The signing of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 granted the U.S. federal government the discretion take Native Americans’ ancestral lands within state borders in exchange for land in the unsettled west. A faction of the Cherokee Nation refused this policy and would not leave their land. Beginning in 1838, U.S army troops forcibly removed the remaining Cherokee and marched them over 1,000 miles to a new reservation. This journey became known as the “Trail of Tears.” Along the way, thousands of Cherokees perished from disease and exposure.
World Population : 170,060,000
Key: 1,000,000 People 1,000,000 People (Annotated) Milestone
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The signing of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 granted the U.S. federal government the discretion take Native Americans’ ancestral lands within state borders in exchange for land in the unsettled west. A faction of the Cherokee Nation refused this policy and would not leave their land. Beginning in 1838, U.S army troops forcibly removed the remaining Cherokee and marched them over 1,000 miles to a new reservation. This journey became known as the “Trail of Tears.” Along the way, thousands of Cherokees perished from disease and exposure.