The Cherokee Trail of Tears

Grade: 9 Subject: Social Studies Date:

• To promote understanding of the experiences of the Cherokee
Objective: throughout the Trail of Tears and to begin to create meaningful and
critical discussions surrounding the Trail of Tears.
Materials/ Indian Removal Act
Resources: • https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458 (pp.
411-412) – Indian Removal Act (Statute)
• https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/ampage?collId=llrd&fileName=010/llrd010.db&recNum=438 (p.
ix) – President’s Message

The Northern Route

• https://www.britannica.com/story/trail-of-tears-
routes#:~:text=Most%20of%20the%20Cherokee%20involved,Illinois%
3B%20and%20Jackson%2C%20Missouri
Teaching Pre-Removal
Points: • May 28, 1830: The Indian Removal Act is signed into law by President
Andrew Jackson.
• This Act allowed the government to remove Indigenous people from
their ancestral homes and relocate them in new territories.
• The Indian Removal Act was the beginning of the Trail of Tears.
• Reasons for Indian Removal Act: separating Indians from whites;
giving them their own power rather than that of the States; helping
them to achieve happiness by their own means; and potentially
helping them to become civilized Christians and abandon their savage
ways.

Removal
• Many groups were removed from the southeast during the Trail of
Tears – Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek.
• Forced removals began in 1838.
• Most common route for the Cherokee was the “northern route.”
Through Tennessee and Nashville, into Kentucky, across the Ohio
River, through Illinois, across the Mississippi River, through Missouri,
to Oklahoma.
• Many illnesses were contracted and passed around while making the
trek across states.

Post-Removal
 • In “Indian Territory,” the Cherokee were forced to make a new home
somewhere where they were unfamiliar with the land, weather
patterns, and lived in unsustainable temporary housing (i.e., tents).
• The political situation between the Treaty Party and the Cherokee
chief was rocky and caused much infighting and resulted in murders
and raids among the Cherokee.
• The population loss estimate for this period is commonly referenced
as being four thousand. There is some skepticism with this number
though as it does not account for the births that would have occurred
if not for removal.
• A shift in the Cherokee understanding of spirituality and identity also
occurred after removal. They are a people so tied to their spiritual
identity and their relationship with their ancestral lands, so removing
them from these places would have an effect on that identity.

Activity – Think, Pair, Share is a simple activity in which students are asked questions
Think, Pair, and are given some time to think about their answers, then they get into
Share pairs and talk about their answers. Finally, students will have the opportunity
to share with the class.

Discussion Questions
• What was the government’s role in the removal of the Cherokee
peoples from Cherokee Nation?
• How were the Cherokee affected by the forced removals?
• What could the government have done differently to avoid negative
implications that arose from the Trail of Tears forced removals?
• What do you think of the reasoning President Andrew Jackson gave
for the enactment of the Indian Removal Act?