d more power than anyone else did and he could enforce the bill himself. This is yet another way in which Jackson abused his presidential power in order to produce a favorable result that complied with his own beliefs. The Indian Removal Act forced all Indians tribes be moved west of the Mississippi River. The Choctaw was the first tribe to leave from the southeast. Three years later the Chickasaw joined them. The Creeks were forced off their land in 1836. In the spring of 1838, the Cherokee became the last of the great southeastern nations to leave their eastern lands. In 1838 and 1839, the United States Army removed the Cherokee people by force with dragnets and held in wooden stockades, except for a few hundred that hid in the mountains in North Carolina. The Cherokees could take only what they could easily carry. The items that a few did take were often ordered to be left behind along the way. People were driven off their land at bayonet or gunpoint. Many of the old and the children died on the road due to the pace, exposure and bad food. They traveled by walking, sometimes without shoes or moccasins, horses, or covered wagons. Transportation was given only to those who could pay for it. Their clothing was thin and their bedding was light. There was not much medical attention because it took them so long to travel this trail. What food supplies were given had been rejected by the whites. Rotten beef and vegetables were the main provisions. The journey on which the Indians traveled brought many deaths. Approximately four thousand of the thirteen thousand Cherokees died on their way due to exposure to the bitter cold, disease, and starvation. This trail was better known as the "Trail of Tears". The hardships of the Indian Nations were due to the signed Indian Removal Act that resulted in the Trail of Tears. Anthony F.C. Wallace believed that Jackson's personal emotions toward the Indian Nations directly contributed to the pain and suf...
