Question

In looking back at the Trail of Tears and Black Hawk's War, would it be more valid to describe these conflicts as a series of wars between the United States and sovereign Native American tribes, or as a series of genocidal actions resulting in an ethnic cleansing of the land by whites?

Answer 1

The whites were interested in the land of the Native American tribes, as these lands were suitable for growing cotton and also, was believed to have gold. This yearning for the lands of Native Americans in the states of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida, and Tennessee at any cost resulted in their removal from their lands. This forceful Indian Removal caused the Trail of Tears and Black Hawk's War, displacing the Indians from their land and killing thousands of them, due to war and on the trail to the allotted Southeastern states from their land. Thus these conflicts and wars were the result of whites greed and selfish interests, and could be categorized as conflicts and wars between the government and Indian native tribes.