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The Trail of Tears
Kristen Kirkham
History 1700
Professor Clark
12/01/2014
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In 1830 a cruel act was made against the Indian people. The Indian Removal Act force
thousands of Indians off their lands and homes and led to the Trail of Tears. There were many
varying views of the Trail of Tears. Some viewed it as necessary and a divine right to take the
land from the Indian people. Still others thought that the way the Indian people were treated was
cruel and unnecessary. While the Indian perspective was a perspective of confusion. They were
having everything taken from them and left with nothing while they did nothing to deserve it.
The Trail of Tears was a solution that was made for white men to take over the land and
possessions of the Indian people. There could have been a better and more positive solution had
white men discussed with the Indian people and tried to make things equal for everyone instead
of letting their greed and superior attitude get in the way.
My first primary source comes from a soldiers perspective. The soldier John Burnett tells
how he became friends with the Indian people and tells of how kind they are. He goes on to say
that since he had become acquainted with the people and spoke their language he was drafted
into helping with the Indian Removal Act. He “did all that a Private soldier could do to alleviate
their [the Indian peoples] sufferings.”1 He goes on to say that the Indian people were not
troublemakers. He said that the only trouble he had was with “a brutal teamster by the name of
Ben McDonal.”2 He said that he had been using a whip on an old and feeble man so he stepped
in to help. He was then hit with the whip. He was known as “the soldier that was good to us [the
Indian people.].”3 John Burnett said that there were about four thousand graves that were dug
along the way. In his opinion this was the “blackest chapter on the pages of American History.”4
I think John Burnett did a fantastic job in showing how kind the Indian peoples are and
how cruel the whites were to them. He shows that it was white superior thinking and greed that
was the Indian peoples demise. He said that the one thing that the Indian people did wrong was
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to show white people gold. Once they did it sealed their fate. John Burnett shows that white
people could have gotten along with the Indian people and found a way to coexist on the land.
After all he had lived among the Indian people for years and had built relationships with them. If
his example would have been practiced by all white Americans we could possibly still have
Indians on their land and have a rich culture of Indian mixed into our society.
My second primary source is written by the Cherokee Indians to the Senate and House of
Representatives. This letter shows how confused the Indian people were about the Removal Act.
They plead to the leaders of the nation to tell them what they did wrong or what they did to
deserve the treatment they were getting. “[We] appeal to you, knowing that you are generous and
just. As weak and poor children…we would come and make our grievances known. Will you
listen to us? Will you have pity on us?”5 This shows that the Indians had trusted the government
in protecting them and doing what was right for all the people living in America. They wanted to
be heard and understood. The Indian people had been kind in receiving the first white people to
America. They showed them how to plant and survive in this new foreign land. They trusted the
whites and got along until they got greedy. “But by the early 1800s, so many of them and their
black slaves came that they wanted all the land, at least all of it east of the Mississippi River.”6
The Cherokee people say “the strength of the red man has become weakness.”7 and that it is time
for the white people to help them become strong. The Cherokees say that they inherited the land
and what greater right do a people have than inheritance. They say they haven never broken a
treaty or gone against the government.
I think the Cherokee Nation did a fantastic job in helping see the view of the Indian
people. They made you feel as if you were one of them by using emotion in their writing. It
makes you wonder if the government even read the document or if they were too proud to feel.
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This document gives the feel of pleading. The Indian people are pleading to know what they did
wrong and to not take their land from them. Their land was everything to them. Essentially by
taking their land, the whites took their lives.
The next source was an address of the committee and council of the Cherokee Nation.
They open by saying that the president said that he could not protect the Indians from the laws of
Georgia. This was a complete shock to the Cherokee Nation. They were shocked that the state
powers could override any protection that was set up by the country government. They said “It
would be impossible to describe the sorrow [they felt].”8 The leaders of the Cherokee Nation,
despite suspicion and distrust, decided, because of “the frank and magnanimous conduct of
General Washington..”9 to put aside these feelings and trust the whites. In return the Cherokees
attempted to civilize themselves. Things started to change over time and the Indian people
started to realize “with heavy hearts…that the protection heretofore experienced is now to be
withheld.”10 The Cherokee did realize that there were others on their side. They learned that
thousands raised their voices across the nation on their behalf. They go on to say that they have
“always fulfilled their engagements.”11 They then say that the guarantees of protection have
failed them and “If this guaranty fails them, in what can they trust, and where can they look for
protection?”12 They acknowledge that some people think that it would be better for the Indian
people to move to the other side of the Mississippi river. “We think otherwise. Our people
universally think otherwise.”13 They start to end their address by saying “We wish to remain on
the land of our fathers.”14 They continue on and say that it is their right to stay and that it would
be detrimental for them to be forced out.
In this address you see further the pleading and confusion of the Cherokee Nation. You
see that they are loyal to their land and they rely on the land for their lives. They show how sad
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they are that the whites have gone back on their word and caused distrust between the two
nations. When the white people are saying the Indians have to move across the Mississippi. I
think it is powerful when they say we, and our people, think otherwise. They basically think that
it is the worst idea that they have ever heard to kick them off their land. This whole address is
basically saying how can the whites take what is not theirs and that they are basically taking lives
when they force them off their lands.
The forth primary source is a letter fro an Indian chief who’s name is John Ross. This
letter is another plea to the whites and tells them they are going against what the government
intended in the first place. “We are stripped of every attribute of freedom and eligibility for legal
self-defense.”15 They have nothing if their lands are taken. “We have neither land nor home, nor
resting place that can be called our own…We are overwhelmed!”16 John Ross is saying they
can’t take much more grief or hardship. He says that the government has no right in selling their
land or property because they do not own it. He says there is no way that this doing can be
known or it be the “design of these honorable and highminded individuals, who stand at the head
of the Government.”17
Chief John Ross is trying to give the Government the benefit of the doubt and show them
that they can still be merciful. He is saying that the Indian people have nothing left and that it is
the duty of the government to reach out and help them in their weakness and time of need.
All of the sources so far are similar because they are pleading to the government. They
are similar in saying that the government has a duty to protect and help all of its peoples. To do
otherwise would be unconstitutional. They are also similar in that they all come from a
perspective of one who has lived as an Indian. Even the soldiers perspective is like that of an
Indian because he had lived among the Indian peoples for years and learned their customs,
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language, and way of life. They all show their lack of understanding of why their land is being
taken from them.
These previous sources are different because they think different things of the
government. One shows that they have distrusted the government and that their distrust was valid
and correct. Whereas a few of the others show that they believe the government and whites are
better than what their actions are showing.
The last primary source is the Order that was to be read to all the army. It was an
explanation of how to handle the different situations when the soldiers would encounter when
coming into contact with the Indian people. The order says that “it is understood that about four
fifths are opposed”18 to the removal act and says that “none are in actual hostilities with the
United States.”19 The soldiers are to disarm “every captured man as well as all who surrender
themselves”.20 When coming in contact with those that were sick the situation would be handled
as follows: “one or more of the family...of the sick person will be left in attendance, with ample
subsistence and remedies”.21 The rest of the family would be forced out and the rest of the
possessions taken from them and to be divided among white people. Once the sick were able
they would then have to make the trek. All possessions would be left behind and then taken by
the whites and divided among them.
This source shows the greed of the white people and their superior attitude. It also shows
that they were scared that the Indians would fight back. It shows this when they say that any
captured or surrendered Indian must be first disarmed.
I think that if the whites had put aside their greed and listened to the Indian people they
would have seen that what they were doing was wrong. They could have found a better solution
that could have worked for both nations.
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Burnett, John G. Birthday Story of Private John G. Burnett, Captain Abraham McClellan’s
Company, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry, Cherokee Indian Removal,
1838–39. December 11, 1890.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Nation, Cherokee. Memorial of the Cherokee Indians. Cherokee Phoenix and Indians
Advocate
Wednesday, January 20, 1830 Vol. II, no. 40 Page 1, col. 3a-5b.
6 Dwyer, John J. Trail of Tears and Blessings. The New American, May 5, 2014, 32-39.
7 Nation, Cherokee. Memorial of the Cherokee Indians. Cherokee Phoenix and Indians
Advocate
Wednesday, January 20, 1830 Vol. II, no. 40 Page 1, col. 3a-5b.
8 Ross, Lewis. Address of the committee and council of the Cherokee Nation, in General
Council Convened, to the People of the United States. Cherokee Phoenix and
Indians' Advocate Saturday, July 24, 1830 Vol. III, no. 14 Page 1, col. 1b-Page 2, col. 2a.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ross, John. Letter from Chief John Ross To the Senate and House of Representatives The
Papers of Chief John Ross, Volume 1, 1807–1839. University of Oklahoma Press:
Norman, Oklahoma, 1985.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Scott, Winfield. Orders. No. 25. Head Quarters, Eastern Division. Cherokee Agency, Ten.
May 17,1838.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
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