Trail of Tears.

Before a white man came on American soil, Native Indians lived on this land before it was known as America. There were probably 10 million Indians living here, north of present day Mexico, when the white man arrived here. When the white man came to this land it was thought that there would be peace. Not really for certain when it Indians inhabited this land some say back in 20,000 – 30,000 years ago (Manasco, N.D.).

President Andrew Jackson and the United States Congress passed what is known as the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which gave the President the rights to swap land with the Indians from the East of the Mississippi to the west of the Mississippi. There were thousands among thousands of Indians that moved west as a result of this act. Some had gone on their own, and some were forced to go. Not all left some remained behind and the pressure on the tribal leaders to sign the papers for the removal became very strong. The treaty of New Echota became the most brutal treaty to carry out. The papers were signed by a dissident not of the leaders. This was forced on the Cherokee and they were forced to go. There were around four thousand Indians that were killed on this day.

By 1835 the Cherokee was divided into two. There was some that supported the Americans and the other that did not support them. In 1838 the removal started, they became to move the Indians to Oklahoma. May 17, 1838 was the day that it was started for the Indians on their journey to their new land.

This was the saddest day in American History and the history of the American Indians. The Indians were forced to move thousand miles from what they knew as home on foot some got to travel by boat but had to endure the same conditions as the ones that had to travel by foot. Hot during the day and freezing at night, little to no food for them to eat. The Cherokee broke up into smaller groups so that it would be easier for them to forage for food in the woods and be easier for them to travel in smaller groups. The Indians arrived in Oklahoma in the hard winters. There were about 4000 that had died as a result of the removal from the east lands.

With the new land becoming home the Indians killed Chief John Ross who signed the removal of New Echota. Ironically the Creek Indians also killed their chief whom had also signed their treaty to be removed from their land.

No here we are 50 years later and it is said that all men are created equal, and have the same rights as every one else. This motto of the Americans should have been in place so many years ago as there was no need for the white man to come to this land and kill so many people and force them off what they knew as being their