Imagine jackson signed up as a soldier

Imagine being kicked out of the only home you have ever known. You are then sent away to place you are unfamiliar with and your family is torn apart. You are left with nothing but broken spirits and family members strangled by disease and illness. The Trail of Tears is the chain of events which resulted new settlers conquering and acquiring indian land, the relocation of the Indian families and the exposure to several diseases on an epidemic proportion to the Cherokee tribe. The Trail of Tears is the sad and harsh reality of the life the Cherokee people suffered.

In 1767 a man named Andrew Jackson was born. In his childhood he was very poor. When he was older he became a lawyer gained lots of money and became very wealthy and powerful along with becoming particularly interested in politics. However, war broke out between Britain and the United States, so Jackson signed up as a soldier and went to battle. After the war was over he was known as a military hero, so he decided to run in the president election. After being defeated by John Quincy Adams, he came back four years later to redeem himself by getting elected.

When the creek war started, Jackson called in a favor from the Cherokee asking for help, and they did. Kaitlyn Johnson wrote “ President Andrew Jackson’s military command and almost certainly his life were saved thanks to the aid of 500 Cherokee allies at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. Unbelievably, it was Jackson who authorized the Indian Removal Act of 1830 following the recommendation of President James Monroe in his final address to Congress in 1825.

” (K. Johnson 15) Which examples the awful act and how he as well turned on his neighbors. Andrew Jackson was president for eight years before leaving the office and was one of the the key figure in the Trail of Tears. The events of the Trails of Tears began in 1824 when gold was discovered on the land of the Cherokee, This new valuable resource brought many white men to the Cherokee land in hopes of finding riches and wealth. Every day a new group of men would join in on the search for gold, The Cherokee people tried many times to stop the men from crossing onto their land, but each time they failed. The Cherokee had a difficult time with the new settlements. They were not interested In the gold and had a hard time understanding the settlers obsession with the resource. In hope of peace, they attempted to talk to the settlers about aggressive behavior, but this actually started more fighting between the men.

seeking wealth and fortune, the settlers became competitive and desperate in their search for gold and began to cause trouble for other settlers and the Cherokee people. “ To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien people who occupied land that white settlers wanted (and believed they deserved).” (History. com 6) this explains the perspective of the whites was they moved onto the Indians land. As the numbers grew, the settlers began to terrorize the Cherokee people. These men vandalized and burned homes and destroyed heirloom and Cherokee cultural possessions, frightening the women and children.

They would often blame it on other settlers to cause distrust and chaos. They would start fights with the Cherokee men. The tribe began to notify the government of this problem and felt that they had President Jackson’s support and was on their side. They had previously helped him in claiming victory in a previous war. This win caused the tribe to believe that President Jackson would help them with their issue with the gold miners, but that was not the case. In fact, President Jackson agreed with the settlers and signed into law forcing the Cherokee people off their land and relocated to Oklahoma. “ As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “ fall…still born.

“(History. com 2) The Cherokee people approached the courts to plead their case and after hours and hours, the Judge finally confirmed that the land belonged to the tribe. There was excitement over the court ruling and the Cherokee people thought the fight was over. However, President Jackson he was not going to listen to the courts and forced the immediate removal of the Cherokee people off their land. Another year of each side arguing, the government decided upon the Indian Removal Act of 1838 .

The Cherokee people were notified that their land was no longer theirs and were told to move. This news devastated the tribe  and made them furious Some wanted to stay and fight while others wanted to begin the journey. While some Indians continued to protest, it was confirmed that in a few months time, the Cherokee people  would be required to leave their homes for Oklahoma. On May 23, 1838, the first few round ups began from the government.

Only a few Cherokee had moved out, so two months later in July, the government sent in soldiers to drive them off the land quickly. In December, a huge winter came trapping many Indians and killing over 1, 000. The next two months more died and even more kept on walking. Some stayed behind and others became lost and were never found. Finally, in March 1839, the last group of the Indians reached Oklahoma. In September of that same year, the land in Oklahoma was officially named Indian territory. As the Cherokee people were forced out of their homes and on to the trail to Oklahoma, many were given only seconds to grab clothing, blankets and food supplies. It was a traumatic and miserable and terrible journey.

Food was scarce and finding something to eat was a difficult task. The tribe lost many members on the journey to disease and injuries. The tribe members lacked proper shoes to walk along the ground and would suffer horrible wounds to their feet preventing them from walking Some nights, the Cherokee would stop and rest, but other times, they would have to walk through the night due to the danger of animals and the terrain. John Kent wrote. “ Aging females, apparently nearly ready to drop into the grave were traveling with heavy bundles attached to their backs-on the frozen ground with no covering for their feet except for what nature truly describes the harsh environment and climate had gave them.

” (J. Kent 19) The lack water and food caused deadly viruses to spread among the tribe. Illness and disease killed more and other Indian tribes than any other cause. One of the most known diseases that was spread all across the tribes was smallpox. Smallpox killed Indians daily. It began with a few men who had rashes all were overcome with headaches and over their bodies. Then they started to vomit.  Slowly, one by one, Indians were dying.

The symptoms made it hard to tell the difference from small pox and flu, The Indian people could only hope for the best when one of their loved ones became sick. The next most common illness along the Trail of Tears was the, measles. within days, hundreds would be dead with a bad case of the virus. It would start as a rash covering the entire body and 24 hours later, they would be dead. At least 5, 000 Indians were killed by the measles Without the proper medical attention and vaccinations, lack of food and water and horrible living conditions all contribute to outbreaks of diseases and life threatening epidemics. The Trail of Tears was a terrible series of events which brought sorrow and despair to the Cherokee people. The search for gold, wealth and power caused the actions and events which forced the Cherokee people off their land. The hard fought battle to keep their land, proved hopeless in the end, with many of the tribe being killed by harsh climate conditions as well as diseases.

The Trail of Tears is a sad part of American history.