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The Trail
of Tears was a very harsh journey many indians had to indure. They were forced to move from their homeland to a smaller area
than they were acustumed to lving to. Many indians died along they way. That was Andrew Jackson's plan all along he wanted
most the native americans to die along the way so they could all fit in that small area. The indians were given old diseased
blankets and many just starved from hunger and died. One time the indians had to go across a lake and they need a fairy. The
fairy people sold them tickets six times more than they average without including baggage safety. That journey was a journey
many can never forget. Cherokees occupied the lands in a couple of the southeastern states. As European settlers
arrived, Cherokees traded and grew contact with them. They began to adopt European customs and gradually turned
to an agricultural economy, while being pressured to give up traditional homelands. Between 1721 and 1819, over 90 percent
of their lands were given to others. By the 1820s, Sequoyah's syllabary brought literacy and a formal governing system
with a written constitution. In 1830,the same year the Indian Removal Act was passed, gold was found on Cherokee lands. Georgia had people
rushing to get over there to get Cherokee land and gold rights to whites. Cherokees were not allowed to conduct tribal
business, contract, testify in courts against whites, or mine for gold.
In
1830, the Congress of the United States passed the "Indian Removal Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most
against it was Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly signed the bill into law.
The Cherokees tried to fight the removal legally by challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing
an independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court seemed to be against the Indians. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, the
Court did not want to hear a case extending Georgias laws on the Cherokee because they did not represent a sovereign nation.
In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court was in favor of the Cherokees, and on the same problem in Worcester v. Georgia.
In this case, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign, making the removal laws wrong. The
Cherokee would have to agree to sign a treaty. Then the treaty would have to be ratified by the Senate.
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