When we think of the United States we think of equality and justice for all people no matter how far back you go back in our history. Sadly, this hasnt always been the case, in this land of hopeand freedom peoples lives have been taken unjustly to pursue outlandish stories of witchcraft. Native people have been removed from their home land, forced to travel thousands of miles underharsh conditions just so settlers could push on to the gold rich lands. The witchcraft trialsdepicted in Arthur Millers Crucible and the removal of the Cherokee Nation from NorthernGeorgia to Oklahoma are only a couple events that blacken part of our great nations history. Even though the Salem witch trials and the Trail of Tears (Cherokee removal) were separateevents in time they were both motivated by intolerance, ignorance, and the tension built by timeitself.Although the forced migration of the Cherokee Nation and the Salem witch trials seem tohave little in common they share the same effect, gross injustice to their victims. The Crucibleshowed us how a peaceful society suddenly was turned upside down when people began to speakof witchcraft causing the arrest and deaths of dozens of innocent salemites. As we look backupon the Trail of Tears we saw how greedy settlers wanted to push west in to resource richCherokee lands. This broke the peaceful bond that Cherokee people had shared with the frontierpeople for many years. When the Government forced the Cherokee to relocate it was like the people of Salem although they didnt always see eye to eye with each other they kept peace. Then suddenly everything exploded and the people of Salem began to accuse each other ofwitchcraft while in Georgia the U.S. Army showed up to kick out the Cherokee people.Intolerance was a key factor in the problems of the Crucible and the Trail of Tears. Eventhough the Cherokee Nation was one the few tribes that adapted to the white mans ways througheducation, farming ...
