The Trail of Tears

From the earliest European colonization of the Americas, Native Americans were forced out of their territories. Following America’s declaration of independence from England, and the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French, the government began urging their citizens to move and settle west of the Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was one of the attempts made by President Andrew Jackson to remove Native Americans from their lands. This act entailed a simple exchange of land in the east for land west of the Mississippi.

However, one obstacle that had to be overcome was the occupation of these western lands by other Native American tribes. The tribes were to be moved into an area designated “Indian Territory”, located in present-day Oklahoma and its neighboring states. At this time the “Five Civilized Tribes”--Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee--lived east of the Mississippi and were forced to move into Indian Territory. This brutal exile came to be known as “The Trail of Tears.” The Native Americans traveled approximately 1000 miles on foot, a dead-man’s-walk during which they suffered from starvation, disease and exposure to a new and unfamiliar environment. It is estimated that between 2000 and 4000 of the 16,000 migrating Cherokees died by the hand of the federal government.

Picture taken from:
http://www.cabrillo.edu/~crsmith/trailoftears.jpg
Bibliography
Rozema, Vicki. Voices from The Trail of Tears. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 2004.
http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/precivilwar/section3.rhtml

-Alma