Trials and Tears

By the early 19th century, the Cherokee, like the majority of indigenous peoples living in the eastern United States had settled onto what would later be called reservations that made up only a small portion of their original territories. Having sided with the British during the War of Independence and lost a large proportion of their population in that conflict, they had to negotiate with the country's new government from a position of weakness. Settling into their remaining territories in what is now Northern Georgia and Eastern Tennessee they set themselves to the task of rebuilding their society, creating a constitution similar in many ways to that of the United States itself.*

Rather than falling into a long decline, the fate of many other tribes, the Cherokee were extremely successful at adopting the "white man's way" and the capital of their "state within a state" , New Echota, had all the amenities of a large southern town, including, regrettably, a small population of Black slaves. One great chief, Sequoyah, perfected a written script for the Cherokee tongue and soon after, The Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper produced by and for a native audience was successfully introduced in 1834.*

By the time Andrew Jackson became President in 1828, the Cherokee were beginning to worry that the State of Georgia might try to seize what was left of their territory. The discovery of gold a year later brought a familiar greediness to the fore in Georgia's dealings with them. The Cherokees, although derided as "savages" by state and federal officials from Georgia*, didn't declare war and start raiding when whites invaded their territory and stole their gold. They sought a legal remedy through the Supreme Court which body recognised American treaty obligations but was unable to force its mandate without executive power and Jackson refused to do anything. He believed the Cherokees should sign new treaties for lands in west as the Creek and other tribes near them had done.

In 1835, a group of five-hundred or so Cherokee, led by a Major Ridge, signed a new treaty ceding their land title for new lands in Oklahoma and $5,000,000 even though they had no authority under their own constitution and a clear majority of the 17,000 Cherokee, including the elected Council of Chiefs were violently opposed to it.* Jackson responded to Cherokee defiance by sending federal troops to forcefully move them the 1,000 miles to their new home in the wilderness. After their homes were looted and destroyed, they were marched off their lands with 4,000 dying on "The Trail of Tears" before the survivors arrived in Oklahoma.

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