The Cherokees: A Proud People
The Cherokee Indians are of the Iroquoian linguistic family. Their economy, like that of most of the other southeastern tribes, was based on intensive agriculture, mainly of corn, beans, and squash while the typical hunted animals were deer, bear, and wild turkey. Corn was so important to them they had a ceremony when the corn began to get ripe in hopes that the corn would continue to grow well. The tribe itself was divided into seven matrilineal clans that were dispersed in war and peace moieties (also known as half-tribes). The people lived in numerous permanent villages, some which belonged to the war moiety, some part of the peace moiety. The Cherokee lived in towns of 30 to 60 houses and a large council house. The houses in the towns, however, were not very large, being only one, two, or three room homes. Most of the residences were one story high as well, but a two-story house was not uncommon (Perdue).The most used weapon for the Cherokees was the bow and arrow with the stone ax and club coming in second place. Male tribal members who did not hold special rank wore belted skin robes made from the hides of bear, deer, otter, beaver, and mountain lion. In the winter months, these men also w
In conclusion, the Tahlequah Agency in Oklahoma has said there were 42,992 Cherokee living in Tahlequah in 1982. The U.S. Census has shown 293,074 Cherokee are living in more than 30 states in the United States. The Cherokee people are a proud people with roots in American history, which go all the way back to where America had a history. Despite losing many of its people to the Trail of Tears and to sickness and abuse, their people have survived and prospered with their capital in Tahlequah. White settlers began to protest the Cherokee's and other tribes' rights to own land in the early 1800 because they wanted the indians' land. Some members of the Cherokee Nation signed treaties with the government in 1835 agreeing to move to designated areas in Oklahoma but most of the tribe preferred to not be relocated. About five hundred leading Cherokee members agreed in 1835 to cede the tribal territory in exchange for $5,700,000 and settle down in Indian Territory. Their actions were repudiated by more than ninety percent of the tribe, and therefore several members of the group were later assassinated (Leary). While most sicknesses could be cured by one of the tribal members, any mysterious diseases in the tribe were often times blamed on a human or animal spirits. Also, most items in a Cherokee town were based on colors, where each color stood for an idea. Red was generally for bravery while black was for death and blue for failure. In 1820 the Cherokee established a governmental system extremely similar to that of the United States, with an elected principal chief, a house of representatives, and a senate. Due to this system, the Cherokee were included as one of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes with the other four tribes being the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and the Seminoles. As one of the Five Civilized Tribes in the 1800's, the Cherokee Nation was probably the strongest Indian tribe in the United States with its size and power. More than 100,000 Cherokee Indians live in parts of Oklahoma now. When the white settlers arrived, the Cherokee Nation began to adopt their economic and political stucture. They started owning large plantations and some even kept slaves. The famous Cherokee Indian Sequoya introduced a system of writing for the Cherokee language in 1821 (Newsome).
Some common words found in the essay are:
Cherokee Nation, Indians Iroquoian, Cherokees Newsome, Mississippi River, Cherokee Indians, Oklahoma Panhandle, Georgia Cherokee, cherokee nation, Cherokee Nation's, Trail Tears, Indian Territory, cherokee indians, cherokee people, cherokee cherokee, forced move, removal act, tribes eastern band, indian removal, trail tears, civilized tribes, subject georgia laws, federal government, five civilized tribes, west mississippi river, eastern band cherokee,
Approximate Word count = 1711
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
