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Trail Of Tears Essay

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Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears is a name given to the Cleansing and forced relocation of Native American nations from Southeastern parts of United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The phrase originated from a description of removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. We Cherokee Indians have lived in our lands for centuries. The white setters forcefully came into our world and had an eye on our land to grow cotton and other crops. First they wanted to “civilize” us and “save our souls” by converting us to Christianity. Many of our people tried to comply, but they thought of us as alien people and looked down upon us. The Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Cherokee, the Muscogee, and the Seminole (collectively called the Five Civilized Tribes) were living as autonomous nations in what could be called to the American Deep South. They initially started harassing us by stealing livestock, burning and looting our houses and squatting on our land which did not belong to them. The land they coveted was the east of Mississippi as this land was valuable for growing cotton. Several state governments passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights, even though US Supreme Court affirmed our nation to be sovereign in the case of Worcester v. Georgia (1832). In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), the Supreme Court ruled the Cherokee nation was not sovereign and independent nation, and even refused to hear the case. Tensions between Georgia and

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