ᎠᎾᏓᏱᎲ ᏗᎨᏥᎧᎲᏍᏗᎢ
In the early 1800s the Cherokee began to face enormous pressures to all of their traditional homelands in the East and to move to other lands far away, west of the Mississippi River. The Cherokee people tried many strategies to avoid removal.
ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᏕᎨᏥᎧᎲᏒ ᎤᎵᏁᏨ
In 1828, President Andrew Jackson set about pushing a bill through Congress calling for the removal of the southeastern Native American tribes to lands west of the Mississippi River.
The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, and quickly sent to President Jackson, who signed the act into law, effectively forcing all southeastern tribes to give up their traditional homelands.
ᎧᏃᎮᏛ ᏚᎾᏠᎯᏍᏔᏅ ᎢᏤ ᎢᏦᏛᎢ
A small group of Cherokee citizens began to believe they had no choice but to give up their land and move to the west.
1 | Portrait of John Ridge
2 | Portrait of Major Ridge
3 | Portrait of Elias Boudinot
4 | Portrait of Stand Watie
1836 ᏗᏂᎦᏘᎴᎩ ᎪᏪᎵ ᎤᏂᏢᏅᎢ
As a rebuttal to the illegal signing of the Treaty of New Echota, the Cherokee Nation created an official protest petition in 1836. It was signed by Principal Chief John Ross, Cherokee Nation council members, and 2,174 citizens of the Cherokee Nation.
The protest petition pleaded with the U.S. government to reject the Treaty of New Echota and to work with the true officials of the Cherokee Nation.
Principal Chief John Ross and other statesmen exhausted all options to protest removal. Intruders continued to encroach on Cherokee lands and became more forceful in taking Cherokee property. Emotions ran high and the outlook for Cherokee people turned from hopeful to bleak.
