The Permanent Frontier

Once upon a time, there was a vast land called the Great Plains, which nobody wanted.  One day, in 1803, the leaders of the United States bought this land from a faraway country called France. 

Then, many years later, a man named Andrew Jackson became President.  He didn’t like how some Indigenous nations, who were known as the ‘five civilized tribes’, governed themselves in the southern parts of the United States.  He especially didn’t like that they had their own special lands -- particularly when gold was found near the Cherokee capital, a place called New Echota. 

In 1830, President Jackson made a big decision.  He signed a law called the Indian Removal Act, which gave him the right to send the Indigenous tribes away from their homes.  Instead, he promised to give them land a thousand miles away, in a place called Indian Territory, which is now called Oklahoma.  The land was supposed to be “secured and guaranteed” just for them. 

The Cherokee didn’t want to leave and even went to the highest court in the country, called the Supreme Court.  The Court agreed with them and said they could stay, but the government didn’t listen.  Two other tribes – the Seminoles and the Creek – actually went to war to try to stay in their homes. 

It was no use.  Soldiers came and forced the people to leave their homes.  Young and old, sick and disabled, they were all made to march for hundreds of miles, through rain and snow, with little food or warmth.  This terrible journey became known as the ‘Trail of Tears’, because so many people were sad and suffering.  Some never made it to the new land.  It is said that about one out of every three people died on the way. 

The land they had loved and lived on for generations was gone, and had to start new lives from scratch in the harsh lands of the Indian Territory.  But President Jackson became popular, although many people disagreed with what he had done. 

And that is how the ‘Permanent Indian Frontier’ came to be, a land the Indigenous peoples expected would be theirs forever.  But the story of the Trail of Tears became a reminder of promises made and broken, and the sadness of losing one’s home.