by Henry Piarrot

Created on: June 12, 2008   Last Updated: February 05, 2009

Somebody Wanted Something

"Oh, he was young and brave, strongest of the hunters. But, in time he came to find, he was being hunted. Somebody wanted something"

During the early 19th century, the United States began expanding into the North American continent. Unfortunately, the southeastern territories were the ancestral home of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw and Seminole civilizations. In the opinion of many white Americans at the time, these people were standing in the way of their progress to possess and populate new land they needed to raise cotton. Consequently, the settlers pressured the federal government to acquire Indian Territory by any means necessary.

Andrew Jackson from Tennessee was a strong promoter of Indian removal. So much so, that in 1814 he commanded US military forces and defeated an angry faction of the Creek nation that was determined to keep whites from their homeland. As a result of their defeat, the Creeks lost 22 million acres of land in what is now southern Georgia and central Alabama . The Americans soon acquired more land in 1818 when Jackson 's troops invaded and conquered Spanish Florida.

Jackson became instrumental in negotiating several treaties that stripped the tribes of their eastern lands in exchange for lands in the west. Running out of options, they decided to settle with the new government to hopefully save some of their land. As a result of the treaties, the US controlled most of Florida , Georgia , Alabama , Tennessee , Mississippi , North Carolina and Kentucky.

Upon becoming president, Jackson forced legislation titled the "Indian Removal Act" through Congress. It gave him the power to negate previous agreements and negotiate removal treaties with the tribes residing east of the Mississippi . Now, the Indians were to relinquish all of their fruitful lands east of the river in exchange for worthless lands in the west. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but those to the north as well. "My friends, circumstances render it impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to the west. And the sooner you do this, the sooner you will commence your career of improvement and prosperity." - Andrew Jackson

In the north as in the south, one by one, the Indians were removed to the west, and the Cherokee were stubbornly among the last to go. In the end, some reluctantly agreed to move and others were ultimately driven from their homes at the point of a bayonet. Because of the devastating effect on their society, the Cherokee named this horrific journey the "Trail of Tears." They faced hunger, disease, exhaustion and remarkable humiliation all along the forced march where nearly 1/3 of their more than 15,000 number died before they reached Oklahoma.

After starting over, the Cherokee sought to hold on to as much of their unique cultural identity as possible. Although the tribes in their new Oklahoma home never completely recovered the vitality of their grand past, they did reassert their former way of life the best they could. They established farms, built schools and churches, revived their political institutions, and even resumed the publication of their newspaper. Also, to increase awareness of their heritage and historic injustice, many of them have advocated the designation of the "Trail of Tears" as a historic trail that runs right through the heart of Tennessee.

"And the dying hunter saw the picture clear. Staring down a frozen road, he saw a Trail of Tears. Somebody wanted something"

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