...6 December 2013 Elias Boudinot: A Native American Pioneer “Oh, what is a man who will not dare to die for his people? Who is there here that will not perish, if this great nation may be saved?” – Elias Boudinot, Cherokee Nation, December 29, 1835 There might not be any other ethnicity in the United States that has suffered as much deculterization, destruction and blatant ridicule by the majority ruling class than the Native American people. The very beginning of Anglo settlement in the new world marked the beginning of the end of the very way of life and culture that the native people enjoyed prior to the rampant spread of disease and warfare that would come to symbolize the Native relationship with the Anglo-European people of the United States. As the Anglo grip on the nation grew tighter, it became apparent that either you accept violence as your tribe’s only salvation, or you decide to accept whatever offer the ruling white class decided to offer your tribe, in hopes that your tribes willingness to abide by whatever rules and regulations imposed will eventually save your people from the fate of so many of your brothers and sisters across the country. No tribe personified this reality better than the Cherokee Nation of the Southeastern United States, and no one Cherokee Indian should be connected with the struggle of acculteration verses preservation than Elias Boudinot, the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first Native American paper in the United States. As it...
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...the series of events that resulted in them losing their homes. How did the efforts of Major Ridge and Elias Boudinot cause a “serious split’ in the Cherokees’ attempt to keep their native lands? 3 In December of 1835, a Cherokee treaty council signed away tribal lands and agreed to move the Cherokee people west of the Mississippi. What methods did the American Government use to obtain that treaty? Discuss the paradox of how a nation as the United States, founded on democratic principles of the government, could justify signing such a fraudulent treaty. In the Trail of Tears, there was a man named John Ross who was a well educated Cherokee leader. At the age of 19, he became a part of the...
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...back and knock again. This time you answer the door and they begin to have a normal conversation. About half way through they begin to tell you how nice your house is and how much they’d love to have it. They then proceed to walk into your house uninvited. They then tell you that they will be taking your house and you will need to pack up and leave. They also tell you that if you begin to attempt to fight back against their wishes they will kill you on the spot. How would you feel if this happened to you and your family? This is what happened to the Cherokee tribe and their homeland. The whites came into their homeland, which they occupied for years and years prior, and took over. They gave the Cherokee absolutely no choice on whether they would like to leave their land for the whites or not. The whites came in and handed the Cherokee an ultimatum stating they needed to leave or be killed. This crippled the Cherokee tribe leaders and their families as well as their well-built villages and what not. Back during this time things were getting dicey between the whites and the Indians. President Jackson was adamant about removing the Indians as were many of the other Americans. Not many people like to really think about it and put themselves in the Indians shoes. I am completely against the removal of the Indians from their land. I think that the...
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...US History to 1877 Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle Having little knowledge of the Cherokee removal and the history that took place in this moment in America’s past, the book Trail of Tears: Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation by John Ehle, offers an insight to the politics, social dynamics and class struggles the Cherokee Nation faced in the late 1830s. The book was very comprehensive and the scope of the book covers nearly 100 years of Native American History. Ehle captures the history of the Native American people by showing the readers what led to the events infamously known as the Trail of Tears. The author uses real military orders, journals, and letters which aid in creating a book that keeps the reader interested in the history that unfolded. The book is very dense with research and the style it is written in is from a contemporary voice, in other words, as the reader you sometimes get the feeling of emotion involved and other times there is a history textbook feeling from the author, which made the reading slightly difficult. I expected the novel to be very emotional narrative that would be sympathetic towards the Cherokee people, but it was a mixture of narrative plus historical facts. The book portrays the actual history, through the use of the many primary sources mentioned earlier, of the Cherokee people, but I believe that the author used that to frame the personalities of his characters as to what their decision making might...
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...map I believe the Choctaw tribe had the easiest path to their new Indian Reservation. The Choctaw tribe had taken the route along the Arkansas River. This was beneficial to them because not only did they use the river for fresh water for them and their livestock. The route was used because it was easier for navigation purposes. Based on your examination of the map, why did some Cherokee first travel north before heading west to the Indian Reservations? Based on my examination of the map the Cherokee traveled north before heading west because they were following the water. They not only used this method for land navigation, but also for fresh water and food. Which major U.S. cities are located within the areas that are described as “Ceded Lands”? Orlando, Fl, Atlanta, GA, Knoxville, TN, Memphis, TN, and Montgomery, AL, are some of the major cities that were tribal land. Is there a relationship between the ceded areas and major cities? If not, why might these areas have been determined to be desirable? I do believe there was a...
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