Cherokee Indians Essay Example for Free

Cherokee Indians searchThe word Cherokee is believed to baffle evolved from a Choctaw word meaning Cave People. It was picked up and used by Europeans and eventu each(prenominal)y accepted the take by Cherokees in the form of Tsalagi or Jalagi. Traditionally, the people now know as Cherokee refer to themselves as aniyun-wiya, a name usually translated as the Real People some eons the Original People. Cherokees have had a democratic brass (Conley, Robert J. 2000).The Cherokees first experience with the invading uncontaminating adult male was almost certainly a brief encounter with the deadly expeditionary force of Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto in 1540. English colonial traders began to appear among the Cherokees around 1673. Such interactions produced some mixed marriages, usually in the midst of a neat trader and a Cherokee woman. There were three main events during the 18th and 19th centuries war with the colonist in 1711 epidemics of European disease (primarily s mallpox) and the continual cession of land in 1775.The Cherokees were forced to point one treaty after another with the new United States government, each one giving outside(a) more land to the new nation. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson planned to move all east Indians to a location west of the Mississippi River, and signed an agreement with the state of Georgia promising to chance upon that deed as soon as possible. Andrew Jackson actually set the so-called Removal bear upon in motion.Mean eon the government had been oing everything in its power to convince Cherokees to move west voluntarily, and the first to do so were the faction known as Chickamaugans (Conley, Robert J. 2000). The bill and traditions of the Cherokee Indians of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries are inextricably linked to the history and traditions of the white southerners. Many facets of Cherokee life style and other Indian tribes in the gray United States were modified and qualified from white met hodology. Aspects of those cultural features were rooted in Pre-Columbian traditions.The Celtic culture of people who colonized the Southern United States and the cultures charcterictics were the catalyst of what was arguably the most pivotal event in American History, the War Between the States. Many respected scholars have argued that the Ante-bellum south was variant than the north, in its lifestyles, philosophies, and more. The southern states and their populations were undeniably different in nearly every socioeconomic and political shot from the northern states and their respective populations.The destinies of the white southerners and Indian were connected in many ways. They had a number of common interests, traditions, ideals and goals. Some of these similarities were chance others were receivable to an intimate relationship developed over centuries of close contact, a relationship created by the dynamic elements in the Cherokees new familiarity with their white neighbors and their culture (Bullard, F. B. 1989). The Cherokee adopted some practices willingly, others were forced upon them and some were already in place in some form in their traditional culture.Charles Hudson speculates in his work that the Cherokee and other tribes adopted the measures of civilization in acquiescence to the inability of the Cherokee to compete militarily with the white populous. The Cherokee and other tribes had adopted the techniques and brotherly concepts of white civilization long before they were encouraged to do so by whites and their military intimidation. For the Indian, all white men were a threat to their traditions and cultural tenets. Use of a caste system was a part of the Cherokees social structures before contacts with whites.The white south created its own social caste system with white planters as the aristocracy and the African break ones back at the peon (Bullard, F. B. 1989). The colonists who settled in the south were different than their counte rparts in the northwest. The main heritage of the southern colonists was the Celtic in contrast to the English heritage of the colonists who settled in the north. The Celtic heritage these southerner colonists brought to North America from Europe had a profound effect on their folkways as well as influencing their Indian neighbors.Traditional Cherokee lands had incorporated ass of Kentucky, much of Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, North Carolina and a small part of Virginia and what is now West Virginia. The spatial proximity was one reason for the maturement of an identity with the Southern colonist and their institutions and traditions (Bullard, F. B. 1989). Indian agent for the United States, George Butler, commented that he felt the majority of the somatic progress in the Indian Territory was a result of slavery. The age of masters measured in the distribution in slaves provides evidence for the upward mobility of slavery for the Cherokee.The principal difference from the white south was the intervention of slaves in the Cherokee state of matter. The Cherokee avoided mistreatment of the slaves and Major Ridges wife Susanna would not even use the word slave. There are many indications that the Cherokee treated their slaves comparatively well, one former slave of Martin Vann, commented that they the slaves had to be deplete well, clothed well, and housed well to get the best labor attainable from them (Bullard, F. B. 1989). The most common agents of change among the Cherokee lifestyle were resident traders, missionaries and government agents.The Cherokee Indians modified their traditions for many reasons, among these reasons were to placate white politicians and land grabbers and reinforce the federal government policies, philanthropists who wanted to civilize them and most important of all voluntary adaptation in an effort to conserves at least some government policies (Bullard, F. B. 1989). Cherokee Indians religion It would be a mistake to see these cardinal Cherokee affection worlds as heaven and hell. They are not defined as good and evil, although the one below is seen as tremendously chaotic.They are thought of simply as being opposed to one another. We constitute our lives between them in a constant state of precarious balance. This dangerous situation, although the most important aspect of life in this traditional Cherokee view is to maintain balance and harmony. If the Cherokees are Christian, they might be Methodist, Presbyterian, Unitarian, or other Christian denomination. Although the more traditional Cherokees is a large group of Cherokee Baptists. Cherokee Baptists attend what are called Indian churches, where they make use of the Cherokee language (Conley, Robert, J. 2000).Cherokee Indian tribes were one of the largest of five Native American tribes who settled in American Southeast portion of the country. The tribe came from the Iroquoian descent. The Cherokees actually lived in cabins make of lo gs instead of the stereotypical golf tee pee. Very strong tribe with several smaller sections, all lead by chiefs. This tribe was exceedingly religious and spiritual. Around the 1800s the Cherokee Indians began to adopt the culture that the white man brought to them. At this time they began to gussy up more European, and adopted many of their farming and building methods. In 1828 gold was discovered on the Cherokees land.This prompted the overtaking of their homes, and was forced out. They had been settled in Georgia for many years, but now they were being made to leave and find a new place to settle/live. This was the historically popular tangle of Tears, where men, women, and children had to wad up their belongings and find new homes, and marching a span of thousands of miles. Todays Cherokees have a strong sense of pride in their heritage (Indians. org 2011). A Historical person during this time Was John Ross in which became principal chief of the Cherokee nation. In 1827, f ollowing the establishment of a government model on that of the United States.He presided over the nation during the apex of its development in the Southeast, the tragic Trail of Tears, and the subsequent rebuilding of the nation in Indian Territory, in present day. Accompanying his people on the trail where they cried, Ross experienced personal tragedy. His wife, Quatie, died of exposure after giving her only blanket to a frantic child. Once in Indian Territory, Ross led the effort to establish farms, businesses, schools, and even colleges. Even though the Cherokee Nation was torn apart politically after the fight over the removal treaty, Ross clung to reins of power (Moulton, Gary E. 004).In conclusion, Although Cherokee Indians were a very diverse tribe and had very many different talents. They were very spitural and worshiped only one spirit and that was good spirit, and eventually followed christanity. Trail of Tears was a very emotional time for all Cherokee Indians the time when they were forced out and were here before anyone ever settled America. This time for Men, Women, and Children was a shame. My grand atomic number 91 always take for granted what you have cause someone can take it away in an instant as they did to the Indians.