AP Success - AP US History: Cherokee Women's Petition
In the early 19th century, the US government passed a series of laws aimed at removing Native American tribes from their ancestral lands and relocating them west of the Mississippi River. The Cherokee Nation, located in what is now Georgia, was one of the tribes targeted for removal. In response, a group of Cherokee women wrote a petition in 1831 addressed to the Committee and Council, expressing their opposition.
To the Committee and Council. We the females, residing in Saleqouyee and Pine Log, believing that the present difficulties and embarrassments under which this nation is placed demands a full expression of the mind of every individual, on the subject of emigrating to Arkansas, would take upon ourselves to address you. Although it is not common for our sex to take part in public measures, we nevertheless feel justified in expressing our sentiments on any subject where our interest is as much at stake as any other part of the community. We believe the present plan of the General Government to effect our removal west of the Mississippi, and thus obtain our lands for the use of the State of Georgia, to be highly oppressive, cruel and unjust. And we sincerely hope that is no consideration which can induce our citizens to forsake the land of our fathers of which they have been in possession from time immemorial, and thus compel us, against our will, to undergo the toils and difficulties of removing with our helpless families hundreds of miles to unhealthy and unproductive country. We hope therefore the Committee and Council will take into deep consideration our deplorable situation, and do everything in their power to avert such a state of things. And we trust by a prudent course their transactions with the General Government will enlist in our behalf the sympathies of the good people of the United States.
Cherokee Women’s Petition, 1831.
Question 1
Briefly describe one perspective expressed by the writer about Native American relocation.
Question 2
Briefly explain how one historical event or development led to the situation expressed in the excerpt.
Question 3
Briefly explain one outcome of the government policies described in the excerpt on the Cherokee people.
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