Trail of Tears
In the 1830s, around 125,000 Native Americans lived in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida and they had been for generations. By about 1840, not very many natives where still in those areas because they were forced to work for white settlers who wanted to use the Indians land to grow things such as cotton. The government forced them to leave their homes and walk a very long journey, thousands of miles, to a specific place called 'Indian Territory' by the Mississippi river. The journey to this place was known as the Trail of Tears. The Americans didn't quite like the Natives and they were also a bit afraid of them and they thought of them as very different and they had land the Americans wanted. They Americans wanted to make the Natives as much like them as they could so they suggested they convert to Christianity, learn to speak and read English.
Key Points
• The forced relocation of American Indians began with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
•. In 1838, the Cherokee Indians became the fifth major tribe to experience forced relocation
to Indian Territory. The Cherokee Nation moved from its ancestral homeland in parts of North Carolina,
Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to land set aside for them in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
• More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians were removed by the U.S. Army.
• The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes were the other tribes that were forced to relocate.
Over 100,000 Native Americans from the five tribes were forced to move.
• These people were held in concentration-like camps through the summer, then they were then forced
to travel over 1,000 miles, under very hard conditions to Indian Territory.
• Along the trail, nearly 4,000 Cherokee died of starvation, exposure, or disease.
• The Cherokees came to call this forced move "Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-I" or "Trail Where They Cried".
• The result of the U.S. Government's American Indian Removal Policy devastated American Indian cultures.
The Native Americans had been a strong and vibrant part of North American history , but what the government
did to these people is difficult to understand and accept.
• In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-192, designating two of the routes taken by the Cherokee people
in their removal as a National Historic Trail within the National Trails System. Today, it is best know as "The
Trail of Tears".
• The forced removal of the Indians remains a black mark on American history, and reminds those who desire
freedom, that all people deserve a life of liberty regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.
•. In 1838, the Cherokee Indians became the fifth major tribe to experience forced relocation
to Indian Territory. The Cherokee Nation moved from its ancestral homeland in parts of North Carolina,
Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to land set aside for them in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
• More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians were removed by the U.S. Army.
• The Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes were the other tribes that were forced to relocate.
Over 100,000 Native Americans from the five tribes were forced to move.
• These people were held in concentration-like camps through the summer, then they were then forced
to travel over 1,000 miles, under very hard conditions to Indian Territory.
• Along the trail, nearly 4,000 Cherokee died of starvation, exposure, or disease.
• The Cherokees came to call this forced move "Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hilu-I" or "Trail Where They Cried".
• The result of the U.S. Government's American Indian Removal Policy devastated American Indian cultures.
The Native Americans had been a strong and vibrant part of North American history , but what the government
did to these people is difficult to understand and accept.
• In 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-192, designating two of the routes taken by the Cherokee people
in their removal as a National Historic Trail within the National Trails System. Today, it is best know as "The
Trail of Tears".
• The forced removal of the Indians remains a black mark on American history, and reminds those who desire
freedom, that all people deserve a life of liberty regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.
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