Pushing the Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

The Removal Act of 1830 authorized President Andrew Jackson “to grant lands west of the Mississippi [River] in exchange for [Indigenous] lands within existing state borders” (“Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents in American History.” Library of Congress). Many tribes resisted the act and were forcibly removed from their homes in an event referred to as the Trail of Tears. The Removal Act of 1830 followed several other treaties between the United States government and Indigenous tribes, the intentions of which were to remove Indigenous peoples from their homes and provide European immigrants and descendants with access to this land. Andrew Jackson led the majority of the removal campaigns even before his presidency, and he helped “to negotiate nine of eleven major treaties to remove” Indigenous peoples from their homes (“Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830.” Office of the Historian). The Removal Act of 1830 specifically sought to remove approximately 50,000 Indigenous peoples from their land, including the Cherokee Nation.

The Cherokee Nation challenged the state of Georgia and the laws that restricted their freedom. Chief Justice John Marshall concluded that the land of the Cherokee Nation belonged to the United States, but the next year, “the Supreme Court reversed itself and ruled that [Indigenous] tribes were indeed sovereign and immune from Georgia laws” (“Indian Treaties and the Removal Act of 1830”). However, after several attempts from the United States government to remove the members of the Cherokee Nation from their homes, they, along with the Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations, were forced to walk to land that the United States government deemed “Indian Territory,” which was west of the Mississippi River. This forced migration forced Indigenous communities to vacate Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida and travel an arduous route to present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of Iowa. This migration would later be referred to as the Trail of Tears due to the brutal conditions and resultant loss of over 10,000 people on this journey.