Trail of Tears

[image credit: The Granger Collection, Ltd. NY
Painting: Trail of Tears, Robert Lindneux, 1942.]

Activity - Trail of Tears

Learning Objectives

	To build on prior understanding of the ideas expressed in the central argument of the Declaration of Independence
	To identify the ways that the principles of democracy can be used among various groups to justify competing and conflicting points of view and demands for government policy.
	To engage in a close (re) reading of a primary source in order to uncover its central argument or point of view and the evidence/examples used to support that central point.

General Information

	Description of Activity
	Schedule for Writing Workshops
	Form for Primary Source Documents

Background Information on Historical Context

	Treaty with the Cherokee - 1785
	Indian Removal Act - 1830
	Introduction to The Trail Where They Cried
	Indian removal - A general overview of the removal of the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations from the South East region of the United States from 1814 - 1840.
	Sequence of Events Leading to Trail of Tears

Primary Source Documents - What Were the Issues?

	Set One: In Defense Of The Cherokees: The “William Penn” Essays and Andrew Jackson and United States Policy
	Set Two: Cherokee Women Resist Removal & White Intruders: ZILLAH HAYNIE BRANDON
	Set Three: Elias Boudinot’s Editorials in The Cherokee Phoenix & Lewis Cass Justifies Removal

Accounts of the Trail of Tears - "The Trail Where They Cried" - What Are the Legacies?

Map of Trail of Tears

Samuel's Memory: Samuel Cloud turned 9 years old on the Trail of Tears. Samuel's Memory is told by his great-great grandson, Michael Rutledge, in his paper Forgiveness in the Age of Forgetfulness. Michael, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a law student at Arizona State University.

Eyewitness Accounts of Cherokee removal and migration.

[image credit: The Granger Collection, Ltd. NY Painting: Trail of Tears, Robert Lindneux, 1942.]