The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American nations in the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern U.S. to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. The phrase "Trail of Tears" originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831.
Between 1830 and 1850, the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, Creek, Seminole and Cherokee peoples (including European Americans and African American freedmen and slaves who lived among them) were forcibly removed from their traditional lands and relocated further west. However, some Native Americans who chose to assimilate were allowed to stay and become citizens in their states and of the United States. The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route, and many died before reaching their various destinations.
The Cherokee Nation removal in 1838 (the last forced removal east of the Mississippi) was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1829, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush. The Cherokee was divided into thirteen groups, the last of which was led by John Ross, who had negotiated the nation's emigration contract with the Van Buren administration. Approximately 2,000-6,000 of the 16,543 relocated Cherokee perished along the way.
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