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The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears
In the early nineteenth century, the U.S. government shifted its policy from trying to assimilate American Indians to relocating them, and proceeded to forcibly drive seventeen thousand Cherokees from their homelands. This journey of exile became known as the Trail of Tears.
Historians Perdue and Green reveal the government's betrayals and the divisions within the Cherokee Nation, follow the exiles along the Trail of Tears, and chronicle the hardships found in the West. In its trauma and tragedy, the Cherokee diaspora has come to represent the irreparable injustice done to Native Americans in the name of nation building-and in their determined survival, it represents the resilience of the Native American spirit.
Historians Perdue and Green reveal the government's betrayals and the divisions within the Cherokee Nation, follow the exiles along the Trail of Tears, and chronicle the hardships found in the West. In its trauma and tragedy, the Cherokee diaspora has come to represent the irreparable injustice done to Native Americans in the name of nation building-and in their determined survival, it represents the resilience of the Native American spirit.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
August 27, 2018
I bought this desperately sad little book from an Indian village in North Carolina, home of the Eastern Cherokees who stayed in their homeland. It tells the story of one of the most shameful periods of the history of the United States, ethnic cleansing at its worst. The forced removal of this nation from their homeland and subsequent deaths and poor treatment of the survivors had me in tears many times before i had finished it. I had no previous knowledge of this, only a vague idea that American Indian tribes had been treated badly, it certainly opened my eyes.
July 27, 2016
2.5/5.
This book suffers from not understanding who its audience is. It is not as detailed in its analysis, careful in its interpretation, or meticulous in its footnotes as a standard text written by an academic historian would be. At the same time, it is most likely too dry for an audience not interested in these types of books. The result is only half a history, that pleases few people, and, to me, seems unfinished.
I disliked much of the tone of the writing. The authors seem to view the Cherokee's passive resistance as morally laudable (why the authors have such a position on the manner in which Native Peoples resist white encroachment is beyond me). It would have been enlightening for the authors to expand the scope of their work to include all the Trails of Tears -- the removal of all 5 of the "civilized tribes" of the East -- and to contrast the Cherokee resistance with that of the Seminoles who waged 30 years of guerrilla war to maintain the integrity of their homeland.
The authors seem to view the institutions of the Enlightenment and the early US as being consistent with multiracial and multiethnic democracy, with equality guaranteed for all. In actuality, both the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Land Ordinances of 1785/7 particularly mention Native Peoples as not being subjects of the United States and as not being guaranteed the protections therein. Native Peoples do not legally receive the protections enshrined by the Bill of Rights until 1925; and de facto equal protection under the law continues to elude Native communities. The problem with this view is that the authors use it to interpret events as the US government (and society) failing to protect members of its own citizenry/people as it was intended to do. This is a naive interpretation. A more accurate interpretation is that the US settler colonial state, representing the interests of settler colonists, use a mixture of violence, legal chicanery, and broken treaties to systematically strip the land holdings away from Native Peoples in what is one of the largest wealth transfers in history. US government and society never intended to respect or allow Native Peoples legal title to their land. The state was merely fulfilling one of the purposes of its creation.
The authors also pay insufficient attention to differences within the Cherokee community between large, landholding plantation owners, utilizing slave labor and conforming to Euro-American views of civilization and the majority of the Cheroke people who continued with older (productive) agricultural practices. It was the former group of people, almost exclusively, who were negotiating with the US government. John Ross, the most prominent member of this group and leader of the Cherokee, believed eventual cultural annihilation ("detribalization" and "amalgamation") were acceptable outcomes. I imagine there was considerable dissent within Cherokee society to any such proposal. The authors needed to explore to what extent the interests of this elite group of Cherokee, and not the interests of the people as a whole, governed the actions of those negotiating with the US government.
I did learn some new things from this text and it was a quick read. However, I am left wanting more and am concerned about the quality of the rest of the texts in this Penguin series.
This book suffers from not understanding who its audience is. It is not as detailed in its analysis, careful in its interpretation, or meticulous in its footnotes as a standard text written by an academic historian would be. At the same time, it is most likely too dry for an audience not interested in these types of books. The result is only half a history, that pleases few people, and, to me, seems unfinished.
I disliked much of the tone of the writing. The authors seem to view the Cherokee's passive resistance as morally laudable (why the authors have such a position on the manner in which Native Peoples resist white encroachment is beyond me). It would have been enlightening for the authors to expand the scope of their work to include all the Trails of Tears -- the removal of all 5 of the "civilized tribes" of the East -- and to contrast the Cherokee resistance with that of the Seminoles who waged 30 years of guerrilla war to maintain the integrity of their homeland.
The authors seem to view the institutions of the Enlightenment and the early US as being consistent with multiracial and multiethnic democracy, with equality guaranteed for all. In actuality, both the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Land Ordinances of 1785/7 particularly mention Native Peoples as not being subjects of the United States and as not being guaranteed the protections therein. Native Peoples do not legally receive the protections enshrined by the Bill of Rights until 1925; and de facto equal protection under the law continues to elude Native communities. The problem with this view is that the authors use it to interpret events as the US government (and society) failing to protect members of its own citizenry/people as it was intended to do. This is a naive interpretation. A more accurate interpretation is that the US settler colonial state, representing the interests of settler colonists, use a mixture of violence, legal chicanery, and broken treaties to systematically strip the land holdings away from Native Peoples in what is one of the largest wealth transfers in history. US government and society never intended to respect or allow Native Peoples legal title to their land. The state was merely fulfilling one of the purposes of its creation.
The authors also pay insufficient attention to differences within the Cherokee community between large, landholding plantation owners, utilizing slave labor and conforming to Euro-American views of civilization and the majority of the Cheroke people who continued with older (productive) agricultural practices. It was the former group of people, almost exclusively, who were negotiating with the US government. John Ross, the most prominent member of this group and leader of the Cherokee, believed eventual cultural annihilation ("detribalization" and "amalgamation") were acceptable outcomes. I imagine there was considerable dissent within Cherokee society to any such proposal. The authors needed to explore to what extent the interests of this elite group of Cherokee, and not the interests of the people as a whole, governed the actions of those negotiating with the US government.
I did learn some new things from this text and it was a quick read. However, I am left wanting more and am concerned about the quality of the rest of the texts in this Penguin series.
April 6, 2022
This is Nonfiction/Historical. Nonfiction books containing Native American history hurts my heart. I'm not sure why I continue to read them...apparently I just can't help myself.
This one contains a sad story as the Cherokee nation was evicted from their homes and forced onto to what became known as the Trail of Tears.
The one thing that kept this from 4 stars was the writing. It was a little too factual. At times it felt like bullet points. I would have liked more personal stories and information. Some emotion would have been nice with all the facts. So 3 stars.
This one contains a sad story as the Cherokee nation was evicted from their homes and forced onto to what became known as the Trail of Tears.
The one thing that kept this from 4 stars was the writing. It was a little too factual. At times it felt like bullet points. I would have liked more personal stories and information. Some emotion would have been nice with all the facts. So 3 stars.
March 1, 2020
Very informative history about the Cherokee Native American tribe and its adaptation in the Christian ways of what they deem normal. Christians viewed Native Americans as savages and they set to go into Native American communities and teach them the proper way as what White people do and behave. The cruelty and the ethnic cleansing we did to the Cherokee people is unconscionable. We stole everything from them especial there ancestral lands.
Chronicling the history of U.S.-Native American Relations from the Colonial Period to the time of the Trail of Tears, it lays out the foundations of policy toward Native Americans, and ultimately stakes the case perpetuated by the Government for the removal of the tribes, after the failure of the 'Civilization' program.
I constantly hear people say this is not who we are when we are doing bad things to groups of people. Let's have an honest discussion that is exactly who we are as a Nation we have stole land, cleansed Native populations ect ect. We are not great and we never will be the harms we have done is not at all be learned because we keep repeating with a different groups of people. Right now it is children in cages.
Chronicling the history of U.S.-Native American Relations from the Colonial Period to the time of the Trail of Tears, it lays out the foundations of policy toward Native Americans, and ultimately stakes the case perpetuated by the Government for the removal of the tribes, after the failure of the 'Civilization' program.
I constantly hear people say this is not who we are when we are doing bad things to groups of people. Let's have an honest discussion that is exactly who we are as a Nation we have stole land, cleansed Native populations ect ect. We are not great and we never will be the harms we have done is not at all be learned because we keep repeating with a different groups of people. Right now it is children in cages.
March 25, 2024
The removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Alabama to territory west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s termed the Trail of Tears is a concept many are vaguely aware of, but few are intimately familiar with. It stands as one of the most blatant violations of human rights in the dark, checkered history of the United States government in its relations with Native American peoples. Perdue and Green offer a concise recounting of that tragedy. They relate details of the history leading up to, through, and after the removal.
The authors frequently reference the fact that the Cherokee Trail of Tears was only one of many forced evictions of Native Americans from their homes east of the Mississippi River to “Indian Territory” in what is now Oklahoma. Yet, as they also point out, it was perhaps the most contested and dramatic. The Cherokee fight for their lands involved two United States Supreme Court cases, several presidents and their administrations, and several state governments. It was a sad chapter in the history of both nations, and one that is as relevant today as nearly two centuries ago.
The authors frequently reference the fact that the Cherokee Trail of Tears was only one of many forced evictions of Native Americans from their homes east of the Mississippi River to “Indian Territory” in what is now Oklahoma. Yet, as they also point out, it was perhaps the most contested and dramatic. The Cherokee fight for their lands involved two United States Supreme Court cases, several presidents and their administrations, and several state governments. It was a sad chapter in the history of both nations, and one that is as relevant today as nearly two centuries ago.
March 16, 2023
Who recommended this book to me: Interest since 8th grade to learn about the Trail of Tears, browsing in the Smithsonian gift shop
I would recommend this book to: Those seeking to go beyond the brief summary in their school textbooks of this sad, sad, sad period in U.S. history
I would recommend this book to: Those seeking to go beyond the brief summary in their school textbooks of this sad, sad, sad period in U.S. history
April 2, 2022
Great historic read. Very sad, though. Didn't really know my ancestors history until reading this book.
January 15, 2024
This began in an extremely disappointing way, but a way that is unfortunately all too common when one is reading or listening to books about America's first immigrants [1], and that is a rhapsodic account of the heathen worldview of the Cherokee people, something that has no claims to truth on any number of levels. Once this bit of multicultural tripe is gotten rid of, the book has some solid material about the context in which the Trail of Tears too place, along with the understanding that the Cherokee experience, although better known than most, was neither unique nor representative, and that all of the Eastern tribes expelled from lands so that settlers could take their land had their own stories with unique twists. So far so good, I suppose, but since this is a book about the Cherokee, it is little surprise that this book chooses to focus on the history of the Cherokee people during the long run-up to removal and at least a few years afterward, and the story is itself a worthwhile story to tell even if the author does not make the Cherokee, especially their leadership under John Ross, look very good.
The book is organized in a generally chronological way and takes about five and a half hours of listening time, which is about three times the length (or more) it would likely have taken me to read the book. Aside from the extraneous and offensive religious material at the beginning of the book, the material is largely downcast and historical. What it reveals is that the sustained pressure from the state and federal governments for the Cherokee to surrender their land was accompanied by several philosophical approaches and led to a great deal of division within the Cherokee themselves. Efforts at civilization (which increased the density of Cherokee and allowed superfluous hunting grounds to be ceded) alternated with racist fears of intermarriage and efforts on the parts of many Southern states to give at best a second-class citizenship status to the Cherokee, and the result on the part of the Cherokees was splintering, eventually into four groups of people, "old Settlers" who voluntarily moved west at the beginning of the 19th century, Eastern band Cherokee and various other outlaws (like some of my own ancestors) who hid out in the mountains, treaty party Cherokee from Georgia whose signing of a contentious treaty at New Echota led their leaders to be butchered by other Cherokee in an act of political terrorism, and the majority led by the corrupt John Ross and his associates.
The book, ultimately, does not make anyone look good. The Cherokee show themselves as fractious, highly disorderly, and prone to alcoholism and cronyism. Settlers show themselves as immensely greedy and the United States showed itself as being unwilling to live up to its agreements. The result was a tragedy, and this book certainly does a good job at framing the nature of that tragedy and pointing out what about removal led to such diffiuclties--like the breakdown of society, despair leading to immense alcoholism, and corrupt political dealing on all sides. It is striking that the book takes a pro-Ross slant, one that is increasingly tedious and irritating as the book goes on and the Ross group shows itself involved in a great deal of corrupt dealing, but to the authors' credit there is at least some attempt made to explain the motives of those who signed the treaty of New Echota, even though they realized (correctly) it would probably cost them their lives. Overall, though, this book trades in far too much in white guilt to be as good as it could be, although there are few historians who would write about the Cherokee without trying to make whites look bad in this day and age.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
The book is organized in a generally chronological way and takes about five and a half hours of listening time, which is about three times the length (or more) it would likely have taken me to read the book. Aside from the extraneous and offensive religious material at the beginning of the book, the material is largely downcast and historical. What it reveals is that the sustained pressure from the state and federal governments for the Cherokee to surrender their land was accompanied by several philosophical approaches and led to a great deal of division within the Cherokee themselves. Efforts at civilization (which increased the density of Cherokee and allowed superfluous hunting grounds to be ceded) alternated with racist fears of intermarriage and efforts on the parts of many Southern states to give at best a second-class citizenship status to the Cherokee, and the result on the part of the Cherokees was splintering, eventually into four groups of people, "old Settlers" who voluntarily moved west at the beginning of the 19th century, Eastern band Cherokee and various other outlaws (like some of my own ancestors) who hid out in the mountains, treaty party Cherokee from Georgia whose signing of a contentious treaty at New Echota led their leaders to be butchered by other Cherokee in an act of political terrorism, and the majority led by the corrupt John Ross and his associates.
The book, ultimately, does not make anyone look good. The Cherokee show themselves as fractious, highly disorderly, and prone to alcoholism and cronyism. Settlers show themselves as immensely greedy and the United States showed itself as being unwilling to live up to its agreements. The result was a tragedy, and this book certainly does a good job at framing the nature of that tragedy and pointing out what about removal led to such diffiuclties--like the breakdown of society, despair leading to immense alcoholism, and corrupt political dealing on all sides. It is striking that the book takes a pro-Ross slant, one that is increasingly tedious and irritating as the book goes on and the Ross group shows itself involved in a great deal of corrupt dealing, but to the authors' credit there is at least some attempt made to explain the motives of those who signed the treaty of New Echota, even though they realized (correctly) it would probably cost them their lives. Overall, though, this book trades in far too much in white guilt to be as good as it could be, although there are few historians who would write about the Cherokee without trying to make whites look bad in this day and age.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
March 31, 2016
I really liked this book- not enjoyed, but liked. Even as someone who paid pretty close attention in history class, the specifics of the trail of tears were things I did not know of. It really was much worse than my history classes' brief overviews described.
I thought the book was well written, and any difficulty that I had while moving through the book was due more to the content than the style of writing. It's not a book to be taken lightly, but if you are interested in learning more about US & American Indian relations, or specifically the trail of tears, this is a great book.
I thought the book was well written, and any difficulty that I had while moving through the book was due more to the content than the style of writing. It's not a book to be taken lightly, but if you are interested in learning more about US & American Indian relations, or specifically the trail of tears, this is a great book.
December 7, 2016
The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears
Author: Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published In: New York City, NY
Date: 2007
Pgs: 189
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The forced Native American diaspora which came to be known as The Trail of Tears brought an irreparable injustice onto the Cherokee Nation. The US government forcibly drove 17,000 Cherokee from their ancestral homeland in the southern Appalachians. Trauma, tragedy, hardship, and betrayal, these and blood paved The Trail of Tears.
The determined survival of the Cherokee people represents a resilience of the human spirit.
A Cherokee tragedy. An Indian tragedy. An American tragedy.
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Academics
History
Non-fiction
Why this book:
Human will to survive amidst man’s inhumanity to man.
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Secretary of War Henry Knox. He seems to have tried. But the post-Revolutionary War white settler engaging in continual confiscatory invasions of Indian lands made his job impossible. While the Feds were supposed to remove white settlers from Indian lands this may never have happened. There are no examples of confiscatory squatters being removed from Indian land by the Feds. Knox stood at the crux between his own Enlightenment fueled principles and the expansionist policies of the states. He tried to drive respect for territorial rights and Indian culture. This was one of those moments in history that gave truth to the axiom, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”the white settlers ant-mounded themselves westward, invading Indian land, fighting and killing Indians, and then, expecting state militias and the Federal government to protect them. Knox believed that the Indians would not surrender short of a long and bloody war that would give the United States a reputation for rapacity that would stain the future with blood.
The Ridges and Boudinot caught in the middle, acting in good faith for the survival of their people. Would there be a Cherokee people today if they had continued to stay in Georgia after the state had dispossessed them of their property and were trying to ethnically cleanse them from their state. The signatories of the treaty that set the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears were described as good men doing a bad thing for the love of their people. They and their allies in the Nation became known as the Treaty Party.
Least Favorite Character:
Andrew Jackson and the Georgian Legislature of this era were real SOBs. The term hadn’t been coined yet, but what they did was ethnic cleansing. The reputation that Henry Knox feared came to fruition during this time. Jackson purporting that he was saving the Indians by forcing removal on them is one of the most two-faced ideas I’ve ever read.
Character I Most Identified With:
John Ridge. What was the poor bastard supposed to do? Sit still and watch Georgia give all that the Cherokee Nation had away to the white settlers piecemeal and destroy their culture besides. I fear that if Ross’s hand hadn’t been forced by the Treaty of New Echota, that may be exactly what happened to the Cherokee.
The Feel:
Depressed the hell out of me, but damned good book.
Favorite Scene / Quote:
The chiefs of the Cherokee Nation wanted the education for their children that came with civilization. They weren’t much interested in the Christianity that was parceled out with it. I see this through the stained glass of the push to force children in our modern world out of public school into the indoctrination webs of charter schools.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
I expected more about the Trail. This was very heavy on the politics and the money, the land, and Georgia being a son of a bitch.
Hmm Moments:
Next time a Christian scientist pushes Adam and Eve as something that should be taught in school, I’m bringing the Cherokee genesis story where the first humans were a brother and sister and, when he struck her with a fish, she started giving birth to another child every seven days until the world was full.
The Cherokee history in relation to the English is fraught with betrayals and backsliding. Why did they ever trust the Federal government?
Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade came on while I was reading about the Georgia Legislature’s moves to screw over the Cherokee Nation and accelerate the ethnic cleansing of northwestern Georgia.
Reading the SCOTUS rulings in the Cherokee Nation-Georgia chapters with the question of sovereignty and jurisdiction, and the way they were worded, I’m left to wonder what the result would have been if the Cherokee had sued for statehood instead of staying the course in the treaty-jurisdiction vein. I believe the result would have pissed Georgia off.
If the Treaty Party hadn’t signed the Treaty of New Echota, Georgia would have still taken the Cherokee land in the lottery for white settlers. Then, Georgia and the Army would have still dragged the Cherokee out of the southern Appalachians and set them on the Trail of Tears in even worse shape.
It’s surprising with the way that history portrays Ross and the National Party having thorns in their sides in the persons of the Old Settlers and the Treaty Party that following Ross’s passing in 1866, political parties in the Cherokee Nation began to develop along new lines and the animosity between groups began to moderate.
WTF Moments:
Despite treaties claiming that the Cherokee had freedom of choice in matters of commerce, too often, they found themselves in fait accompli deals involving land sales.
Thomas Jefferson was of two minds. In one instance, he wanted to trade with and “civilize” the Indians. While in the other, he believed that America’s future depended on land acquisition and expansion. Due to deer herd depletion, some of the civilizing elements acting on the Cherokee came internally, instead of from the encroaching Americans. The federal government’s agents were rather schizophrenic in their actions; while one agent acts from a position of fairness, the next acts in conjunction with pro-land grab governors and state governments.
The Georgia murder case against George Corn Tassell for an act taking place in the Cherokee Nation, the way Georgia used it to subvert Cherokee law, and the Georgia Legislature, Governor, and courts ignoring of a Supreme Court stay and subpoena in the case is one more slip on the long slow slide toward Civil War. Showed that the Feds only had the power that the states decided they had at that time instead of it codified and spelled out. After Tassell’s initial arrest, the judge in the case tossed it to an appellate tribunal who confirmed Georgia’s jurisdiction despite the Cherokee Nation having a treaty right of self jurisprudence. Tassell was convicted and sentenced to hang on December 24, 1830. Tassell’s lawyer appealed to SCOTUS. The court issued their stay and subpoena on Georgia’s governor. The governor and legislature chose to ignore SCOTUS and hanged him on Christmas Eve.
The separation of families, the leaving behind of old people, the arresting and imprisoning, the gathering into forts/prisons/internment camps/concentration camps as a middle step in the ethnic cleansing of Georgia and the southern Appalachians; measles, cholera, dysentery, and whooping cough. Rare were the removal expeditions that made the trip without casualties. Rape was rampant in the camps.
Seen as traitors because of they signed and because of the words of John Ross and the National Party, the Treaty Party leaders, after the Cherokee began to settle in Indian Territory and the Treaty Party began to ally itself with the Old Settlers who preceded the Cherokee Nation to Indian Territory, were dragged from their new homes and killed. This was done after a convocation about the future of the tribe. The convocation featured debate between the Old Settlers, the Treaty Party and their followers, and the Cherokee Nation group lead by John Ross. A secret meeting of the Cherokee Nation rulers after the bigger convocation rubberstamped the actions to be taken against the Treaty Party leaders. John Ross wasn’t at the secret meeting. His son was. The idea that John Ross didn’t know what was going on is crap. This was a historical example of plausible deniability.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
The United States, post-revolution, used a confiscatory policy in Indian lands despite signing concurrent treaties that presupposed the purchase of lands.
Despite Knox’s high ideals, he pushed prerequisites that the Indians give up hunting and gathering on their lands and become more analogous to the settlers who were invading their lands, learn English, become civilized, etc. Though even in instances where the Indians did this, the settlers continued to advance and the governments of the states and those lawmakers in the Federal capital rubberstamped and money whipped the problems. The states paid lip service to the civilization policy and if/when Indians followed the policy, they found themselves not equal to the white settler, but more equal to the freed Black slave.
Andrew Jackson’s beloved Old Hickory nickname in context of his actions vis-a-vis Georgia and the Trail of Tears is inappropriate. In light of his hiding in his hypocrisy, the name given him by Ridge in the Cherokee Phoenix is much more appropriate, Chicken Snake.
Despite a later victory before SCOTUS that recognized the Cherokee Nation, Jackson forbore execution of the Court’s decree. The Cherokee’s allies in Washington started to advise the Cherokee to prepare for removal. They feared a Constitutional crisis. Ridge and Boudinot came home convinced. John Ross and the Council opposed them despite the writing becoming plainer on the wall.
The reason we mainly hear John Ross’s version is because the opposition party’s leaders were killed before they got down, collectively, to forming a new government in Indian Territory. The National Party, following the killings, legislated that there should be no revenge and that the killers were granted amnesty if they publically apologized. Ross’s brother and son were part of the group which set the ball in motion that placed targets on the leaders of the Treaty Party. The Treaty Party were pragmatists, better alive in Indian Territory and still Cherokee, than dead on Georgia’s bayonets.
The National Party’s refusal to arrest and prosecute those who murdered the leaders of the Treaty Party eventually lead to reprisals and revenge slayings.
_________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
The book was more about the internal and external political strife than about the Trail; was more about money than the suffering. This painted a picture of the impossible position the Cherokee were in in Georgia. If they had stayed and resisted I wonder if there would be a Cherokee Nation today. The abuse of authority inside Indian Territory is a story rarely told. The revenge brigandage is though. This did make me view the history through a different lens; Old Hickory vs Chicken Snake, Georgia’s actions and how their flaunting of Federal power was a waystation on the way to Civil War, the conflict between the Rosses, the Treaty Party, and the Old Settlers. There’s very much a cult of personality aspect to John Ross that I had never noticed before.
Author Assessment:
Very well written.
Editorial Assessment:
Well edited.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
glad I read it
Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Dewey Decimal System:
970.3
CHE
Would recommend to:
genre fans
_________________________________________________
Author: Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published In: New York City, NY
Date: 2007
Pgs: 189
_________________________________________________
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The forced Native American diaspora which came to be known as The Trail of Tears brought an irreparable injustice onto the Cherokee Nation. The US government forcibly drove 17,000 Cherokee from their ancestral homeland in the southern Appalachians. Trauma, tragedy, hardship, and betrayal, these and blood paved The Trail of Tears.
The determined survival of the Cherokee people represents a resilience of the human spirit.
A Cherokee tragedy. An Indian tragedy. An American tragedy.
_________________________________________________
Genre:
Academics
History
Non-fiction
Why this book:
Human will to survive amidst man’s inhumanity to man.
_________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Secretary of War Henry Knox. He seems to have tried. But the post-Revolutionary War white settler engaging in continual confiscatory invasions of Indian lands made his job impossible. While the Feds were supposed to remove white settlers from Indian lands this may never have happened. There are no examples of confiscatory squatters being removed from Indian land by the Feds. Knox stood at the crux between his own Enlightenment fueled principles and the expansionist policies of the states. He tried to drive respect for territorial rights and Indian culture. This was one of those moments in history that gave truth to the axiom, ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”the white settlers ant-mounded themselves westward, invading Indian land, fighting and killing Indians, and then, expecting state militias and the Federal government to protect them. Knox believed that the Indians would not surrender short of a long and bloody war that would give the United States a reputation for rapacity that would stain the future with blood.
The Ridges and Boudinot caught in the middle, acting in good faith for the survival of their people. Would there be a Cherokee people today if they had continued to stay in Georgia after the state had dispossessed them of their property and were trying to ethnically cleanse them from their state. The signatories of the treaty that set the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears were described as good men doing a bad thing for the love of their people. They and their allies in the Nation became known as the Treaty Party.
Least Favorite Character:
Andrew Jackson and the Georgian Legislature of this era were real SOBs. The term hadn’t been coined yet, but what they did was ethnic cleansing. The reputation that Henry Knox feared came to fruition during this time. Jackson purporting that he was saving the Indians by forcing removal on them is one of the most two-faced ideas I’ve ever read.
Character I Most Identified With:
John Ridge. What was the poor bastard supposed to do? Sit still and watch Georgia give all that the Cherokee Nation had away to the white settlers piecemeal and destroy their culture besides. I fear that if Ross’s hand hadn’t been forced by the Treaty of New Echota, that may be exactly what happened to the Cherokee.
The Feel:
Depressed the hell out of me, but damned good book.
Favorite Scene / Quote:
The chiefs of the Cherokee Nation wanted the education for their children that came with civilization. They weren’t much interested in the Christianity that was parceled out with it. I see this through the stained glass of the push to force children in our modern world out of public school into the indoctrination webs of charter schools.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
I expected more about the Trail. This was very heavy on the politics and the money, the land, and Georgia being a son of a bitch.
Hmm Moments:
Next time a Christian scientist pushes Adam and Eve as something that should be taught in school, I’m bringing the Cherokee genesis story where the first humans were a brother and sister and, when he struck her with a fish, she started giving birth to another child every seven days until the world was full.
The Cherokee history in relation to the English is fraught with betrayals and backsliding. Why did they ever trust the Federal government?
Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade came on while I was reading about the Georgia Legislature’s moves to screw over the Cherokee Nation and accelerate the ethnic cleansing of northwestern Georgia.
Reading the SCOTUS rulings in the Cherokee Nation-Georgia chapters with the question of sovereignty and jurisdiction, and the way they were worded, I’m left to wonder what the result would have been if the Cherokee had sued for statehood instead of staying the course in the treaty-jurisdiction vein. I believe the result would have pissed Georgia off.
If the Treaty Party hadn’t signed the Treaty of New Echota, Georgia would have still taken the Cherokee land in the lottery for white settlers. Then, Georgia and the Army would have still dragged the Cherokee out of the southern Appalachians and set them on the Trail of Tears in even worse shape.
It’s surprising with the way that history portrays Ross and the National Party having thorns in their sides in the persons of the Old Settlers and the Treaty Party that following Ross’s passing in 1866, political parties in the Cherokee Nation began to develop along new lines and the animosity between groups began to moderate.
WTF Moments:
Despite treaties claiming that the Cherokee had freedom of choice in matters of commerce, too often, they found themselves in fait accompli deals involving land sales.
Thomas Jefferson was of two minds. In one instance, he wanted to trade with and “civilize” the Indians. While in the other, he believed that America’s future depended on land acquisition and expansion. Due to deer herd depletion, some of the civilizing elements acting on the Cherokee came internally, instead of from the encroaching Americans. The federal government’s agents were rather schizophrenic in their actions; while one agent acts from a position of fairness, the next acts in conjunction with pro-land grab governors and state governments.
The Georgia murder case against George Corn Tassell for an act taking place in the Cherokee Nation, the way Georgia used it to subvert Cherokee law, and the Georgia Legislature, Governor, and courts ignoring of a Supreme Court stay and subpoena in the case is one more slip on the long slow slide toward Civil War. Showed that the Feds only had the power that the states decided they had at that time instead of it codified and spelled out. After Tassell’s initial arrest, the judge in the case tossed it to an appellate tribunal who confirmed Georgia’s jurisdiction despite the Cherokee Nation having a treaty right of self jurisprudence. Tassell was convicted and sentenced to hang on December 24, 1830. Tassell’s lawyer appealed to SCOTUS. The court issued their stay and subpoena on Georgia’s governor. The governor and legislature chose to ignore SCOTUS and hanged him on Christmas Eve.
The separation of families, the leaving behind of old people, the arresting and imprisoning, the gathering into forts/prisons/internment camps/concentration camps as a middle step in the ethnic cleansing of Georgia and the southern Appalachians; measles, cholera, dysentery, and whooping cough. Rare were the removal expeditions that made the trip without casualties. Rape was rampant in the camps.
Seen as traitors because of they signed and because of the words of John Ross and the National Party, the Treaty Party leaders, after the Cherokee began to settle in Indian Territory and the Treaty Party began to ally itself with the Old Settlers who preceded the Cherokee Nation to Indian Territory, were dragged from their new homes and killed. This was done after a convocation about the future of the tribe. The convocation featured debate between the Old Settlers, the Treaty Party and their followers, and the Cherokee Nation group lead by John Ross. A secret meeting of the Cherokee Nation rulers after the bigger convocation rubberstamped the actions to be taken against the Treaty Party leaders. John Ross wasn’t at the secret meeting. His son was. The idea that John Ross didn’t know what was going on is crap. This was a historical example of plausible deniability.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
The United States, post-revolution, used a confiscatory policy in Indian lands despite signing concurrent treaties that presupposed the purchase of lands.
Despite Knox’s high ideals, he pushed prerequisites that the Indians give up hunting and gathering on their lands and become more analogous to the settlers who were invading their lands, learn English, become civilized, etc. Though even in instances where the Indians did this, the settlers continued to advance and the governments of the states and those lawmakers in the Federal capital rubberstamped and money whipped the problems. The states paid lip service to the civilization policy and if/when Indians followed the policy, they found themselves not equal to the white settler, but more equal to the freed Black slave.
Andrew Jackson’s beloved Old Hickory nickname in context of his actions vis-a-vis Georgia and the Trail of Tears is inappropriate. In light of his hiding in his hypocrisy, the name given him by Ridge in the Cherokee Phoenix is much more appropriate, Chicken Snake.
Despite a later victory before SCOTUS that recognized the Cherokee Nation, Jackson forbore execution of the Court’s decree. The Cherokee’s allies in Washington started to advise the Cherokee to prepare for removal. They feared a Constitutional crisis. Ridge and Boudinot came home convinced. John Ross and the Council opposed them despite the writing becoming plainer on the wall.
The reason we mainly hear John Ross’s version is because the opposition party’s leaders were killed before they got down, collectively, to forming a new government in Indian Territory. The National Party, following the killings, legislated that there should be no revenge and that the killers were granted amnesty if they publically apologized. Ross’s brother and son were part of the group which set the ball in motion that placed targets on the leaders of the Treaty Party. The Treaty Party were pragmatists, better alive in Indian Territory and still Cherokee, than dead on Georgia’s bayonets.
The National Party’s refusal to arrest and prosecute those who murdered the leaders of the Treaty Party eventually lead to reprisals and revenge slayings.
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Last Page Sound:
The book was more about the internal and external political strife than about the Trail; was more about money than the suffering. This painted a picture of the impossible position the Cherokee were in in Georgia. If they had stayed and resisted I wonder if there would be a Cherokee Nation today. The abuse of authority inside Indian Territory is a story rarely told. The revenge brigandage is though. This did make me view the history through a different lens; Old Hickory vs Chicken Snake, Georgia’s actions and how their flaunting of Federal power was a waystation on the way to Civil War, the conflict between the Rosses, the Treaty Party, and the Old Settlers. There’s very much a cult of personality aspect to John Ross that I had never noticed before.
Author Assessment:
Very well written.
Editorial Assessment:
Well edited.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
glad I read it
Disposition of Book:
Irving Public Library
South Campus
Dewey Decimal System:
970.3
CHE
Would recommend to:
genre fans
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October 4, 2022
Very interesting story about a topic of which I was always vaguely familiar, but never knew much about.
I was thoroughly surprised at certain discoveries I made as a result of this book. For example, I never knew the Cherokee had their own printing press as far back as the 1820s, circulating their own newspapers. I didn’t know they had their own constitution, had lobbied in Washington, and hired lawyers to fight the removal from their land.
Some of the political aspects of this book were a little tedious, and I found myself zoning out.
Overall, a very sad story with an important lesson to remember, lest we repeat the tragedy.
Bonus: Big takeaway. Differing worldviews. The book says the Cherokee traced their ancestry matrilineally and homes were passed from mother to daughter. The men were hunters, and the women were farmers. When the Europeans arrived, they assumed farming was a secondary afterthought because it was done by women, who, at that time in Europe, did not enjoy the same privileges as men. Assuming their own worldview on the Cherokee, the Europeans completely and utterly misinterpreted them.
I was thoroughly surprised at certain discoveries I made as a result of this book. For example, I never knew the Cherokee had their own printing press as far back as the 1820s, circulating their own newspapers. I didn’t know they had their own constitution, had lobbied in Washington, and hired lawyers to fight the removal from their land.
Some of the political aspects of this book were a little tedious, and I found myself zoning out.
Overall, a very sad story with an important lesson to remember, lest we repeat the tragedy.
Bonus: Big takeaway. Differing worldviews. The book says the Cherokee traced their ancestry matrilineally and homes were passed from mother to daughter. The men were hunters, and the women were farmers. When the Europeans arrived, they assumed farming was a secondary afterthought because it was done by women, who, at that time in Europe, did not enjoy the same privileges as men. Assuming their own worldview on the Cherokee, the Europeans completely and utterly misinterpreted them.
August 16, 2020
This is still probably the best introduction to Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears. While its not comprehensive it is nonetheless an excellent introduction. Perdue and Green write well and they do a fantastic job of majoring on the majors while offering an incisive look at the reality of Indian Removal. Perdue and Green are brutally truthful without engaging in screeds.
October 4, 2023
I watched a show on TV a month or 2 ago about the Cherokee population still in NC and was intrigued. I never really learned about this in history class and wanted a good comprehensive book that didn't read like a textbook. This really fit the bill. So much information packed in a relatively small space, but written so well it was a pleasure to read. I wish schools used books like this to teach, it would make learning fun and useful.
October 2, 2019
The pain of a Nation.
It's hard to believe the hardships and pain that was afflicted on a group of people because of the greed of another.
It's hard to believe the hardships and pain that was afflicted on a group of people because of the greed of another.
July 29, 2022
"I really liked it." - 4 out of 5 star rating.
Super sad book. What happened to the Native American tribes back in the 1800's was absolutely horrific and this book highlights one of the most abhorrent events of them all: the Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears.
Outside of how sorrowful this book is, there is some very interesting coverage on Cherokee belief's, such as their Adam and Even equivalent, how they viewed bears (very interesting), and more.
The Cherokee's lead the way as well apparently in written and spoken English, which is probably why the crimes against humanity on them are more well-known than other tribes.
I just feel overall bad after reading this. What happened here and across the Nations is just absolutely terrible. The 4 stars reflects the delivery, the history, and the understanding received of just how awful (racism, greed, betrayal, rape, murder, torture, and more) humankind can be to one another.
Manifest Destiny tops the charts as one of the worst things ever dreamed up in the human mind.
Super sad book. What happened to the Native American tribes back in the 1800's was absolutely horrific and this book highlights one of the most abhorrent events of them all: the Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears.
Outside of how sorrowful this book is, there is some very interesting coverage on Cherokee belief's, such as their Adam and Even equivalent, how they viewed bears (very interesting), and more.
The Cherokee's lead the way as well apparently in written and spoken English, which is probably why the crimes against humanity on them are more well-known than other tribes.
I just feel overall bad after reading this. What happened here and across the Nations is just absolutely terrible. The 4 stars reflects the delivery, the history, and the understanding received of just how awful (racism, greed, betrayal, rape, murder, torture, and more) humankind can be to one another.
Manifest Destiny tops the charts as one of the worst things ever dreamed up in the human mind.
October 8, 2021
The authors very clearly had admiration for the founders of this nation. “Racism, greed, and political partisanship can subvert even the noblest American ideals.” NOBLE? That’s how you end the book? The authors had sympathy for what happened to the Cherokee Nation but apparently not enough. They were like ~ woopsie, racism really clouds people’s judgement~ They maybe mentioned the word “racism” a handful of times. I think this book painted a rosy picture of what happened. They described the court proceeding as if the Cherokees had a fighting chance throughout the legal process. For what? To salvage the reputation of the so called “noble” politicians? This book was published in 2007. I think they didn’t want certain readers to have too much white guilt, so they kept it less gruesome and made the legal process seem much more civilized. I wish this book had shed more light on the Indigenous experience and less glorification of the history of American politics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 24, 2019
This is not a long, comprehensive book but it is a good starting point and is well sourced.
It begins with a brief overview of pre-colonial history and then moves into the treaties of the late 1700s and early 1800s. It gets more detailed as it discusses the lead up to Removal. Then it follows Trail of Tears with its many detachments and the political upheaval of trying to forge a government in the West made up of Old Settlers, Treaty Party, and Nationalists. The Civil War and beyond are only briefly touched on and it ends with a few sentences discussing allotment and then the recreation of the Cherokee Nation government in the 1970s.
I do recommend it as there’s plenty of good information without committing to a huge tome of a book. I highlighted a bunch of new-to-me details that I want to dig into more elsewhere.
It begins with a brief overview of pre-colonial history and then moves into the treaties of the late 1700s and early 1800s. It gets more detailed as it discusses the lead up to Removal. Then it follows Trail of Tears with its many detachments and the political upheaval of trying to forge a government in the West made up of Old Settlers, Treaty Party, and Nationalists. The Civil War and beyond are only briefly touched on and it ends with a few sentences discussing allotment and then the recreation of the Cherokee Nation government in the 1970s.
I do recommend it as there’s plenty of good information without committing to a huge tome of a book. I highlighted a bunch of new-to-me details that I want to dig into more elsewhere.
August 5, 2020
"The Trail of Tears is their story, but it is also an American story. and if it is a story we are not proud of, we should make sure that its lesson is well learned: Racism, greed, and political partisanship can subvert even the noblest American ideals."
This book is great reflection on the tragedy that is the Trail of Tears. Again, I struggle with the label of "Indian" vs. "Native American" when describing the Cherokee nation, though the author uses the term very infrequently. I was also a tad disappointed that most of the quotes from this work come from white politicians rather than the Cherokee themselves. But overall, it gave the facts that I was curious about and was engaging and insightful.
This book is great reflection on the tragedy that is the Trail of Tears. Again, I struggle with the label of "Indian" vs. "Native American" when describing the Cherokee nation, though the author uses the term very infrequently. I was also a tad disappointed that most of the quotes from this work come from white politicians rather than the Cherokee themselves. But overall, it gave the facts that I was curious about and was engaging and insightful.
May 8, 2021
The account of the bludgeoning of the Cherokee Nation at the hand of the Jackson administration gets its due here. Perdue and Green relate a precise narrative of the Cherokee prior to their removal; they relate how their autonomy, their government, their literacy, and their successful self-determination all contribute to a healthy society.
Yet the greed for land, for slavery to expand in cotton farming, and the direct racism is shown the Cherokee still haunts. Their nation lost conservatively a quarter of their population in the forced move. In reality, it may have been a much larger number but it will never be accounted for at this point. The deaths came through disease, violence, and murder.
Genocide needs to be remembered and taught so that it can never happen again.
Yet the greed for land, for slavery to expand in cotton farming, and the direct racism is shown the Cherokee still haunts. Their nation lost conservatively a quarter of their population in the forced move. In reality, it may have been a much larger number but it will never be accounted for at this point. The deaths came through disease, violence, and murder.
Genocide needs to be remembered and taught so that it can never happen again.
September 8, 2022
2.5/3 - Another user stated that they were unsure who the audience for this book was. I couldn’t agree more. It’s pretty slim and is free of foot notes, end notes, and citations, yet it is written in a very, dry academic tone. I’m not sure if it will truly please the popular audience or academic audience.
Summary: This is an account behind the politics and decisions that lead to the Cherokees’ expulsion from the Southeast. At first Americans attempted to “civilize” the Cherokees. Despite the fact that the Cherokees adopted more of Western culture than any other native group, American settlers eventually encroached on their land and worked toward their removal. After years of Andrew Jackson and legal battles, the Cherokee were eventually driven out west.
Summary: This is an account behind the politics and decisions that lead to the Cherokees’ expulsion from the Southeast. At first Americans attempted to “civilize” the Cherokees. Despite the fact that the Cherokees adopted more of Western culture than any other native group, American settlers eventually encroached on their land and worked toward their removal. After years of Andrew Jackson and legal battles, the Cherokee were eventually driven out west.
November 3, 2024
A good overview of the Cherokee removal. Halfway through reading this book, I discovered in doing genealogical research that I have direct ancestors who were white settlers in Tennessee in the early 1800s. They are among those responsible for displacing the Cherokee, and one even served in the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers during the Trail of Tears. Grappling with being a descendent of folks involved in such horror, I know that nothing I do can redress those wrongs, but I can commit to continuing to learn about Indigenous culture and history and do what I can to support Tribal sovereignty and rights.
November 13, 2017
This book offers a good introduction to one of America's unspoken travesties: The Trail of Tears.
Chronicling the history of U.S.-Native American Relations from the Colonial Period to the time of the Trail of Tears, it lays out the foundations of policy toward Native Americans, and ultimately stakes the case perpetuated by the Government for the removal of the tribes, after the failure of the 'Civilization' program.
An interesting read.
Chronicling the history of U.S.-Native American Relations from the Colonial Period to the time of the Trail of Tears, it lays out the foundations of policy toward Native Americans, and ultimately stakes the case perpetuated by the Government for the removal of the tribes, after the failure of the 'Civilization' program.
An interesting read.
May 17, 2023
“The Trail of Tears is their story, but it is also an American story. And if it is a story we are not proud of, we should make sure that its lesson is well learned: racism, greed, and political partisanship can subvert even the noblest American ideals.”
Really well-written from an appropriate perspective, but also dense and complex (that can be expected, though, due to the genre and subject matter).
Really well-written from an appropriate perspective, but also dense and complex (that can be expected, though, due to the genre and subject matter).
January 17, 2025
4.6⭐️ A comprehensive read that takes you through the resistance and removal of the Cherokee Nation. It is very effective at detailing the atrocities and injustice that the Cherokee Nation faced throughout the early 19th century. It also does a fantastic job at emphasizing the arduous resistance that the Cherokee’s put up. Would recommend to anyone who is looking to expand their knowledge on the history of not only the Cherokees but of the United States.
May 2, 2025
Perdue gets straight to the point, clearly highlighting how the Cherokee were treated and the long-term effects of governments actions on their community. What stood out most to me was how effectively the book told the story of the Cherokee people. The book is successful in showing the Cherokee perspective as people who resisted, adapted, and struggled to survive, rather than as passive victims. This book is strong, effective, and respectful in telling this painful chapter in American history.
July 19, 2021
I was assigned this book for a Young American History class. I was impressed with the flow of the book, the comprehensive coverage of the topic, and the ease of readability. Some history novels are difficult to get through. This was a nice brief coverage of the Trail of Tears without too much emotion involved, which is complicated to do.
December 3, 2025
This book was tough because of its honesty. In school we learned that the Europeans took over America by moving the native Americans out of the east. But this book went into more details . It was heartbreaking. After reading this I will never see Thanksgiving the same.
On the other hand, I now want to read more about this and other mistreatment they endured.
On the other hand, I now want to read more about this and other mistreatment they endured.
July 31, 2017
Short but very interesting and well-done history of one of America's darker periods.
I listened to the audio version, which was basically good, except that every once in a while the narrator would try to do a different accent/voice when he was quoting someone. It didn't work.
I listened to the audio version, which was basically good, except that every once in a while the narrator would try to do a different accent/voice when he was quoting someone. It didn't work.
December 6, 2019
A very hard book to get through, because it's hard to hear just what a hypocritical sanctimonious nation we've been so often that it's who we are. A lot of it is very much a laundry list of the indefensible wrongs the United States did to the Cherokee nation from ca. 1820 to ca. 1865.
August 5, 2020
language of disappearance and erasure about native people is not helpful in discussing the history of native people. language is super important to be treated with a lot of precision. Take this with a grain of salt though, I might have been way too critical in my reading of it.
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