Essay On Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee people was once a strong nation stretching across roughly 135,000 square miles in from the Ohio River to present day Alabama. The Cherokee were one of the many Woodland Tribes on the East Coast of North America that was greatly impacted by European Contact. The Early Cherokee would do their best to resist Settler Invasion by Siding with British during both the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution. After America was established as an independent nation the Cherokee switched from resistance to conformity adopting many American standards of agriculture, economy, slavery, language, and religion. The Cherokee would do their best to avoid conflict with America often siding with them in war times, and making many compromises

The Cherokee Nation often found themselves involved in large scale wars over land in North America. One of the first of these would be the French and Indian War (1754-63). As conflict grew between Britain and France over land in North America various tribes were recruited by the two Countries. In North Carolina British troops struggled to hold off the aggressive northern tribes, and realized the Cherokee were the only reason they had not experienced more attacks from the Shawnee tribe. In February 1756 Capt. Hugh Waddell negotiated peace treaties with the Cherokee Nation. These treaties stated that the Cherokee warriors would venture up north in order to fight the French and the Shawnee. The British in exchange promised them supplies and promised the Cherokee that they would build them forts to protect them from other Native Tribes. That winter the Cherokee made the journey up north and took on many of the Shawnee make great sacrifice in numbers. On the Cherokees journey home the lack of warmth and food tempted the Cherokee to act out and attack English Settlements, but the promised peace treaty was enough encourage to keep the Cherokee from attacking the British. Throughout the rest of the war the Cherokee had multiple treaties with the British that failed, but the Cherokee never made the decision to side with the French. (Marshall