Analysis Of The Trail Of Tears

The primary question presented by the Trail of Tears, is whether or not the forced removal qualifies as genocide. To answer that question, the history of events before, during, and after the removal must be analyzed to fully understand the situation. Since European settlers continuously settled in Native American owned land, growing tensions escalated to the point that the US government sought action. The Cherokee sought to find peaceful resolutions in order to maintain rights to their land and to prevent further conflicts. However, as more European settlers arrived the Cherokee traded, intermarried, and adopted European customs all while being “…pressured to give up traditional home-lands,” (Johnston, 2003). The Cherokee made an effort to

The reelection of President Andrew Jackson left the opponents of removal uneasy and they began to reevaluate their positions. Organized by Major Ridge along with his son John Ridge, his nephews Elias Boudinot and Stand Watie, they became known as the “Ridge Party”, or as the “Treaty Party”. This party believed that the Cherokee had a better chance of literal and cultural survival if they, “…get favorable terms from the U.S. government, before white squatters, state governments, and violence made matters worse,” (Wilkins, 1986). However, the majority of the people were still loyal to John Ross, Chief of the Cherokee Nation, and what would be known as the “National Party” fighting to remain an independent nation. Ross fiercely opposed the idea of relocation and sought to find peaceful avenues of disagreement. He tried persuading the U.S. government to change their minds about forcing thousands of people out of their homes, but he was unsuccessful in his

Wool arrived to begin disarming the Cherokee and found protesters of the treaty as well as the removal. He attended a council meeting and discovered the majority of Cherokee opinion (Sturgis, 2007). Wool requested a transfer out of his command and was granted permission to leave. Then, Brigadier General R.G. Dunlap was ordered to build the stockades and containment pens to hold the Cherokee that would not leave willingly. However, Dunlap visited with the Cherokee and saw the wooden pens meant to hold people he came to know as “crude” and threatened to resign his commission if he was forced to assist in the round-up, (Sturgis 2007). Despite having top ranking commanders resign from their duties, the U.S. military finally found a general willing to enforce the treaty. “Old Fuss and Feathers” Major General Winfield Scott replaced John Wool as military commander. However, he was not immune to the gravity of the situation. He viewed his mission “…without enthusiasm; when he realized that many of the Georgia troops seemed as interested in killing the Cherokee as removing them, he realized the extent of the challenged he faced,” (Sturgis, 2007). The removal process was horrifying as men, women, children, and elderly were forced out of their homes usually at gun point. The Cherokee were forced into the small stockades while their homes were looted, claimed by