Question

Discuss the Treaty of New Echota. What were its terms? How did the signers of the treaty see their actions?

Answer 1

U.S. public representatives and about 500 Cherokee Indians claiming to represent their 16,000-member tribe gathered at New Echota, Georgia, on December 29, 1835, and concluded a treaty. The deal resulted in the forced relocation of the Cherokees from their southeastern homelands west of the Mississippi River to the Indian Territories. Mindful of the lack of support for the Cherokee treaties, President Martin Van Buren offered a two-year extension to allow time for the Cherokees to relocate. Still, only 2,000 Cherokees had willingly relocated by May 1838.

That season, under General Winfield Scott, the federal government sent 7,000 troops to evict the remaining Cherokees. In North Carolina, they constructed six forts to hold the captured Indians before they could continue their forced westward trek.

In October 1838, the 1,200-mile journey began and lasted for six months. An approximate 10 to 25 percent of the tribe died of sickness, malnutrition and fatigue along the way. Their road is recognised as the Trail of Tears today.