Analysis Of The Trail Of Tears

The Trail of Tears began with the idea of white settlers wanting to settle in the land where Native Americans were to grow cotton. They believed that Native Americans weren’t people, and they were just objects occupying the land they wanted and felt they deserved. The white settlers were forcing Native Americans to migrate to designated “Indian Territory” that was across the Mississippi River. The ideas of the early white Americans was to try to convert the Native Americans to be more like the white people. They wanted to get them to convert to Christianity, learn to read and write English, and to adopt forms of European culture. Some tribes in the southeastern part of the United States accepted these changes. The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole,
The states would restrict the rights of Native Americans to the point that would make them want to leave. However, when large cases came up, the Supreme Court was more reasonable when it came to the rights Native Americans should have. Regardless of the Supreme Court’s rulings, the state governments continued to restrict Native Americans with the ideals of the white Americans to back them. They didn’t care what happened to the Native Americans as long as they got the land that they wanted and felt should belong to
Many families lost members along the way. Those who did survive were not in a good condition when they got to the “Indian Territory.” In addition to all of those problems, the Native Americans would have to relearn the land they are now forced to live in. Most of them, if not all, have lived in the same area for their whole life and knew the land very well. They also studied the habits of animals in the area to know the best situation for hunting. The Native Americans did not favor this action, but they were left with either moving to the new land, possibly dying along the way, or defying the demands of the white settlers and most likely being killed by them.

This journey brought the Native Americans from present day Georgia to present day Oklahoma. This trip brought them across a large portion of the United States. It was a journey that about ¼ of the people taking the trip would not survive.

If a Native American wanted to stop to bury a friend or relative along the journey, they would be shot by a soldier. The soldier’s had a total disregard for the proper treatment of the Native Americans and only had one motive, to keep them moving to the designated “Indian Territory.” The General that was in charge of the Trail of Tears was Winfield