The term “Trail of Tears” is used to refer to the forced journey to what was then called the Indian Territory. Thus, the Trail of Tears is significant because it is an instance of the US government treating Native Americans in what can be seen as an unjust manner.
What really happened on the trail of Tears?
The story of the actual Trail of Tears is pretty simple. Beginning in the 1830s, the Cherokee people were forced from their land by the U.S. government and forced to walk nearly 1,000 miles to a new home in a place they had never seen before. Thousands of people died on the harsh and totally unnecessary journey.
What were the hardships of the trail of Tears?
The hardships were many all along the trail, rough country, bad roads and all kinds of weather. A seeming endless march of weary, struggling mass of humanity, driven from a country they knew and loved as their home, deprived of most of their individual possessions, to the wilderness of a new country.
What are facts about the trail of Tears?
Trail of Tears Facts
- U.S. ...
- While some tribes went willingly, the Seminole tribe resisted for seven years. ...
- John Ross led the Cherokees and acted as the negotiator between the U.S. ...
- The Cherokees were the last to trek the harrowing Trail of Tears after the Treaty of New Echota was passed. ...
- The U.S. ...
What was life like after the trail of Tears?
What was life like after the Trail of Tears? The Cherokee lost a great deal when they arrived in Indian Territory. Many of them were quite prosperous in communities in the Southeast and had to sell their belongings for far less than they were worth.
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Why was the Trail of Tears a turning point?
Obviously the Trail of Tears marked a turning point for the Cherokee Nation, as it meant the loss of Cherokee lands and many Cherokee lives, and the challenge of creating a new existence and constitution in Indian Territory.
How did Trail of Tears affect America?
Numerous tribes were removed forcibly the following year, and often violently, from their land. This removal was an intentional act to destroy Native Americans' lives and customs. The US federal government directed intentional violence against Native Americans, forcing thousands to relocate from their ancestral lands.
What was the ultimate outcome of the Trail of Tears?
Twenty signed the treaty, ceding all Cherokee territory east of the Mississippi to the U.S., in exchange for $5 million and new homelands in Indian Territory.
How did the Trail of Tears affect Native Americans today?
Severe exposure, starvation and disease ravaged tribes during their forced migration to present-day Oklahoma. Severe exposure, starvation and disease ravaged tribes during their forced migration to present-day Oklahoma.
What were the long term consequences of the Trail of Tears?
This caused a near cultural genocide of the Cherokee in North Carolina. The long-term consequence was the continued white colonization of Cherokee territory in North Carolina. Additionally, the state of Oklahoma now has one of the highest levels of Native Americans in the United States.
Can you walk the Trail of Tears?
To hike the entire Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, you must get permission for the areas that are on private property. Other areas of the trail are located in state parks, city parks and on road right-of-ways.
How did the Indian Removal Act impact the United States?
It freed more than 25 million acres of fertile, lucrative farmland to mostly white settlement in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
Who was affected by Trail of Tears?
Some 100,000 American Indians forcibly removed from what is now the eastern United States to what was called Indian Territory included members of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes.
What were the negative effects of the Indian Removal Act?
Native American land and culture were impacted negatively by the western expansion of the United States because many lost their land, got their rights taken from them, and some even died. A number of white settlers did not care about the Native Americans, causing a rift between the U.S. and the Indians.
What was the outcome of the Indian Removal Act of 1830?
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.
What was the Trail of Tears?
The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation during the 1830s of Indigenous peoples of the Southeast region of the United States (including the Che...
What routes were used as part of the Trail of Tears?
The routes used by Indigenous people as part of the Trail of Tears consisted of several overland routes and one main water route that stretched som...
How many people died as a result of the Trail of Tears?
According to estimates based on tribal and military records, approximately 100,000 Indigenous people were forced from their homes during the Trail...
What did the whites do to their land?
But their land, located in parts of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, was valuable, and it grew to be more coveted as white settlers flooded the region. Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and often resorted to violent means to take land from their Indigenous neighbors. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns; committed mass murder; and squatted on land that did not belong to them.
What was the name of the trail of tears?
This difficult and sometimes deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears.
How many Native Americans lived in Georgia in the 1830s?
Indian Removal. The Trail of Tears. Can You Walk The Trail of Tears? Sources. At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By the end of the decade, very few natives ...
What did the Indian Removal Act do?
In 1830, he signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the federal government the power to exchange Native-held land in the cotton kingdom east of the Mississippi for land to the west, in the “Indian colonization zone” that the United States had acquired as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
What did Andrew Jackson say about the Supreme Court?
As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “ [fall]…still born.”. Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory.
What was the best way to solve the Indian problem?
Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native Americans.
How did the South drive Native Americans out of the South?
Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations “in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force.” Even so, the maltreatment continued. As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “ [fall]…still born.” Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory.
How did the Cherokee Nation fight for removal?
The Cherokee chose to use legal action to resist removal. Their lawsuits, notably Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832), reached the U.S. Supreme Court but ultimately provided no relief. As with the Seminole, a few Cherokee leaders negotiated a removal agreement that was subsequently rejected by the people as a whole. Although several families moved west in the mid-1830s, most believed that their property rights would ultimately be respected. This was not to be the case, and in 1838 the U.S. military began to force Cherokee people from their homes, often at gunpoint. Held in miserable internment camps for days or weeks before their journeys began, many became ill, and most were very poorly equipped for the arduous trip. Those who took the river route were loaded onto boats in which they traveled parts of the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi, and Arkansas rivers, eventually arriving at Fort Gibson in Indian Territory. Not until then did the survivors receive much-needed food and supplies. Perhaps 4,000 of the estimated 15,000 Cherokee died on the journey, while some 1,000 avoided internment and built communities in North Carolina.
What is the Trail of Tears?
The term Trail of Tears invokes the collective suffering those people experienced, although it is most commonly used in reference to the removal experiences of the Southeast Indians generally and the Cherokee nation specifically.
What was the first polity to finalize negotiations?
Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now. The Choctaw were the first polity to finalize negotiations: in 1830 they agreed to cede their real property for western land, transportation for themselves and their goods, and logistical support during and after the journey.
What did Jackson say about the removal of Indians?
Jackson reiterated his support for the act in various messages to Congress, notably “On Indian Removal” (1830) and “A Permanent Habitation for the American Indians” (1835) , which illuminated his political justifications for removal and described some of the outcomes he expected would derive from the relocation process.
What act was passed in 1830?
Congress complied by passing the Indian Removal Act (1830). The act entitled the president to negotiate with the eastern nations to effect their removal to tracts of land west of the Mississippi and provided some $500,000 for transportation and for compensation to native landowners.
How many people died in the removal era?
Estimates based on tribal and military records suggest that approximately 100,000 indigenous people were forced from their homes during that period, which is sometimes known as the removal era, and that some 15,000 died during the journey west.
Why did the British want to relocate the Appalachian Mountains?
Although that region was to be protected for the exclusive use of indigenous peoples, large numbers of Euro-American land speculators and settlers soon entered. For the most part, the British and, later, U.S. governments ignored these acts of trespass.
What was the Trail of Tears?
Trail of Tears, Forced migration in the United States of the Northeast and Southeast Indians during the 1830s. The discovery of gold on Cherokee land in Georgia (1828–29) catalyzed political efforts to divest all Indians east of the Mississippi River of their property.
How many people died on the Trail of Tears?
Many native people were forced from their homes, and most undertook the westward journey under severe duress. Some 15,000 died of exposure and disease on the journey, which became known as the Trail of Tears.
How did the Trail of Tears help the United States?
The Trail of Tears helped the United States pave the way to the future, and we are forever in its debt. However, this still does not hide the gruesome truth. United States will forever know the Trail of Tears as one of the many significant events that changed our way of life, and way of thinking forever.
What would happen if the trail of tears did not take place?
If the trail of tears did not take place, it would have taken significantly longer for United States citizens to realize that not all different cultures are dangerous, and we wouldn't have nearly as much diversity in this country as we do today.
What happened after the Trail of Tears?
Shortly after the Trail Of Tears, people started to question authority and how the government could be greedy enough to move a civilized culture, that didn't do anything to us in the first place .
How many Cherokees died in the Cherokee Trail of Tears?
Forcible removals began in May 1838 when General Winfield Scott received a final order from President Martin Van Buren to relocate the remaining Cherokees. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died in the ensuing trek to Oklahoma. In the Cherokee language, the event is called nu na da ul tsun yi ("the place where they cried") or nu na hi du na tlo hi lu i (the trail where they cried). The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the enforcement of the Treaty of New Echota, an agreement signed under the provisions of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which exchanged Indian land in the East for lands west of the Mississippi River, but which was never accepted by the elected tribal leadership or a majority of the Cherokee people.
What was the amount of money the Cherokee Tribe received in 1905?
on May 18, 1905. This resulted in the appropriation of $1 million (equal to $27,438,023.04 today) to the Tribe's eligible individuals and families. Interior Department employee Guion Miller created a list using several rolls and applications to verify tribal enrollment for the distribution of funds, known as the Guion Miller Roll. The applications received documented over 125,000 individuals; the court approved more than 30,000 individuals to share in the funds.
How many miles of trails were there in 1987?
In 1987, about 2,200 miles (3,500 km) of trails were authorized by federal law to mark the removal of 17 detachments of the Cherokee people. Called the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, it traverses portions of nine states and includes land and water routes.
How long did it take to cross the Trail of Tears?
A Trail of Tears map of Southern Illinois from the USDA – U.S. Forest Service. It eventually took almost three months to cross the 60 miles (97 kilometres) on land between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The trek through southern Illinois is where the Cherokee suffered most of their deaths.
What was the name of the group that was lost in the swamps of Little Rock?
When they reached Little Rock, a Choctaw chief referred to their trek as a " trail of tears and death ". The Vicksburg group was led by an incompetent guide and was lost in the Lake Providence swamps.
What tribes were relocated under the Indian Removal Act of 1830?
The Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chicksaw were also relocated under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. One Choctaw leader portrayed the removal as "A Trail of Tears and Deaths", a devastating event that removed most of the Native population of the southeastern United States from their traditional homelands.
What was the purpose of the Trail of Tears?
U.S. Federal Government, U.S. Army, state militias. Motive. Acquisition of Native American land east of the Mississippi River. The Trail of Tears was part of a series of forced displacements of approximately 60,000 Native Americans between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government known as the Indian removal.
What is the Trail of Tears?
The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail commemorates the removal of the Cherokee and the paths that 17 Cherokee detachments followed westward.
How many miles is the Trail of Tears?
Today the trail encompasses about 2,200 miles of land and water routes, and traverses portions of nine states.
Who administers the Trail of Tears?
The National Park Service, in partnership with other federal agencies, state and local agencies, non-profit organizations, and private landowners, administers the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. Participating national historic trail sites display the official trail logo.
Why did Native Americans move to the Mississippi River?
Most were forced from their homes with nothing and fell victim to cold, hunger, and disease along the way, according to PBS. The reason behind the forced relocation was simple: greed. Great wealth was at stake in a gold rush on Cherokee lands in Georgia in 1829, according to Britannica, and land speculators wanted the federal government to hand over control of tribal property to the states.
Where did the Native Americans trek?
The forced trek of Native Americans from their homelands in the Southeast, over more than 5,000 miles across parts of nine states to lands east of the Mississippi in Oklahoma, a place they knew nothing about, is one of the saddest chapters in American history. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act (per History ), and the U.S. government began forcefully removing native peoples from their ancestral homes in a deadly and ruthless march known as the Trail of Tears (via U.S. History ).
Why did the Cherokee move to Oklahoma?
The Cherokee were forced to move because a small, rump faction of the tribe signed the Treaty of New Echota in late 1835, a treaty that the U.S. Senate ratified in May 1836. This action – the treaty signing and its subsequent Senate approval – tore the Cherokee into two implacable factions: a minority of those who were allied with the “treaty party,” and the vast majority that bitterly opposed the treaty signing.
How many detachments did the Cherokee have?
Ross, honoring that pledge, orchestrated the migration of fourteen detachments, most of which traveled over existing roads, between August and December 1838. The impact of the resulting Cherokee “Trail of Tears” was devastating.
When did the Cherokee tribe move to Tennessee?
In May 1838, the Cherokee removal process began. U.S. Army troops, along with various state militia, moved into the tribe’s homelands and forcibly evicted more than 16,000 Cherokee Indian people from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia.
