AHC/WI : No Trails of Tears

Pretty much summed up in the title : what would be necessary to not have a Trail or Tears, historical or equivalent (anything safe mass deportation fit the OP, from co-existance to mass slaughter)?

What would have been the consequences, contemporary and up to nowadays as far you can tell?
 

Lusitania

Donor
I guess I would submit my TL as an alternative to the Trail of Tears, one where Southern Indians are allowed to live as an independent nation.

But as per my TL the results would be one of animosity and given a chance the US would destroy and kill every Indian in the Southern Indian Confederation.
 
Eventually, the Indians will be forced to give up their land to the Federal government. It all depends on how long they can hold out.
 
Maybe they apply for admission as a state at somepoint - resisting the USA is impossible, but working with it could be achievable, albiest walking a tight rope.
 
Pretty much summed up in the title : what would be necessary to not have a Trail or Tears, historical or equivalent (anything safe mass deportation fit the OP, from co-existance to mass slaughter)?

What would have been the consequences, contemporary and up to nowadays as far you can tell?

The Native Americans are very resistant Scott is forced to fight them and in the end they are slaughtered
 
Maybe have Rachel Jackson survive. If I remember correctly, her death hardened Andrew's heart. Perhaps he would have been kinder if she had lived.
 
If you have an early enough pod, cultural change could lead to a higher native birth rate and adoption of different land-use practices which keep the natives competitive with settlers demographically and economically. There would still be racism, and I don't think that economic competitiveness is possible without a great deal of assimilation, but I do think a surviving natives dominated state is possible... (The pod would just have to be before the american revolution)
 
Even without going into PODS that alter the entire demographics of the continent before contact with white settlers, there are ways to avoid the Trail of Tears-- although this would not mean removing the oppression of Native Americans altogether (or even for the most part).

For my own TL, I recently investigated the quaint history of a US state that never came into being; Westsylvania. (Essentially a West Virginia that extended to include Pittsburgh.) One of the reasons the settlers there wanted to be a separate state as early as 1776 was that they were of the opinion that land speculators were making corrupt deals, driving natives off theit lands when settlers had no need for that land... and thus disturding the good relations the settlers enjoyed with large segments the Native population.

Apparently, this feeling was shared in many western settler communities. One imagines that, had the federal government cultivated those good relations and cracked down on corrupt land deals earlier, there would have been better relations with the Indian tribes across the board. Wealthy landowners hiring armed men to exterminate whole villages just so they could sell the land "free of Indians" probably didn't really help when it came to peaceful co-existence.

Needless to say, this wouldn't suddenly solve all problems, but it could help in improving relations. It would be a start. (I fully intend to explore the possibilities in my TL; it's too good to pass up. :cool:)
 
Maybe have several Indian tribes become protectorates of the USA, keeping their own internal self-government in return for paying tribute and supplying troops to fight in American wars.
 
Top