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The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears (Penguin Library of American Indian History)

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Since I was a little boy my dad has talked about the "Trail of Tears". My father has always been sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans and has been generous to their causes over the years. And so when I happened upon "The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears" at my local bookstore I felt compelled to read more about it. Co-authors Theda Perdue and Michael Green are both history professors at the University of North Carolina. They have put together a marvelous little book that provides the background and context for fully understanding the events that took place in the Cherokee Nation during the 1830's. I found that what my dad had tried to impress on me was true. This was indeed one of the most shameful episodes in American history.

Removal of Native Americans was certainly nothing new in the 1830's. It had happened any number of times before commencing with the removal of the Acadian people from Northern New England and Nova Scotia to Louisiana in the 1750's. But the Cherokees, under principal chief John Ross, had for many years tried to work with and accomodate the American government whenver possible. Time and again the Cherokees were the victims of broken promises from both the federal government and the state governments in Georgia and Tennessee. Seems like the treaties our government signed with the Cherokee nation were not worth the paper they were written on. The State of Georgia and its leaders were particularly harsh in their dealings with the Cherokees. The greed and ruthlessness exhibited by the leaders of Georgia would rear its ugly head again later on over the issue of slavery. Meanwhile, an increasing number of Cherokee leaders became convinced that the best option for survival would be to relocate the tribe to the Western lands the U.S. government had set aside in the state of Oklahoma. And so it was that a group of renegade Cherokee leaders led by John Ridge and Elias Boudinot entered into an agreement with the U.S. Government that would come to be known as the Treaty of New Echota. The treaty was signed on December 29, 1835 and would essentially provide for the relocation of the tribe to Oklahoma. According to the terms of the Treaty the U.S. government would provide substantial resources to accomodate the relocation of the tribe. Chief Ross remained opposed to the idea and argued that Ridge and Boudinot were not authorized to enter into such a treaty. But it was too late. Events were now out of control and time was running out for the Cherokee nation in most of the East.

Over the next several years the removal of the tribe would occur in waves. As one might expect our illustrious federal government failed to live up to its part of the bargain in a great many instances. Thousands of Cherokee people died while attempting to make the 850 mile trek to Oklahoma. It was a journey that would take anywhere from 3 to 6 months to complete and many individuals would perish along the way due to starvation, disease, exposure and exhaustion. "The Cherokee Nation and Trail of Tears" presents the entire sordid affair for your consideration. Frankly, it is still awfully hard to digest even after all these years. I certainly look forward to other volumes in this brand new series from Penguin. This was definitely time well spent! Recommended!

1. I know that I'm the lone voice here and I admit upfront that I'm not an expert on this topic nor a hardcore historian... which is precisely why I was looking forward to this book (ie to learn something about an important historical event that I've heard about since my youth).

2. Without a doubt the content / data within the book is well assembled, however this is suppposed to be a book review. Many can put together various facts, all of which may be interesting and "true", but that does not make a good book. Unfortunately, this "book" is written in a style that is more suited for a college textbook or an encyclopedia, both of which have their places in learning.

3. Thus, for those who don't mind reading dry historical data, akin to those found in a textbook or encyclopedia, this is the book for you. On the otherhand, if you want to read a well written historical book (akin to those written by Ambrose, Ellis etc...), then find another book on the Cherokee Nation.

For its brevity and diminutive size, this book contains a wealth of information. Theda Perdue and Michael Green have compiled an interesting and compelling narrative on the events that lead to and followed the Trail of Tears tragedy.
I have long known of my Cherokee ancestry and the perils my 3X-Great-Grandfather endured as he was forced from Georgia with his two small children.
This is not one of those books that portends to criticize all whites or the entire U.S. government for the injustices Cherokees undoubtedly endured. Instead, Perdue and Green square much of the blame for forced relocation on Georgia's state officials who held nothing but contempt for treaties signed by the federal government with recognized tribal leaders. "The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears," considers the fact that frequently good natured attempts to cooperate with the Cherokee Nation failed as much as opportunistic whites and political whims of the day sabotaged further efforts for an amicable and just relationship.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, READERS, AUTHORS AND PUBLISHERS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS TOO!

~The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears: The Penguin Library of American Indian History~ is an intriguing and sad look at the Cherokee nation, one of the nations in what was called the five civilized tribes, which included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. Perdue and Green, both specialists in Native American history, have collaborated to produce a fascinating account of the beleaguered Cherokee nation.

This short narrative history offers a backdrop to the history of the Cherokee Nation from hollowed antiquity to its first contact with the European world, and the uneasiness that ensued in the nineteenth century as white settlements fast encroached upon Cherokee land. A plague of European disease devastated the Cherokees in the earlier centuries of the European exploration of the New World. The Cherokee nation was unified in the early 18th century under the Emperor Moytoy, with the aid of an English envoy, Sir Alexander Cuming. In 1730, at Nikwasi, Chief Moytoy II of Tellico was chosen as Emperor by the Elector Chiefs of the principal Cherokee towns. Moytoy recognized the British king, George II. A delegation of seven prominent Cherokee traveled with Sir Alexander Cuming back to England, and stayed for four months. The visit culminated in a formal treaty of alliance between the British and Cherokee, the 1730 Treaty of Whitehall, which acknowledged Great Britain as the Cherokee protector. In 1785, following the wake of the War for Independence, the Treaty of Hopewell acknowledged the Cherokee Nation. In 1792, George Washington appointed an agent to the tribe, which represented their interests vis-a-vis the United States government. So enamored was this agent with the Cherokee people, he took up a Cherokee bride, and fiercely contested on behalf of their interests. Later U.S. agents were not so conciliatory.

Gradually, of the course of time, new developments sprung up, and as the nineteenth century dawned, the Cherokees were forced to concede new territory. The Cherokee were squeezed and pushed back and forced to cede more and more land.

Chief John Ross came to be a respected leader of the Cherokee creating a written Cherokee language. He was a tireless advocate for Cherokee property rights before the United States government. At every turn in protesting their grievances, the Cherokee were snubbed. President Andrew Jackson who earned acclaim as an Indian fighter had little sympathy for the Cherokee and snubbed their delegates to Washington, DC misleadingly informing them that the State of Georgia was possessed of full rights in deciding such controversies, when in fact the Constitution designated the general government of the United States as responsible with diplomatic relations with the Indian tribes.

Chief Justice John Marshall was among the cast of characters in settling the fate of Native Americans east of the Mississippi. "The Cherokee Nation," declared Marshall, "is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force." This decision thrilled Cherokee Chief John Ross for it put the issue not as a contest between the Cherokee Nation and the State of Georgia, but one between the United States and the State Georgia. Often heralded as a champion of Indian rights, Marshall in fact laid the whole groundwork for the undoing of tribal sovereignty in Johnson v. McIntosh, which gave a paramount claim to land title to Westerners. The subsequent Cherokee Nation and Worcester cases were sort of an afterthought to correct Marshall's own earlier misdeed, and by that the time the popular momentum had already turned decisively against the beleaguered Cherokee. After Marshall declared Georgia's actions unconstitutional, Jackson defiantly declared, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."

Eventually, widespread ethnic tension compelled the white settlers arguably greedy for Cherokee land to pilfer what was left of it, and press for an out-and-out ethnic cleansing of Georgia, east Tennessee and the Carolinas where they domiciled. The Cherokee Nation was betrayed by the United States government who breached their treaties and dishonored their obligations with them--imposing a farce removal act upon them in total breach of the only treaty of legal authority with the Cherokee. The Indian Removal Act, part of a U.S. government policy known as Indian Removal, was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. Many Cherokee remained however in the immediate years following this law, which gained efficacy in 1838.

A group of renegade Cherokee leaders led by John Ridge and Elias Boudinot entered into an agreement with the U.S. Government that would come to be known as the Treaty of New Echota signed on December 29, 1835. Their authority as representatives of the Nation was lacking, so the treaty's authority is suspect, and Ridge and Boudinot were probably bribed. According to the terms of the Treaty the U.S. government would forcibly preside over the removal of the Cherokee to the western frontier in Oklahoma territory, but it would ostensibly provide substantial resources to facilitate the relocation of the tribe. Chief Ross remained opposed to the idea and argued emphatically that those who signed it were not authorized to enter into such a treaty, or speak on behalf of the Cherokee.

In 1838, the United States government commenced a round-up of Cherokees that had not consented to move west in earlier moves. What ensued was no better than a pogrom for thousands of Cherokees would lay dead on the trek to Oklahoma covering which covered most of Tennessee and Arkansas. The Cherokee were malnourished, poorly clothed, subjected to a grueling pace, and many perished during the trip. The United States failed at every step to provide them accommodation, whether it be in terms of food, adequate rest or shelter for the winter. But seldom is ethnic cleansing conducting by humanitarians is it? This book is a sad chapter in American history. Christian charity should have compelled better treatment of America's first Americans, but it did not. This is a most worthwhile read about a sad chapter in American history.

"No, it is true. The frontier place is for people like my white son and his woman and their children. And one day there will be no more frontier. And men like you will go too, like the Mohicans. And new people will come, work, struggle. Some will make their life. But once, we were here."
--Chingachgook, The Last of the Mohicans

At just 164 pages (plus footnotes) this is an excellent introduction to a powerful piece of our history that many people (myself included) learned something about in school, but do not really understand.

My interest was sparked when driving in Southern Illinois, I saw a sign commemorating the trail of tears. I vaguely understood that the Cherokees were forcibly removed from somewhere in the South to somewhere in the West--but had no idea how that route ended up going through Illinois!

The "trail," as detailed in a very helpful map, is not a geographic route at all. Through a complex series of highly political actions (politics in both the US and Cherokee nations), several waves of migrants (some quasi voluntary, some at the point of a gun) headed from the historic Cherokee nation located at the intersection of Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee to Oklahoma, via a variety of routes--some over land, some by water, and some by a combination (one mostly water route headed down the Tennessee River to the Ohio River, to the Mississippi--where they join in Southern Illinois!!--and then up the Arkansas River.

The politics on the US side included such well known figures as Chief Justice Marshall, Daniel Webster, and President Jackson. On the Cherokee side, there was a well established governing structure, which became formalized when the need arose to enter into agreements between the entire Cherokee people and the US government. There were, in fact, several different treaties negotiated--some by authorized representatives, some by renegade "leaders" who proclaimed they were acting in the best interest of their people, but who had no formal authority at all.

As is all too often the case in our history, the parts of these agreements which the US liked, it enforced. Those parts it did not like, it claimed to have no authority to enforce.

Most tragically, when Georgia held a "lottery" which purported to give away tracts of land within the Cherokee nation, the federal government claimed it had no authority to protect the Cherokees when the "winners" arrived to claim "their" land--ruling this to be a matter entirely within the jurisdiction of the Georgia authorities. However, at the same time it established the lottery, Georgia also enacted a law barring Cherokees from giving evidence in Georgia's courts--thus effectively leaving the Cherokee landowners with no protection at all.

Through this and other equally questionable artifices, the Cherokees were driven from the east, and sent west to Oklahoma. What happened there--when oil was discovered 100 years later, is left for another book.

An excellent introduction to a little understood chapter of our history.

After purchasing Robert V. Remini's Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars on this website, I downloaded this book at [...]. I then purchased a hardback copy here at Amazon. For those interested in studying the conquest of the eastern half of the North American continent, the displacement of the Indian tribes, their removal west of the Mississippi River, etc.; the expropriation of their lands by white Europeans and their descendants, these two books are fine resources.

I purchased this book during a recent vacation in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The Blue Springs there were a stopping point for several of the groups on the Trail of Tears.

This book provides a good overview of Cherokee history as it relates to the Trail of Tears and it whets the appetite for more detailed information. Perdue and Green are clearly experts on the topic.

While the book is highly readable, it is far too short. I'd love to see the authors come out with an expanded second edition. To make up for the deficit, I'm ordering Grant Foreman's two titles, "The Five Civilized Tribes" and "Indian Removal".

Read it for a class in college -- it's extremely gripping, especially because it reveals interesting chunks of U.S. history that are a little difficult for people to address and digest. Very well written and does not mince words about the 19th century injustices perpetuated by the U.S. against the Indigenous people of these lands.

I am new to Theda Purdue. I was introduced to her at a Cherokee history course at NSU Ok. I found this book to hold your interest and to be very informative. I recommend this book to all who are interested in Cherokee history and those who wish to learn the truth of the American Government vs the Native Americans.

And shame on Andrew Jackson for allowing this to happen. He sold his soul and caused the death of hundreds of peaceful people to appease the land hungry white people of Georgia and assure his reelection. This book tells the real story. Not the best written book I've ever read but it is a story that needed to be told.