The Cherokee, Chickawar, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole were tribes of Native Americans living in the Southeast. Settlers' desire for more farmland resulted in the tribes being removed from their land when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act led to the Trail of Tears which is the title given to the paths upon which these tribes traveled.
A minority of the Cherokee agreed to journey to the Indian Territory which today is Oklahoma. They signed the Treaty of New Echhota in 1835. Most of the Cherokee refused to leave their land and were forced off their lands by the United States soliders under the leadership of Gen. Winfield Scott.
In 1838, 12,,000 Cherokees were forced off their land and held in stockades until they started on thhe journey which Sarah and her family made. As many as 4,000 Cherokee died on thhe trail.
Several different routes were used by the soldiers to lead the Cherokee from Georgia and Alabama to Indian Territory which is now Oklahoma. Look at the four routes shown on the map and describe each of them in the correct box on the worksheet. Use what you know plus the story to describe the physical features of the land, the natural resources they used and how they traveled.
Two Nations, One People: The Cherokee, by Geofrfey Norman
National Geographic, May, 1995, pages 72-97
Return to the The Trail on Which They Wept lesson.
