Trail Of Tears: A Horrible And Genocidal Act For Western Expansion

The Trail of Tears was a horrible and genocidal act towards the “civilized tribes'' of the southern regions. The Trail of Tears was an act for western expansion put into effect by Andrew Jackson in his “Indian Removal Act''. Jackson wanted to continue western expansion by any means necessary and thus the trail of tears was set into motion in the early 1830s. The Trail of Tears was overall a dreadful act of forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, and unwarranted death towards the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes.

Americans were focused on western expansion in the name of manifest destiny, they thought that god wanted them to have the land. Americans believed they should be granted the land in any means necessary. President Andrew Jackson was a big believer in manifest destiny and as soon as he was in office he got to work on western expansion. Jackson told

So much of their culture was connected to the land they had lived on for thousands of years. The Cherokee were farmers for over a thousand years before the Trail of Tears living in permanent villages. The Chickasaw had a highly developed system of laws and religion and conducted successful trade. Like the Cherokee the Choctaw and Creek were big on agriculture, specifically corn, beans, and squash mostly used for trade. The Creek tribe was resourceful and self-sufficient living in harmony with the land, not taking advantage of it. The Seminole tribe had mixed origins of a branch of Lower Creeks and runaway black slaves from nearby plantations. The Tribes known for farming were moved to land that was considered too arid and nowhere near as fertile as the south. All of the tribes were stripped from their culture, moved to brand new land away from everything that had made their land home. Sacred places gone, villages gone, agriculture gone, and tribe members gone,