Cherokee Indians

The Cherokee was the largest of the five southeastern tribes. They were anscestors of the Iroquoi. By 1650 they had a populatoin of about 22,500 and had more than 40,000 square miles in the southern appalachians. The cherokee people lived in log homes and not teepees and were agrarians. They had towns with each one having a supreme chief.

The Cherokee indians were protected by the government until Andrew Jackson became president. Gold was discovered on cherokee land and the white people wanted it, so in 1830 Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act. Although the Cherokee went to Supreme Court and won, in 1835 the Treaty of Echota was signed by a treaty party consisting of a small number of cherokees. This treaty sold Cherokee land to the United States government for five million dollars and new homeland in Indian territory.

The U.S government used this treaty to have the cherokees removed from their land.

Jackson wanted all native people east of the Mississippi to relocate. Although more than 15,000 people protested the treaty saying it was illegal because those who signed it were not elected officials, the removal began in 1838 forcing the people to move. A few Cherokees refused to go and went to the mountains to hide.

Cherokee society consisted of living in small towns while hunting,trading,and living an agricultural life. Cherokees community consisted of a piece chief who made desicions during peaceful times and a war chief who made decisions during times of war. Cherokee societies were matriardical which means children belonged to their mothers clan and women had equal say in the tribe's decisions.

Marriage was only allowed between members of different clans.A Cherokee woman could marry a white man and he would become a member of the tribe with limited rights, but if a Cherokee man married a white woman he was kicked out of the tribe. As the europeans intrduced new tools, weapons , and customs the Cherokee began to adapt to their ways and began to change.

The Cherokees were forced off their land. They were loaded on boats guarded buy th U.S military.They were not allowed to take along their personal posessions and were not properly prepared for the 800 mile journey. Almost half of them died because of heatand conditions were very unsanitary.About 4,000 cherokee members died from exposure to cold ,starvation, disease, and exhaustion while marching from Tennessee to Oklahoma during the winter. This trail was called "The Trail of Tears".

Before all of this happened the Cherokee fought several wars with other tribes. Nearly half of them died of small pox in 138 to 1753. They also had difficult times with the British and the French.