Trail Of Tears Essay Thesis

The year 1838 was the beginning of a dreadful tragedy in America’s history which in turn led to the deaths of 4,000 out of the 15,000 Cherokee as they made the 1200 mile journey on what is infamously known as The Trail of Tears (Ehle). Initially the Cherokees, an indigenous Native American group, territory included parts of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and the southern Appalachian Mountains (Ehle). A lot of the original Cherokee territory was taken and sold by the U.S. Government. In fact, when Andrew Jackson became president in 1828, he made a lot of profit from selling Cherokee territory to the people (Purdue). This could have encouraged him to pass laws to remove the Cherokee to Missouri as well as the discovery of gold fields in northwest Georgia (Gilbert). With the persistence of Georgians and President Andrew Jackson, the Cherokees were

Thanks to the major lack of tents, shelter and subsistence became a major issue. When the Cherokee were fortunate enough to set up tents, they had to pitch canvas tents in howling winds, torrential rains, brutal cold, and heavy snow (Purdue). The exposure and exhaustion that the Cherokee faced as a result of these conditions greatly weakened their immune systems, making them more susceptible to diseases (Purdue). The diseases that plagued the Cherokee on their journey included measles and the whooping cough along with dysentery and respiratory infections. The weather offered no mercy to the helpless Cherokee forced from their land, nor did the lack of provisions help. Eventually the Cherokee finally arrived barely alive and dispirited after the approximate four month journey to the Indian Territory reserved for them in Missouri and parts of