Trail of Tears

In 1838 Cherokee people were forcibly moved from their homeland and relocated to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.  They resisted their Removal by creating their own newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix, as a platform for their views.  They sent their educated young men on speaking tours throughout the United States.  They lobbied Congress, and created a petition with more than 15,000 Cherokee signatures against Removal.  They took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that they were a sovereign nation n Worcester vs. Georgia (1832).  President Andrew Jackson ignored the Supreme Court decision, enforced his Indian Removal Act of 1830, and pushed through the Treaty of New Echota.
In 1838 Cherokee people were forcibly taken from their homes,  incarcerated in stockades, forced to walk more than a thousand miles, and removed to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died and many are buried in unmarked graves along “The Trail Where They Cried.”