Trail of Tears was an important experience that forever changed the history of the Cherokee Nation and the United States. Several thousand Cherokee Native Indians lost their lives when forced to leave their homelands through laws put in place by Federal authorities. The beginning of the negotiation of several treaties to establish land boundaries and trade routes started in 1776 between the nation of Native Americans and the United States. The influx of European-Americans and other countries desiring more of the fertile southern lands for farming and homesteads continued to encroach upon the lands of the Native owners.

The beginning of the end came when a smaller representative delegation of Cherokee Natives who did not have authority were either coerced or agreed to sign a treaty in 1835. The Echota Treaty signed in Echota, GA was accepted as a legal document and ratified by the United States Congress in 1836....
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