15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
__NOTOC__
The Trail of Tears was a series of forced Indian removals by the United States government over 2 decades, but the removal of the Cherokee nation from Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama is the most famous of these forced marches. This is the relocation that most people associate with the Trail of Tears, but it was no the only one. The Seminoles (1832), the Choctaw (1830), the Chickasaw (1832), the Creek (1832), the Fox (1832), the Sauk and the Cherokee (1835) were all removed from their ancestral lands.
====Andrew Jackson and Indian removal====
Jackson strongly favored removing the 60,000 Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek and Seminole (the Civilized Tribes) from North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi
In Jackson’s first message to Congress - he asked for funds to remove the tribes west of the Mississippi
====Opposition to Indian Removal====
Triggered the creation of a reform movement -
====Conclusion====
The Cherokees were removed in 1835 despite a Supreme Court decision, <i>Worchester v. Georgia</i>, that found that Cherokee was a sovereign nation that had rights under existing treaties. Forcibly removing the Cherokees violated these treaties. Andrew Jackson ignored the courts rulings and pushed with Indian removal. Ultimately, over 4,000 Cherokees were killed during their march west.
In a history full of civil rights violations - Indian Removal was one of the most egregious
Indians were removed simply because states wanted to take over productive farming operations created by Indians, especially Georgia
Numbers of Indians east of the Mississippi was minimal after removal
