Native-American culture
is something that I will always be fascinated by. For history’s sake, I wanted
to address American legislation, regarding the removal of Native-Americans,
under President Andrew Jackson between the years of 1820-1840.
The major conflicts that would arise result in the occupation of land and who
was to reside in it. It is within this conflict
between American settlers, looking in the interest of expansion, and Indians,
already occupying the rich lands, that a brutal demolition of Native cultures
would occur. Through the analysis of
Native-American cultures, including basket-weaving, story-telling and other
modes of the arts, ideas of American settlers and their expansion take on a
whole new meaning; one that includes empathy and a whole new perception of what
our nation’s history. As I approach this topic
through the lens of cultural history, I look to find a clearer understanding of
the Native-American cultures that once overwhelmed our nation. I want to find
how colonial powers have impacted these cultures to the point of near
extinction. The rest of this post focuses on
the era of the Trail of Tears, and analyzes the destruction of Native cultures.
The
Indian Removal Act, in the interest of replacing Indian lands for American
settlements and with a total disregard for Native Indian people, resulted in
the destruction of the Native society.
I argue, then, that Native-American societies, today, are impacted by the
cultures and traditions that result from this devastating time period of
American exclusion. It may be in the reader’s interest to know
that the bulk of the research done is based on the Native-Americans of the
Cherokee nation, but certain references do include the other Native-American
tribes forced out of region, like those of the Seminoles, Creek and Choctaw
nations.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830,
under the presidency of Andrew Jackson reveals more than just colonial
relations with native peoples. According to historian Michael Morris, a contributor to the Georgia Historical Quarterly, “the event reveals much about period politics
and society's views regarding a minority culture.”
Jackson’s background and ideology of the “common American man” was the basis of
his anti-Indian policies in politics. Jackson would argue
that relocating the Native-Americans would be humane and that “the Southeastern
Indians were not civilized enough to stay. Morris claims, "the key concept was to relocate them out west without any white settlements
nearby.”
The importance of these events is the neglect to view a single point-of-view
from the Native-American people. “It cannot be
expected, that the condition of a few tribes of secluded Indians should at once
claim and secure the sympathies of millions.” As the Indian societies begin to
be forced out or “relocated” they are to build their own self-sustainable
political communities that President Jackson notes “it would be necessary for
the United States to regulate these communities.”As the Treaty of New Echota
was agreed upon, Cherokees of the region were to leave for the west and it is
these years of forced migration that would become known as the Trail of Tears;
a journey that many Indians were not fully prepared for resulting in deaths,
diseases, malnutrition, dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion.
It is in this context and with this understanding of the legislation at the
time, that we can further understand the effects of this division and delve in
deeper into the cultures that would be impacted by these events.
Sources
Michael Morris,
“Georgia and the Conversation over Indian Removal,” Georgia Historical Quarterly 91/4 (2007): 403-422.
“Removal of the
Indians,” The North American Review 31/69
(October 1830): 396.
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