History of the
Trail of Tears

Euro-American settlers had sought to acquire Indigenous tribal lands in the Southeast since the late 17th century. After the American Revolution, a series of treaties between the U.S. Government and the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations opened Native land to White settlement. Sparked by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega in 1828, Georgia supported the passage of President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 and passed a law proclaiming Cherokee laws null and void after June 1, 1830. The Cherokees filed numerous lawsuits in protest and, in 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokees in the landmark case Worcester v. Georgia. However, Georgia ignored the ruling and Andrew Jackson refused to enforce it. Georgia held several land lotteries between 1805 and 1827 distributing Muscogee (Creek) land to White settlers. This was followed by three land lotteries in 1832 - 1833 giving Cherokee land, still occupied by Cherokees, to White settlers. In 1835 a small number of Cherokees led by Major Ridge signed the Treaty of New Echota, agreeing to leave their beloved land east of the Mississippi and move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in exchange for $5 million. The Removal date was set for May of 1838. The majority of Cherokees, including Principal Chief John Ross, were against this Treaty. Despite these protests, the Treaty was ratified by the U. S. Senate by one vote. John Ross spent the next two years doing all he could to keep his people in their homeland.

In May of 1838 Federal troops began the enforcement of the Treaty. In Georgia, with the assistance of the Georgia militia, the Cherokee were rounded up and taken to 15 forts and camps where they stayed for a short time before being marched to Tennessee to await the final removal. Although some detachments left for Oklahoma soon after, a summer drought had lowered river levels, so John Ross was given permission to delay further removal until it was cooler. He was also given the authority to lead the removal of the remaining Cherokees. In September and October of 1838, 13,000 Cherokees, in units of about 1,000 people, began the journey west. The final units faced harsh weather as winter arrived early. As a result of removal, about 4,000 Cherokees perished, mostly the very young and the elderly. Not all Cherokees were removed from their eastern homeland. Through various circumstances, a small remnant was allowed to remain in western North Carolina. Their descendants now live in the Qualla Boundary and form the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which, along with the Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, represent the three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes. The Cherokee Nation currently has more than 460,000 tribal citizens worldwide, of which more than 146,000 live within the tribe’s reservation in Oklahoma, and around 2500 tribal citizens live in the state of Georgia. The Cherokee Nation is a major contributor to the economy of Oklahoma and the culture of all Cherokee people is alive and thriving.