Editing Amerindian Genocide (section)

====[[The Trail of Tears]]====
On 28 May 1830, President [[Andrew Jackson]] signed into law the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the US government to confiscate Native American land. The Act was strongly enforced under Jackson’s presidency and that of his successor, [[Martin Van Buren]].

Under the Indian Removal Act, the government had a mandate to remove 50,000 Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw people from their homeland and seize it for themselves. No means of transportation were provided after the Natives were removed, meaning they were forced to walk 2,200 miles to Indian reservations. 4,000 deaths were reported on one march alone, and estimates of the total death toll range from 5,000 to 25,000. Others Natives were herded into concentration camps until new land was found for then to settle on, but this was generally used as a last resort. Some accounts suggest that the US soldiers who enforced the Removal Act also raped many Native women and wore their genitals on their hats.