The Sorrow of the Trail of Tears Essay - 1527 Words

Thousands of people departed Europe, during the colonial settlement time period, out of desire to have land given to them or the opportunity to gain land, to obtain religious freedom, and many other reasons. Europeans migrated their entire families to settle in the very distant, frontier now known as the Americas. Was this not the very basis for leaving Europe, and coming to the Americas? But what was inflicted on the Indians who occupied North America, was almost exactly which that the settlers wished to escape. What the Indians were subjected to, is utter and total hypocrisy. The Trail of Tears, was a focused event of ethnic cleansing, blatant racism, religious oppression, and subjugation or elimination of the Indian tribes. It is†¦show more content†¦They were moved in small groups of between five hundred and two thousand. Many Choctaw Indians were to die on the trip to Oklahoma. There were many factors that led the staggeringly high mortality rate. Factors such as Diseases, such as smallpox, mishaps, lack of food, shelter, weather exposure, and simply being hurried along causing exhaustion, during the relocation caused the deaths of many Indians. This horrific experience, that the Choctaw Indians underwent, was how the name the Trail of Tears came to be (Hoxie). It is estimated that, â€Å"By the end of the 1830s, the Southeast Indians had lost sixty to ninety percent of the estimated 150,000 of the original Indian population...†, before the relocation (â€Å"The Five Tribes†). The Cherokee Indians, by far, suffered and lost the most. A small group of Cherokee, thought it better to avoid being forced off their land by the military, and relocated to Oklahoma fared mostly well. However, the large remainder of the tribe, opposed leaving, and thus the Georgia militia confronted this group and practiced a scorched earth policy. That is, burning their crops, homes, and killing the Indians that resisted. Its estimated that on e quarter of the Cherokee tribe died resisting relocation. The Muskogee Creek Indians, mostly, refused to leave their homeland. As a direct result, the Creek War of 1836-1837 began. Eventually, the American army captured more than fourteen thousand Creek Indians and marched them to OklahomaShow MoreRelatedThe Importance of Language in Pushing the Bear1201 Words   |  5 Pagesand gives the impression that the story is unfolding right in front of them. The use of the syllabary in the novel is similar to the use of the their own language that the Cherokees used on the trail. The reader’s confusion at the unfamiliar language is comparable to the soldiers’ experience on the trail at the Cherokee language that they did not understand. â€Å"They don’t want us to be able to talk. They know our language gives us power.† (137) The novel itself is like the strength of the CherokeeRead MoreWatching My Queen Flinch At The Sound903 Words   |  4 Pagestells me. 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