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The following essays are a direct link to some of the research I
conducted during 1996-1999. These essays deal with the
problems that our people face with regards to heritage and cultural differences.
Any comments can be directed to the author.
Essay 1
The Cherokee Removal...a commentary
The untransacted destiny of the American people is to subdue the continent - to rush over this vast field to the Pacific Ocean, to animate the many hundred millions of its people, and to cheer them upward... to regenerate super annuated nations... to cause a stagnant people to be reborn... to shed a new and respendent glory upon mankind - to unite the world in one social family - to dissolve the spell of tyranny and exalt charity - to absolve the curse that weighs down humanity, and to shed blessings around the world!
--William Gilpin,1846.
The thought of the Cherokee people being removed can bring painful memories to some, and others would not even know what you are talking about. The division of a people that believe in extended families is a foreign thought. In this commentary, the inner struggle that may not be so open as our history books will be discussed.
With the increasing size of the United States, there was more pressure on tribal communities to cede their land to the invading EuroAmericans. In the 1793 Trade and Intercourse Act, the policy donated agricultural implements and tools, draft animals, and other "civilized" goods to Native Americans and called for the appointment of people to explain and demonstrate their use. Then the government set aside land for the Cherokees in 1830 in the region west of Arkansas, later called Indian Territory, where the Indians could rebuild their societies free from the demands of encroaching settlers and expansionist states. There were other ideas on how to circumvent this problem, like the idea to civilize those who stood in the way of progress. Missions set up boarding schools for the Cherokee - the Cherokee thought it would be good for the upcoming generation to be able to understand the white ways. The United States subsidized such missionaries as the Moravians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists to do much of the civilizing of the Cherokee people. The missionaries linked "civilization" to the concept of Christianity. The government saw this as an opportunity to gain more land. The reasoning was that if the Cherokees were civilized, they would live on less land, and only do agriculture. This way, settlers could move on to that excess Cherokee land that was once hunting grounds.
Georgia enacted laws basically threatening the Cherokees into removal by making it illegal to live within the border of the state. Georgia argued against the Cherokees in regards to the existance of the Cherokee as a sovereign nation. Even with powerful speeches by key leaders within the Cherokee nation could not stop the land hungry settlers. Inside the Cherokee nation though, there was an inner struggle of those who wanted to resist the government and not cede any more land. Then there was also a growing number of those who thought the only way to keep their rich culture and survive would be to compromise, become civilized, and move west to a new homeland. Among these was the highly respected Major Ridge, his son and nephew, John Ridge and Elias Boudinot.
Not all Americans agreed with the removal of the Cherokees. The missions and boarding schools were some of those who believed that the Cherokees could be civilized - that the image of the heathen savage could be changed given enough time. But the majority of public skepticism and a fever for more land won this battle. Those Americans that still held the thought that the Native American was basically a lost cause - that money was being wasted on a people that didn't want to change.
The Cherokee did have a faction that wanted to be civilized. They had a
higher social status, some even held slaves, and farmed their own land,
trying to maintain some sense of self-worth. Again, these cases were swept under the carpet, since all the American people heard was that the Indian was still savage, and didn't want to settle down.
The United States, in their dealings with the Native Americans, tended to take advantage of them. The Native Americans did not have a well-versed command of the English language. Then there was the whole issue of personal property. The Cherokees had communal property - no one owned a particular place - no less had no rights over the selling of the land either. The government tried to adjust them quickly to understand the idea of owning their own property. Most did not comprehend this right, and greedy land speculators preyed on these who did not understand. There were also those who believed that what occured to the Cherokees was only due to them as what is known as manifest destiny. These people thought that with the increasing number of settlers, the more land that would be needed for those settlers, thus requiring those who had lived there to move or be moved. Andrew Jackson was a firm supporter of such measures, presenting himself to the Cherokees and others as the Great Father. He viewed the Native Americans paternally - as though the Native Americans were his "red children" and he must take care of them. He created the Indian Removal Act - which designated a new homeland west of the Mississippi and made those who dwelt east of it to move. This got most of the Cherokees themselves. Within a people that were subject to a large amount of tragedy, the Cherokee also showed their adaptability, resilience, creativity and persistance.
They created their own form of government, a bicarmel legislation, and a constitution - all modeled after that of the American government. They started their own paper, the Cherokee Phoenix, which was in both Cherokee that Sequoyah had invented and English. The Cherokee showed potential to adapt, but they never got the full benefit of the doubt to fully even try to become civilized.
The Trail of Tears, as it is known, is is that long journey in 1838-39 after passing of the Treaty of New Echota that the Cherokees traveled through the grueling hot, dry summer to their new homeland. Forced out of their homes, some even held in stockades for substantial time, some leaving with only the clothes on their back, were not fully prepared for
the journey. Some 4,000 to 8,000 died on the way to the west, due to malnutrition, disease, and forced marchings. Six months of pain, and memories that just won't go away affected those who traveled to their destined home.
This commentary has only brushed the surface of the tragic division of a people that couldn't help feeling helpless and ashamed for what was occurring. The Cherokee removal is an important turning point in Native American history - where from there on, the settlers could ask for more land, and the Native Americans could only surrender what they
had. We can't change the past, but we can make it so that those who lost that precious land, don't lose anymore.
Sources Consulted:
Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian.New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978.
Filler, Louis. The Removal of the Cherokee Nation: Manifest Destiny or National Dishonor? Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1962.
Finger, John. Cherokee Americans: The Eastern Band of Cherokees in the Twentieth Century. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
Merk, Frederick. Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963.
Perdue, Theda. (ed.) The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995.
Weinburg, Albert. Manifest Destiny. Chicago: Quandrangle Books, 1935.
Essay 2
Winds of Change
Throughout time, the struggle to maintain some sense of tradition has only seen an increase. In North America, Native Americans are no exception. What seems ironic is that a people who developed some 900 languages and self-governed for many centuries were seen as culturally inept by the invading Europeans.
With the so-called discovery triumph, came the cumbersome problem of what to do with the savages that were only getting in the way of progress most of the time. The birth of the United States brought this problem even further into the forefront. Soon the translators and guides that were so often needed in the past, were no longer needed, and the trouble was finding a solution to the Indian problem. The EuroAmericans sought to assimilate the culturally challenged into their civilized society. The evolution of the five civilized tribes, (Seminole, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Cheyenne) came about as a model of how other tribes should act. But even the five civilized tribes lost their luster with so many other tribes attempting to rebel against white doctrine. Assimilation started a division amongst tribes. Some tribal members sought to assimilate as a means to continue living at all. However, the traditionalists wanted to hold onto every morsel of their heritage and culture, refusing to be integrated into white society. They wanted to believe that the EuroAmericans would eventually go away and leave them alone. This, however, never came to pass.
EuroAmericans set up schools to educate Native American children and make them civilized. The government removed children from tribal homes, placing them in these boarding schools. The boarding schools taught the children the white doctrine, going as far as restricting them to speak only English, forbidding them to speak their native tongue, cutting their hair (males in particular), and even dressing the children in fashionable uncomfortable European clothing.
Now even though this was looked upon with some inarguable distaste by Native Americans, they also realized that there wasn't anything they could do against the nefarious government. Where in the early stages of colonization the Native Americans had a numerical advantage, by the 1880's only 2 percent of that population found in 1492 were surviving. Certain factions of tribes refused the assimilation process. Orators of the day were sent to the Great Father in Washington to discuss their case against the prospects of assimilation. Their eloquent words evidently fell upon deaf ears, since most of the presidents that the orators came to see, viewed the Natives as socially less, and continued the policies regarding land division and reservations.
While intermarrying was first accepted within the confines of Native structures, the opinion soon changed when Natives didn't know whom to
trust and whom to fight. The intermarraiges was also promoted to an extent
by the government under the umbrella of civilization or Manifest Destiny process. There was a unforseen future with intermarraiges, though. The product was a mixed-blood population. These mixed bloods had difficulties fittin in with the Native societies, but were also at risk of being shunned from the white society as well. Did the mixed bloods have as much claim to their Native pedigree as full bloods? By far, traditionalists were outraged to even hear of the thought. This created even more dissention within an already fragile environment.
The term melting pot even brings a raise of an eyebrow to some. Within
decades, what was once known as a regular, slow changing, untimed society, transformed into a rapidly changing, time constraining society. Long gone were the days of enjoying cultural beliefs; with a stroke of a pen that could be changed. Native American history was firmly based in the oral tradition, yet soon lost was that history, when disease left gaps within generations, and those civilized soon forgot their native tongue. In certain decades, the empathy towards Native Americans has been greater, while in other times, the issue just sits on the back burner. With the 60's and 70's came the acceptance by hippies of so-called alternative
lifestyles - including that of Native Americans. The paradox here is that these EuroAmericans didn't have to "believe in sovereignty for American Indian tribes or in their self-determination as a seperatist alternative to write about their oppression. One could be 'for' American Indians without seriously challenging the sociostructral roots of Indian
misery." (Gross 209) Also the government played its hand by making a law, which in terms, made it possible "for almost anyone to walk in and announce that he or she is Indian - no familiarity with tribal history, or Indian affairs, community recognition, or anything else really required - and under this law, there is not a lot that Indians can do about it." (Jaimes 130) What we have seen is over the years a growing dissention amongst a common
people. This has turned father against son, sister against sister, and husband
against wife. The invasion of America left no tribe untouched, the effects
are long term; the losses are never to be fully repaid. The whole concept of
civilization of tribes is plausible on paper - however, the emotional and
personal turmoil experienced in the long run was never taken into
consideration. I hesitate with the renewing general empathy toward Native
Americans, since last time it occurred, Native people lost over 70 percent
of their land base, including mineral, fishing and water rights. I can
only hope that cultural differences can continue - not racism - but being
proud of one's background. Maintaining one's history may be the only way to
be unique in an ever-shrinking global picture.
Sources Consulted:
Axtell, James. Beyond 1492. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.
Gross, Emma. "Deconstructing Politically Correct Practice Literature:" the
American Indian Case. Social Work March 1995. p. 209
Jaimes, M. Annette. The State of Native America Today: genocide, colonization, and resistance. Boston: South End Press, 1992.
Steward-Smith, David. Lecture on Book Series, Sept 1994.
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