Editing Trail of Tears (section)

{{Important}}{{Act of Villainy|image =Trails of Tears en.png|perpetrator = [[Andrew Jackson]]<br>[[Martin Van Buren]]|crimes = [[Genocide]]<br>[[Ethnic cleansing]]<br>[[Hate Speech]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>[[Negrophobia]]<br>[[Misogyny]]<br>[[Rape]]<br>[[Xenophobia]]<br>[[Anti-Native American Sentiment]]<br>[[War crimes]]|date = 1831 - 1838|location = Southeastern parts of the United States|motive = Clear up 25 million acres of land for white settlers}}{{Quote|Five thousand [Native Americans] finally consented to be marched westward, but another fifteen thousand clung to their neat farms, schools, and libraries 'of good books.' So General Winfield Scott set about systematically extirpating the rebellious ones. Squads of soldiers descended upon isolated Cherokee farms and at bayonet point marched the families off to what today would be known as concentration camps. ...they were set off on a thousand mile march—called to this day 'the trail of tears'.|Peter Farb, ''Man's Rise to Civilization''}}
The '''Trail of Tears''' is a name given to the forced relocation and [[ethnic cleansing]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States Native American] nations from southeastern parts of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States United States] following the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act_of_1830 Indian Removal Act of 1830]. The removal included many members of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee Cherokee], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscogee_%28Creek%29 Muscogee (Creek)], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole Seminole], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickasaw Chickasaw], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw Choctaw] nations, among others in the United States, from their homelands to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Territory Indian Territory] (eastern sections of the present-day state of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma Oklahoma]). The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choctaw Choctaw] Nation in 1831.

Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease and starvation on route to their destinations. Many died, including 4,000 of the 13,000 relocated Cherokee, intermarried and accompanying European-Americans, and the 2,000 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American African-American] free blacks and slaves owned by the Cherokee they took with them. European Americans and African American freedmen and slaves also participated in the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek and Seminole forced relocations.

It was considered to be part of the larger [[Amerindian Genocide]] in the United States.