The Genocide of the Trail of Tears

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The Trail of Tears is the collected routes in which Native Americans were forcibly removed from their traditional homes east of the Mississippi River to the newly established "Indian Territories" in the west (Strickland 344). Hundreds and thousands of Natives, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Quapaw, Kickapoo, Winnebago, (Strickland 345) Sac, Fox (West 85) and many more tribes were removed from their homes and marched along the thousand mile trail to what is now present-day Oklahoma ("Trail"). Much suffering occurred on route of the daily trail and sadly, during this time, the U.S. regarded the removal of the Natives as "humanitarian and civilized" policy to protect the Native people from the Whites' westward expansion (Strickland 344). The Trail of Tears Experience was a significant milestone in the road to tolerance because it solicited the very existence of tolerance through much pain and suffering. Natives were forced from their homes, and marched under extreme conditions to the extent that many died from disease, exposure, and voluntary death by bullet. The Trail of Tears experience started approximately in the May of 1830 and ended around March of 1840 (Strickland 344). The taking of Native Americans from several states east of the Mississippi, including North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, ("Trail") and Illinois (Simpson 56) into desolate reserves mainly located in present-day Oklahoma ("Trail") was ratified under the Indian Removal Act, passed by the U.S. President, Andrew Jackson on the 28th of May 1830 (Strickland 344). The Indian Removal Act was defined as trading the western U.S. Territory for the Native American Eastern Territory (Strickland 344). Since of course th... ... middle of paper ... ...h they had lived for thousands of years prior to the coming of the whites! Today, people have reflected back on the past and the Trail of Tears is now regarded as a genocide at law because one quarter to one third of the removed Native American population died from the forced migration (Strickland 344). Seeing all the deaths cause people to give consideration to their actions when they know that the actions or beliefs had attributed to the pain and suffering of thousands of people. The suffering, now exposed, represents the desideratum for tolerance on part of the U.S. The Trail of Tears partook a role to show that U.S. the need for the existence of tolerance by revealing the suffering the absence of it had caused. In addition to this event, a lesson of the meaning and significance of tolerance should influence us and others to become resolute in our actions.

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