Trail Of Tears: Horrible And Genocidal Act

Ares M. Vranka

Dan Mader

US History & Geography

24 March 2023

Trail of Tears

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.

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,

The river routes were quite notorious for people contracting disease and having disease spread quickly due to close proximity with those who had fallen ill. Being on a raft/canoe in close proximity to other people who are sick with deadly diseases is a recipe for disaster because there's nowhere to go, no medical care whenever anybody gets ill. Disease runs rampant through the overland routes as well along with food scarcity and brutally hot or cold weather. There was little shelter/ coverage from the hot and cold, and little food to go around to everyone who was hungry. Due to the estimated 4,000-8,000 Cherokee, 4,000 Choctaw, and 3,500 Creeks who lost their lives the Trail of Tears was not only a trail of tears but a trail of