The Trail of Tears

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When people tink about the first people in America, they might think of Christopher Columbus or the European colonists; when, in fact, the first people were the Indians. The Cherokee Indians had lived in the lands of what is now the United States for thousands of years before any colonists had ventured over. Little did they know that the new nation that was going to be forming around them, would severely affect the lives of their descendents.

Life before the Trail of Tears but after the arrival of the new Americans was more or less simple for the Cherokees. They spend time hunting and fishing. Some of them even worked on plantations and even own their own slaves, in an effort to accommodate to some of the American ways of living. The main difference between the Americans and the Indians was that the Indians believed that no one should actually own any of the land. The land was only thre for them to use, as they needed. This disaagreement of the people cread some serious issues down the road.

John Ross and Major Ridge were two men who were both part Cherokee, but had slig...

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