Act." Although many Americans were against the act, most notably Tennessee
Congressman Davy Crockett, it passed anyway. President Jackson quickly
signed the bill into law. The Cherokees attempted to fight removal legally by
challenging the removal laws in the Supreme Court and by establishing an
independent Cherokee Nation. At first the court seemed to rule against
the Indians. In Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, the Court refused to hear a
case extending Georgia's laws on the Cherokee because they did not
represent a sovereign nation. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in
favor of the Cherokee on the same issue in Worcester vs. Georgia. In this
case Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation was
sovereign, making the removal laws invalid. The Cherokee would have
to agree to removal in a treaty. The treaty then would have to be
ratified by the Senate.
By 1835 the Cherokee were divided and despondent. Most supported
Principal Chief John Ross, who fought the encroachment of whites
starting with the 1832 land lottery. However, a minority(less than 500
out of 17,000 Cherokee in North Georgia) followed Major Ridge, his son
John, and Elias Boudinot, who advocated removal. The Treaty of New
Echota, signed by Ridge and members of the Treaty Party in 1835, gave
Jackson the legal document he needed to remove the First Americans.
Ratification of the treaty by the United States Senate sealed the fate of
the Cherokee. Among the few who spoke out against the ratification
were Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, but it passed by a single vote. In
1838 the United States began the removal to Oklahoma, fulfilling a
promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. Ordered to move on
the Cherokee, U. S. General Wool resigned his command in protest,
delaying the action. His replacement, General Winfield Scott, arrived at
New Echota on May 17, 1838 with 7000 men. Early that summer
General Scott and the United States Army began the invasion of the
Cherokee Nation.
In one of the saddest episodes of our brief history, men,women, and children were
taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food,
then forced to march a thousand miles(Some made part of the trip by boat in equally horrible conditions).
Under the generally indifferent army commanders, human losses
for the first groups of Cherokee removed were extremely high. John
Ross made an urgent appeal to Scott, requesting that the general let his
people lead the tribe west. General Scott agreed. Ross organized the
Cherokee into smaller groups and let them move separately through the
wilderness so they could forage for food. Although the parties under
Ross left in early fall and arrived in Oklahoma during the brutal winter
of 1838-39, he significantly reduced the loss of life among his people.
About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they
traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears"
or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried"
("Nunna daul Tsuny").
Ironically, just as the Creeks had murdered Chief McIntosh for signing
the Treaty of Indian Springs, the Cherokee murdered Major Ridge, his
son and Elias Boudinot for signing the Treaty of New Echota. Chief John
Ross, who valiantly resisted the forced removal of the Cherokee, lost his
wife Quatie in the march. And so a country formed fifty years earlier on
the premise "...that all men are created equal, and that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these
the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.." brutally closed the
curtain on a culture that had done no wrong.
