​ The Creek, Seminoles, Chickasaw, Chocktaw, and Cherokee tribes were living in the southeast United States when the Indian Removal Act was passed. The Native American groups did not want to leave their land. They wanted to live on their land where their tribes had always lived. The Cherokee refused to leave. They took their case to the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed that the Cherokee could not be forced to move from their land. The Cherokee people were happy they won, but they were not happy for long.

​ President Andrew Jackson ignored the Supreme Court ruling. In 1838, he sent the U.S. Army to capture all the Cherokee they could find and force them to move. More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians were captured and put into prison camps. The army then forced the Cherokee to walk over 1,000 miles to the Indian reservation land. They walked in the cold without rest. They did not have enough food to eat. Many people became sick. Over 4,000 Cherokees died on the long journey.

This is a very difficult and sorrowful part of American history. The Cherokees called this forced moe from their land the "Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-hilu-I." This means, "The trail where they cried." Today this forced journey is known as The Trail of Tears.