I have scanned most of the material you have available looking for ACCURATE and complete Trail of Tears historical information and I cannot find a single reference to the MULTI-MILLION dollar payment made to the Cherokees for their land. FACT: payment was made and, at a later date, the Cherokees refused to leave the land they had sold. The excuse was used that the faction receiving the millions in US dollars "did not represent the majority of the tribe" and therefore, no obligation to vacate the land existed. They also made no effort to return the money and thereby void the contract.The federal government fervently attempted for MONTHS to convince the tribe (and individual clans) to begin the journey to ensure save arrival in Oklahoma before winter. Finally, in desperation, U.S. troops were forced to move the Cherokee off the land they no longer owned.

Had the "civilized" and so-called honorable sovereign nation fulfilled its contractual agreement,few (if any) would have died as a direct result of the Trail of Tears episode.

Wes

Wes

We do accurately portray the payment made to the Cherokee Nation in a number of places, but decided to redo this in one location to answer your letter.

Negotiations regarding the original treaty centered on either a five million dollar payment for the land, as desired by the Treaty Party or a 20 million dollar payment desired by John Ross and the vast majority of the Cherokee. You can view the Treaty as a contract, but under contract law a treaty entered into fraudulently is not a legally binding agreement, and the U. S. government knew the contract was fraudulent (it was against Cherokee law to secede land without consent of the legal Cherokee Council and violation of this law meant death).

The United States did not want to pay $20 million for the land, so they corruptly negotiated with a team that did not have the authority to deal with the government and paid only $5 million. Why? becase they had gotten wind of a plan by Ross to sell the land to settlers. Using a standard rate of $18.00 an acre (about average for the time), I came up with total cash of more than $82 million dollars the Cherokee would have made on land they were forced to take $5 million dollars for.

Finally, in desperation...
Who is desperate? The United States? Desperate for more land or to rid themselves of a culture? Come on! Apparently you think the Cherokee should accept a lot less than their land was worth, be forcibly evicted, then move voluntarily to a land unknown to them. Why? Would you do that if the U. S. government took your land? Excuse me if your argument falls on deaf ears.

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