Chapter 9: The Road to Tears

"You say, you Indians have at least tens of millions of people in this land, just when you Cherokees were founded, there were at least hundreds of thousands, how many Americans can there be, why do you let the Americans rush around." Zhao Wenli's words were very straightforward, and although Logan was counted, he couldn't find any reason to explain.

"Okay, Lao Zhao, don't say it, let's think about everyone's plan first." Xu Yongquan also felt Logan's embarrassment. But although Zhao Wenli was talking about Indians, he wasn't talking about himself. Just three years ago, the Qing Dynasty, which has the world's largest GDP, would lose to the United Kingdom, which has only a few thousand people, and even raped the emperor's biological mother without saying a word, and had to pay countless amounts of silver, which is unimaginable to anyone. I can't defeat the opponents of the Qing Dynasty, let alone the Indians who are scattered and many tribes are still stuck in primitive matriarchal societies.

In 1803, under the Louisiana Purchase Agreement, the French resold the area to the United States. In 1830, the U.S. government passed the Indian Immigration Act, established the Indian area, and forcibly relocated all the eastern Indians here.

During the British colonial era, the colony of Georgia included a large area of land up to the west bank of the Mississippi River, which became the states of Alabama and Mississippi. Later, in the case of the "Yazzo Land Sale", the Georgia government had a repentant scandal, and finally in 1802, the land had to be handed over to the federal government, and the federal government promised to buy their Indian tribal land for Georgia in the future and give it to Georgia administration as compensation.

But Georgia has always been unhappy with the sovereign state within its borders, the Cherokee State, and for years urged the federal government to make good on its promises, and Thomas. Jefferson's successors, Monroe and Adams, have repeatedly said that they are doing so as soon as possible, but the law states that the government must negotiate treaties to buy Indian land, and that the federal government respects Indians' self-governing sovereignty and must respect Indians' willingness to refuse to sell. They must wait for further trade negotiations.

Just as President Jackson came to power, claiming to be determined to bring about the westward migration of the Indians, another event added fuel to the fire - the discovery of gold deposits overnight in the land of Cherokee in northern Georgia. Now, Georgia's white immigrants couldn't wait any longer. The Georgia legislature was determined to take the initiative and enacted a law declaring that the state's civil and criminal jurisdiction covered the Cherokee Indian area, which was a clear violation of the treaty between the federal government and the Indians, as well as the laws of the federal government's authority. President Jackson, however, did not intend to intervene in the first place, saying that Georgia had the sovereignty to rule all the areas within its borders.

In May 1830, at the initiative of President Jackson, the Federal Assembly passed the Indian Relocation Act. However, under the rule of law in the United States, the bill did not force the Indians to relocate, but only allocated funds to purchase land to negotiate a westward relocation with five Indian tribes to settle on the reservation west of the Mississippi River, in what is now Oklahoma.

Was the Cherokee State of the Indians an independent sovereign after all? Does Georgia have jurisdiction over the Cherokee at all? The Cherokees decided to seek judicial protection, and they appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. In the Cherokee v. Georgia decision, Chief Officer John Marshall ruled that the Indians were not subject to state law, but he added that the Cherokee State was not an independent sovereign state, but an "internal vassal." Anyway, no matter how you say it, it is the American judge who has the final say, whether Iraq has nuclear weapons or not, it is also the Americans who have the final say, and then we will destroy you first, as for whether there is one in the end, and when you are all killed, who do you go to protest with, do you look for King Yama, hehe, it seems that Europeans and Americans don't believe that.

Still, the question remains unresolved as to whether an Indian political entity such as the Cherokee State is an independent sovereign owner. In fact, until decades later, in 1871, the federal government still regarded the Indian tribes as independent sovereign states, and the relationship between the federal government and the Indian tribes was a treaty relationship. From the signing of the first treaty with the Indian tribes in 1778 to the signing of the last treaty in 1871, a total of 370 treaties, with one exception, held that the Indians were the owners of their land, and that land could only be obtained from them by treaty, as in relations with foreign countries.

According to the Supreme Court's ruling, the Cherokee refused to obey Georgia law, and Georgia refused to enforce the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling. In late 1830, the Georgia State Assembly passed legislation prohibiting whites from entering Indian lands without the permission of the state, motivated by the motive of not allowing missionaries to encourage Indians to rebel against the state. As a result, more than a dozen missionaries were arrested and imprisoned, but most were pardoned by the governor after promising not to violate Georgian law again. However, one is called Seyol. Vorster's missionaries would rather go to jail than accept the governor's terms. He appealed to the Federal Court for his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled against the Georgian government, stating that Georgia had no jurisdiction over Indian affairs under the federal constitution and laws, and that Georgia's interference in the Indian region was illegal and must be stopped immediately.

After learning of the Supreme Court's ruling, President Jackson made a famous phrase in history that is repeated in almost all relevant history books. The first civilian president, Jackson, expressed his indiscretion about the system itself, saying contemptuously, "Well, John Marshall made his ruling." Now, let him enforce the law! ”

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court entered an adjournment following this ruling. President Jackson and the Georgia government neither publicly contested nor enforced the Supreme Court's ruling, effectively stillborn. President Jackson persuaded the Georgia government to release the arrested missionaries, and on the other hand, he asked members of Congress who had better relations with the Cherokee to come forward and persuade the Cherokees to accept the terms of the move west. With their substantive actions, the US government has slapped their well-established legal system and so-called universal values in the face.

On February 5, 1834, President Jackson met at the White House with Cherokee Chieftain John Brown. Ross. John. Rose is of Irish descent and has only one-eighth Cherokee ancestry. At that time, the federal government had always had hopes for the westward relocation plan, and because the Cherokee leaders did not refuse outright, but disputed the price. Ross has repeatedly thwarted President Jackson's plans because he has offered $20 million in compensation for the federal government's plan to move westward, plus previous violations. This request greatly annoyed President Jackson. He accused Ross and others of becoming a selfish elite of the Cherokees who wanted nothing more than to use the opportunity to sacrifice the interests of the Cherokee as a whole in search of greater power and wealth.

On December 29, 1835, President Jackson's commissioner bypassed the Ross chiefs and privately signed a treaty for the westward relocation of the Cherokee capital to New Ejota, the capital of the Cherokee country, with more than 20 people who were willing to compromise. Under the terms of the treaty, the Cherokee nations would give them all of their land on the east bank of the Mississippi River in exchange for the same amount of land provided by the federal government on the west bank, and that the Cherokee nations would receive $5 million in compensation and $300,000 in settling-in payments.

The Cherokee leaders who signed the treaty believed that although the people were opposed to the relocation and signing the treaty would incur resentment, such a quid pro quo would be beneficial to the survival of the Cherokee. After signing it, Cherokee leader Mejliki said, "I signed my own death certificate."

In 1839, the three main Cherokee leaders who advocated the signing of the treaty, Niche father and son and editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, were assassinated by hated clansmen after the Cherokee moved west.

The Cherokee Congress passed the Westward Relocation Treaty 79-7. Soon the Federal Parliament received protests from 14,000 Cherokees, who were reluctant to leave their homeland. However, the Bundesrat finally passed the treaty by 31 to 15, just over two-thirds of the legal limit. In 1836 President Jackson signed the agreement and gave two years for the evacuation and relocation of the Cherokees. Two years have passed, and no one has moved out. On May 23, 1838, the treaty came into force, and the federal government and Georgia's military and militia forcibly enforced the law to move westward to enforce the treaty.

So, under the pressure of the Georgia militia and the federal army, the Cherokee Indians were forced to embark on a long march to the west.

It's a very tragic journey. Of the 18,000 Cherokee men, women and children who migrated along the 800-mile route, it is unknown how many died of hunger and disease. Along the way, the blood and tears of the Cherokees were overflowing everywhere, so it was called the "Road of Tears".

However, from a legal point of view, there does not seem to be an obvious "loophole" for violating the law. In Oklahoma, the Cherokee was given the same amount of new land that was not barren, and the cost of five million dollars in compensation and $300,000 in relocation costs was an astronomical sum in 1835. However, the money given by the federal government did not fall into the hands of every Cherokee at all.

And Logan's tribe of nearly 3,000 people along the way, even if they met the traversers and got timely help, there were only more than 2,000 people left, if it wasn't for the timely appearance of the traversers, I don't know how many more died.

"Whenever I Logan gives food to hungry white people, whenever I Logan gives cold white clothes, whenever I am called by my own compatriots Friend Logan's to white people. It never occurred to me that Colonel Kresap brutally murdered all of Logan's relatives for no reason, not even sparing my women and children! And of all the people alive, not a single one has my blood in his veins. This fact calls me for revenge. And then I died, who went there to mourn Logan? If it weren't for you, there wouldn't be anyone! When he said this, this lonely and strong man couldn't help but be moved to tears.

Yes, if it weren't for the Travelers, this would have been the swan song of Logan Chief.

The origin of the road of tears, as well as the blood and tears of the Cherokees, are gradually clearly presented in front of everyone in Logan's weeping voice, and in the scavenging and missing leaves of Chen Weidong, who is familiar with history.

So, so far, the Americans, though they have bought it from the French, have not considered Louisian's true homeland? And only the Indians are the most legitimate inhabitants here? Zhao Wenli looked at Chen Weidong cautiously.

"It should be," Chen Weidong scratched the back of his head, not quite used to Zhao Wenli's eager gaze.

"Then why did they give up this land, when in the afterlife, their territory reached as far as the east coast of the Pacific Ocean?" Zhao Wenli still showed a puzzled look.

"What's so curious," Liu Shijie, who had been lazy, suddenly interjected, "from the panic of the unknown world." ”

"Oh, how do you say?" Everyone's curiosity couldn't help but arouse it.

"When the Mayflower first came to the United States, they just wanted to escape the Church and survive on the American continent, right? However, man's ambition is gradually inflated. When they survived with the help of the Indians, did they build thirteen more states? Later, when they gained a foothold in these thirteen states, did they slowly expand to fifty states? ”

"Yes, why didn't I think of it," Chen Weidong suddenly patted his head and said, "The appetite of the Americans is also gradually growing, their population is not enough, their existing population, can only control the place east of the Missy River, the place to the west, first, they are still full of many unknown risks, and second, they really can't take care of it, so they threw the Indians over." But when their population grows, they will surely reach out to this place? ”

"So, you're saying that the control center of the Americans, at this moment, is still east of the Mississippy River?" Zhao Wenli asked nervously.

"That's pretty much it, but there should be Americans to the west."

"Anyway, from the perspective of the United States' own laws, the Indians legally own Louisna, so is it time for us to do something?"

"Ah," everyone was stunned and looked at Zhao Wenli, who had always been indifferent, in shock.

Zhao Wenli ignored everyone's gaze at all, patted Logan on the shoulder, and didn't care whether Logan understood it or not, and said with a smile: "Louisna is the land of your Indians, if there are any difficulties, speak out, don't worry, we will help you." ”