Class Two

Class Two


So we viewed the video "The Trail of Tears in class and it was incredibly sad and depressing. It was named after an event in which the Government forced Native Americans off their own land to march towards Oklahoma and if they didn't leave fast enough, they were shot dead during the long path. It seems at that time period the Cherokee Indians attempted to assimilate, so that they could share the land with the new settlers, prevent any bloodshed and stay in their homes. When the first Gold Rush occurred laws were passed Georgia Government decided to pass laws prohibiting Native Americans from mining for gold, ON THEIR OWN LANDS. Eventually the Georgia government slowly passed more and more laws that dissrespected Native American rights and possessions. Eventually they removed any sympathizers and missionary intellectuals believed to allying the Cherokee people and finally the President(funded by wealthy southern land owners) passed the Indian Removal Act(1803) which was an apparent attempt to remove The Cherokee people from their homes so the land could be divided and distributed among white settlers. Every time I research History or take a History based course I'm always disappointed  NOT IN THE CLASS ITSELF but in the ignorance and barbarism that our ancestors have shown toward each other. They were trying to create a society based on every man's equality and yet Slavery happened, the mass genocide of the Taino Indians happened, Nazi-Run Germany happened, the Salem Witch Trials happened, and the list could go on for miles and miles. Why then did they even bother to strive for "Every man's equality" if in the end the human race would do nothing but persecute anyone was different from the social construct of what was deemed 'normal' in that region. I just don't get it and am disgusted that the people in power at the time would use such fair ideals as a veil to preform such atrocities that would linger in the world's memory.