Trail of Tears

I just finished reading Trail of Tears:  The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, a very well-written and documented account.  The author makes use of many original source documents, including correspondence, transcribed speeches and excerpts from legal documents.

I have frequently seen comments on the internet about the ways in which “we” as a nation mistreated the Indians during the early days of our nation’s formation….after all, they were here first.  However, having read this historical book, I now realize how overly simplistic such accusations are.  The situation was much more complex than such statements would indicate.

I have not read widely on the subject regarding other tribes, but the Cherokees and the “Trail of Tears” are frequently cited.  Here are some interesting issues gleaned from Ehle’s book.

*The Cherokees and other tribes with which they interacted were frequently at war with one another, treating each other savagely.  For that matter, even within a tribe, some members were ill-treated.  It is not as though they lived in blissful harmony prior to the arrival of white men.

*Some of the Cherokees willingly sold their land or took bribes to influence their tribe to sell off lands.  Some made themselves quite wealthy in this way, although it was a betrayal of their own people.

*The Cherokees kept slaves.  Prior to the arrival of whites, the slaves were from other tribes.  After the arrival of whites with their black slaves, the Cherokees kept black slaves and treated them as less than human.

*A number of Christian sects sent missionaries to the Cherokees.  These were usually teachers who in addition to religious subjects, taught academic and vocational topics.  The best Cherokee students were sent to boarding schools where they were educated as well as whites.  This resulted in a number of Cherokees becoming lawyers who could represent their tribe in negotiations in Washington.

*The missionary teachers stood with and supported the Cherokees in the efforts to retain their lands.  More than one of these friends of the Indians was arrested by the state of Georgia and jailed for months or years because of their stand.

*The Indian issue was largely a “states rights” issue.  The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokees and against the state of Georgia in its efforts to oust the tribe.  Georgia ignored the Supreme Court ruling, and Andrew Jackson (who was president at the time) refused to do anything to uphold it.

*Andrew Jackson spoke out of both sides of his mouth.  When he met with representatives of the Cherokees, he would assure them of his respect for them and of his friendship, but then do absolutely nothing to support them.

*The Cherokees tried to develop their own nation modeled after the United States, drawing from the US constitution for their own constitution and setting up a capital city and court system.  The congress of the US would not accept them as a separate nation.  I wonder if they could have achieved more by attempting to become a state.  Georgia originally held all the land over to the Mississippi River, and Alabama and Mississippi were parceled off.  What if there had been a state called Cherokee too?

*The Cherokees had no written language before contact with white men.  They apparently were amazed at the idea that a message could be conveyed without being in face to face conversation.  It was not until exposure to this idea, that one of their own developed symbols for the various sounds in their language and began to record them and teach others to read them.  Eventually the Cherokee nation had its own newspaper.  This became a way of letting the rest of the country know about their plight.  They had many supporters in northern states who were horrified that they were being removed from their lands.

*After years of attempts at negotiations, it became clear to some of the more educated Cherokees that there was no hope of retaining their lands and that leaving voluntarily was going to be advantageous.  However, John Ross, one of the chiefs and a spokesman for the council was opposed to this until the bitter end.  He kept stringing the people on telling them that he could negotiate a treaty that allowed them to retain their lands.  Men who decided to move voluntarily were viewed as traitors.  When the government began forcing the issue, they did it with care for the needs of the tribe.  They were provided with wagons, food and shelter along the way.  They were moved in boats so that the journey was as short and comfortable as possible.  It may not have been a great situation, but deaths occurred mainly in the elderly and infants which would have been expected even if they hadn’t been on the move.  However, when John Ross finally did encourage the move, he contracted with the federal government to arrange for the move himself without federal troops.  He was paid for this and gave the actual contract to his brother.  It was his brother who moved the remaining Cherokees on foot, late in the season with inadequate provisions.  John Ross meanwhile moved his own family by boat diminishing the hardship to himself while his tribe suffered.

*The Cherokees who had moved west earlier had established a government and were living in peace with each other.  They found the land to be good for both agriculture and hunting.  When John Ross arrived he fomented a rebellion against that government.  It could never be proven that he had ordered it, but it was his followers who assassinated some of the tribe who had moved earlier voluntarily.

*The epilogue of the book discusses false information that has been spread.  While it may seem awful that our government forced these people off their ancestral lands, it is also true that members of the tribe were at fault for some of the problems.  The number who died has been inflated and the fact that many deaths were due to the Ross brothers’ actions rather than the federal troops is rarely mentioned.

I am inclined to believe what I have read in this book, rather than what is currently in history textbooks.  The author has taken great care to document his assertions and provides a balanced view of that time in our history.