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upworthy

trail of tears

Cherokee Nation Vice President of Government Relations Kimberly Teehee in 2019.

One hundred and eighty-seven years ago, the United States government promised the Cherokee Nation a seat in the House of Representatives as part of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. A minority group of Cherokee leaders signed the treaty, forcing the tribe to give up its ancestral land and relocate west of the Mississippi River.

The treaty was unpopular with a majority of tribe members and when they were slow to move, they were forced out of their homeland. This resulted in more than 4,000 Cherokee people dying during the forced relocation that became known as the “Trail of Tears.”

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