Get Flocabulary Trail Of Tears

In the 1830s the United States government forcibly removed the southeastern Native Americans from their homelands and relocated them on lands in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). This tragic event is referred to as the Trail of Tears.

In the 1830s the United States government forcibly removed the southeastern Native Americans from their homelands and relocated them on lands in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). This tragic event is referred to as the Trail of Tears.

It was by these routes that some 15,000 Cherokee were to set out for the West. Of that number, it is thought that about 4,000 died, having succumbed to hunger, exhaustion, cold, or disease, whether in removal camps in the East, on the westward journey itself, or during their first year in Indian Territory.

The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

Guided by policies favored by President Andrew Jackson, who led the country from 1828 to 1837, the Trail of Tears (1837 to 1839) was the forced westward migration of American Indian tribes from the South and Southeast. Land grabs threatened tribes throughout the South and Southeast in the early 1800s.

ing to estimates based on tribal and military records, approximately 100,000 Indigenous people were forced from their homes during the Trail of Tears, and some 15,000 died during their relocation.

After the revolution, George Washington believed that the wisest policy was encouraging Indians to assimilate into white European/American culture. He thought this would prevent wars and conflict. Some tribes took his advice, most notably the Cherokee.