America is no stranger to atrocities and bloodshed, and its slaughter of the Native Americans has at least been admitted, although it took a long time for the “Indians” not to be seen as evil barbarians who would come in the night and scalp you. The Trail of Tears was one of the worst events in the war against Native Americans, and a little known fact is that an American president was one of its prominent leaders.
On this day January 27th, in 1825, U.S. Congress approved the Indian Territory. After Congressional approval, President Andrew Jackson, who notoriously despised Indians (Native Americans), signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830.
This act directly led to the often forced removal of tens of thousands of Native Americans from their homes. The saddest part of this is that often times the people enforcing the removal were volunteers. This is what the Trail of Tears became – volunteers forcing out thousands of people, and thousands either died or were murdered. The Seminoles put up a fight in the Second Seminole War, but to no avail.