Trail of Tears
Topic: Settler Colonialism: Native Peoples of America and Australia · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Displacing Indigenous Peoples"
Meaning
The Trail of Tears was the forced removal of the Cherokee people from Georgia to the 'Great American Desert' in the west in 1838. It came from President Andrew Jackson's refusal to accept a Supreme Court ruling that protected the Cherokees. He sent the army to drive them out instead. It is one of the clearest examples of how settlers took native land.
Example
Of the 15,000 Cherokees forced to leave Georgia in 1838, more than a quarter died on the way. This happened even though Chief Justice John Marshall had ruled in 1832 that Georgia's laws had no force on Cherokee land.
Don't confuse with
- Indian Removal Act 1830: the law that allowed removals in general. The Trail of Tears was one particular deadly march that took place under that policy.
Related concepts
- Cherokee
- Worcester v Georgia
- Indian Removal Act 1830
- Indian reservations
- American Indian Wars
- Wounded Knee Massacre 1890
- Chief Seattle