First off, what was the trail of tears?

Thesis Statement: The Indian and Cherokee tribes were seen as a non-threat, converted to European ways of life, and adapted to what the white settlers deemed as "right." As the tribes became worrisome, Andrew Jackson and his men set many limitations to the Indian tribes like the Indian Removal act, Worcester v Georgia, and eventually the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears killed over 4,000 Native Americans from starvation, diseases, hypothermia, sickness, and fatigue. These were cruel and inhumane acts that should be blamed on Andrew Jackson and the government starting around the 19th century. 

Near the beginning of 1830, there was about 125,000 Native Americans. These Native Americans lived in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida. To start out, the white civilians saw the Native American citizens as a threat. They did not understand them, and wanted to turn the Native Americans as "white" as they could. The white settlers then tried to convert the Native Americans to Christianity. This idea was introduced by George Washington in the past, who wanted to "civilize" the Native Americans. The Native Americans were to be "civilized" by learning English, and adapting to European-style economic practices. This could be done by practicing individual ownership of land and other properties. In the southeastern United States, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes embraced their new way of life. They became known as the "Five Civilized Tribes." Within the states that the Native Americans lived in, (posted above) settlers deemed the land as valuable. White settlers started to captivate the land by growing cotton. The white settlers did not want the Native Americans on their land, whatsoever, despite the Native Americans losing their culture to become more "white washed." 

The settlers would do just about anything to get the Native Americans off "their land." The white settlers would steal livestock, burn and loot houses, commit mass murder, and squat on land that clearly did not belong to them. The state governments got involved and pushed their efforts to get Native Americans off the land as well. Several states even passed new laws to limit Native American sovereignty, and their rights. Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, had been an advocate of removing Indians off land for quite some time. Jackson was an army general, who had spent years fighting the Creek tribes in Georgia and Alabama, and the Seminole tribes in Florida. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of land being passed from the Indian territories to the white farmers. In 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This "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." (History.com 5) "In Worcester v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations" (History.com 4) This made is so southern states could take ownership of Indian land. Not only did Native American citizens lose their rights, but the houses, schools built, communities, newspapers, and religious worshipping grounds were all to be left behind. The Cherokee language was seen as insignificant, and a threat to white settlers. The laws that were put in place refused the rights of the Native American families. 

However, this law did not require white settlers or president Jackson to force Native Americans off their land, but to create negotiable treaties to ask the Indian tribes to get off the land. Seeing this, Jackson did not care and still forced many Native Americans off their land. Then in the winter of 1831, the Choctaw tribe became the first nation to be expelled from its land without question. This was due to the threat of invasion from the United States army. This is what led to the Trail of Tears. Bound on chains, and marching double file, thousands of Indians were forced to travel to Indian territory on foot. The Indians were not given food, necessities, supplies, or any help from the government on their journey. Thousands of individuals died along the way, and many of the Indian tribes were separated from their people, and their families. 

Seen below is a woman who survived the Trail of Tears.