Before European settlers came to America, Native American tribes lived on the land, establishing their own customs, religions, and government. The Cherokee Nation lived in the eastern part of the country, around the Appalachian Mountains. They hunted, fished, and farmed in the states we now call Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Mississippi, and Georgia. More and more European settlers migrated to these regions of America during the 1700s and 1800s. These new settlers soon caused problems for the Native Americans
Because the Native Americans, also called Indians, did not do things the way the Europeans did, they were regarded as “savages.” President Thomas Jeffereson thought that the Indians should be “civilized,” or converted to Christianity and forced to follow European customs. The Native Americans built European style homes and farms, created a written language, and wrote a constitution, but many of the Europeans still did not want to cooperate with them. Since the Europeans wanted the Native Americans’ land, political leaders used the government to take it from the Indians.
The U.S. government recognized the Cherokee Nation as a nation with its own laws and customs, but the U.S. did not protect the Cherokees’ rights. The Indians battled the Supreme Court over the land, but they were forced to move. During the 1820s, 1830s, and 1840s, the U.S. government forced the Native Americans to move from their homes to areas hundreds of miles away. President Andrew Jackson and President Martin Van Buren used policies, such as the Indian Removal Act, to force the Cherokee Nation to give up its land east of the Mississippi River. The U.S. Army gathered the Indians, put them into internment camps, and forced them to move. Their journey to the Indian Territory was called the Trail of Tears because many Indians died from hunger, disease, and exhaustion. No wonder the Native American population and the rich cultures of various Native American nations were tragically affected.
