment and equality. Jackson was the only American President who ever refused to obey a Supreme Court decision when he removed the Cherokee Indians from their lands, despite the fact that the Supreme Court had ruled that such a removal was illegal. See {623405} for other Jackson views on Indian policy.
The century to which he was referring was the 19th century---1800-1899.
The Indians did not have the wheel when the whites came, but soon there were wagons, stage coaches and railroads.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910. Twain was one of the few whites who realized that success in assimilating American Indians would destroy their culture and identity. Even today, whites and Indians alike constantly debate the desirability of assimilation policies and supporting independent reservations.
