Editing Andrew Jackson (section)

==The Trail of Tears==
The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of approximately 60,000 Native Americans between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. Members of the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves) were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to areas to the west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as 'Indian Territory'. 

The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities (state and local militias) following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Cherokee removal in 1838 (the last forced removal east of the Mississippi) was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush. Jackson had previously been ordered not to seize Cherokee land by the Supreme Court but had ignored the ruling.

The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their newly designated reserve. Thousands died before reaching their destinations or shortly after they suffered from the disease.