Paths of Petition and Survival: The Cherokee Nation, 1830-1839
Start
The Trail of Tears
Introduction
•It is the 1830s. You are a young member of a Cherokee family
living in Georgia. The United States government has passed the
Indian Removal Act, and pressure is growing for the Cherokee
Nation to give up its homeland.
•Throughout this story, you will make decisions based on real
choices Cherokee leaders and families faced.
•Your decisions will guide what you learn next—and will show
how difficult these moments truly were.
Next
The Indian Removal Act, 1830
•President Andrew Jackson has signed the Indian Removal Act.
Georgia has begun taking Cherokee land, passing laws that ban
the Cherokee government and seize homes.
•Cherokee leaders are discussing two major paths:
Support Major Ridge and Elias Boudinot: Negotiate a removal for treaty
Support Chief John Ross's Plan: Petition Congress and protest removal.
for safety.
Petition Congress and Protest Removal
Chief John Ross believes the
Cherokee must stay united and
push for legal protection.
He believes that the Cherokee
have strong legal and moral
grounds to stay on their land.
The Cherokee presented over 15,000 petitions demanding the U.S. honor treaties it had made with them and asserted their sovereignty. When Congress and President Jackson ignored these petitions the Cherokee took legal action.
Take Legal Action!
Negotiate a Removal Treaty for Safety
You choose to support Major
Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and their
small group of advisors who
believe removal is
unavoidable. They argue that
negotiating a treaty now might
protect Cherokee lives by
providing money, supplies, and
time to prepare.
Negotiate
In supporting Major Ridge and Elias
Boudinot, a faction has formed.This group never got
approval from the elected Cherokee
government or the majority of the people. Yet they continued secret
negotiations with U.S. officials, and
they secretly negotiated the controversial Treaty of New Echota.
Sign the Treaty
Worcester v. Georgia, 1832
Your family must decide how to respond.
You stand with Chief Ross! The
Cherokee Nation has won a
major victory in the Supreme
Court Case: Worcester v.
Georgia.
The court ruled that Georgia
has no right to control
Cherokee lands.
But President Jackson refuses
to enforce the ruling.
Continue legal resistance and push for enforcement of the ruling
Begin preparing for possible conflict for forced removal
Ross insists the law is on the Cherokee
side. Your family chooses to rely on the
courts and the Constitution.However,
despite the Supreme Court ruling in
favor of the Cherokee, Georgia
continues to send settlers and militias
onto Cherokee land. Cherokee are
arrested for resisting and native lands
are sold to white settlers.Your community becomes more
determined, but the danger continues.
Your family agrees with those who say
legal victory may not be enough. You begin quietly gathering food, blankets,
clothing, and tools, just in case soldiers
arrive. Some neighbors prepare to hide in the mountains if needed.
Prepare Now
Treaty Negotiations
You stand with those who support Major Ridge and agree to treaty negotiations. A small group of Cherokee leaders is considering signing a treaty to move west.
Two paths emerge:
Support signing the Treaty of New Echota to secure compensation and time to prepare.
Step back—Do not sign, and encourage letting the majority decide.
You choose to support signing the treaty, believing it may protect Cherokee lives from further violence and give families months to prepare for the move west. However, only a very small group signed this treaty, and it was considered illegal by the Cherokee government. The U.S. Senate accepted the treaty by a single vote, giving the U.S. government the authority it wanted to force removal.
Treaty Fallout
You decide that such a major decision must be made by the Cherokee nation as a whole—not a small group. You support the thousands who oppose the treaty and call for Unity.
Meanwhile, Chief John Ross delivered massive petitions to Washington, but the Senate still approved the treaty. Even though most Cherokee rejected it, the treaty was used to justify forced removal.
Treaty Fallout
Forced Removal Begins, 1838
General Winfield Scott and
U.S. Soldiers arrive to remove
Cherokee families at gunpoint. Your family has two choices:
Attempt to hide with small groups in forests and mountains.
Report to the military stockades as ordered.
Your family chooses to follow orders,
hoping cooperation will prevent
violence. You walk to a nearby military
post, where soldiers separate large
groups of Cherokee into fenced holding
camps known as stockades.
The conditions are extremely difficult.
Families were crowded together, often
without proper shelter, sanitation, or
medical care. Illness spreads quickly,
and many people suffer before the
westward journey even starts.
Begin the march west
Your family decides not to surrender. You move into forests or high
into the Smoky Mountains, surviving on hidden stores of food, hunting, and the help of other Cherokee families and a few
sympathetic neighbors.
Roughly 1,500 Cherokee avoided being captured. After the removal
ended, these Cherokee reorganized and eventually became the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, still present in North Carolina
today.
Go into hiding
Treaty Aftermath (1836-1838)
Despite your efforts, the U.S. Senate ratifies the Treaty of New
Echota by a one-vote margin. Removal will now occur.
Your family must choose:
Voluntarily join an early removal group.
Remain at home until soldier'sforce removal
You choose to move west early, using the treaty terms to avoid the stockades. These groups travel by river or wagon months before
the main removal in 1838.You still face several challenges: disease, weather, shortages of supplies, and the difficulty of building new homes. You do avoid
the violence and overcrowding of the forced marches, and you and
your family begin a new life in Indian Territory sooner than most.
Begin New Life
Your family remains at home, hoping
the situation will improve or that
Congress will reconsider the treaty.
But in Spring 1838, soldiers
suddenly begin capturing families
with little warning.
You are captured with no time to
pack belongings. Your home, farms,
and all possessions were left behind
or taken by others.
By staying behind, you are placed in
the main removal detachments.
Join the long march
The Long March West, 1838-1839
You and your family are part of a removal detachment moving west
by foot. Thousands die from disease, cold, hunger, and
exhaustion.
You must choose one final decision:
Join a larger detachment for more resources
Travel with a smaller group led by Cherokee guides
Your family joins one of the large
detachments traveling over 800
miles to Indian Territory. You
walk for months through heat,
rain, snow, and frozen rivers.
Some days you have little food
or dry clothing.
Thousands die in this journey
west due to disease, hunger,
exposure, and exhaustion. The
surviving Cherokee families
support one another, continue
to share resources as they can,
and still maintain cultural
traditions along the way.
You reach Indian Territory worn
down, but determined to
rebuild.
Welcome to Indian Territory
Your family joins a smaller detachment led by Cherokee guides rather
than U.S. soldiers. These groups leave later in the year after Cherokee
leaders negotiate to take charge of their own removal. The Cherokee
guides work to find safer routes, avoid dangerous river crossings, and
distribute food more fairly.
Your family still suffers greatly on the Trail of Tears, but traveling under
Cherokee leadership offers moments of support, community, and care.
Welcome to Indian Territory
Eastern Cherokee Survival Path
Your family has evaded capture. You hide with help from
sympathetic neighbors and Cherokee guides.
Do you...
Stay hidden permanently and attempt to rebuild life in North Carolina
Attempt to reconnect with family being marched west.
By hiding from soldiers, your family
avoids removal. You spend months in
the mountains, moving carefully to
avoid patrols. Over time, you join other
hidden Cherokee families to form a
new, permanent community.
Your story becomes part of a rare story
of survival on ancestral homelands.
You rebuilt your communities in the
mountains and remain there today as
the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
Reflect
Your family decides that staying hidden
is too painful while relatives are being
marched west. You choose to leave the
safety of the mountains and travel
carefully toward the removal route,
hoping to find loved ones in chance of
rescuing them.
Your choice reflects deep courage and
love for family, but also great risk.
Whether or not you find your relatives,
you are now captured and are being
sent west yourself.
Begin your march
Early Removal West
You left under negotiated terms. What do you do?
Help set upfarming and schools in Indian Territory
Scout land for future settlements and report back.
Arriving months or years before most
Cherokee families, you help organize new
settlements in Indian Territory.
You look for good farmland, support new
schools, and try to rebuild a community torn
apart by removal.
Your early arrival helps establish the
foundations of the Cherokee Nation in what is
now Oklahoma. Despite enormous loss, the
Cherokee Nation rebuilt a government,
schools, businesses, and a strong cultural
identity.
Your journey ends in a place of rebuilding and
resilience.
Reflect
After months of traveling with a larger detachment, you finally reach Indian Territory. The land is unfamiliar, and many families arrive weakened from sickness, cold, and exhaustion. Even so, the strength of the Cherokee community remains. People who walked beside each other on the journey now work together to rebuild what was lost. You begin a new life, establishing new homes, farms, and community structures. The Cherokee Nation reorganized its government, rebuilt schools, and worked to protect traditions, language, and culture despite the trauma of removal. In this new place, the Cherokee people showed determination and unity as they start a new chapter in their history.
Reflect
Traveling with a Cherokee-led detachment has helped your group survive the long and dangerous journey. When you arrive in Indian Territory, your family is exhausted but together. Cherokee leaders guide families to temporary camps while scouting locations for new settlements, farmland, and community spaces. You begin a new life, establishing new homes, farms, and community structures. The Cherokee Nation reorganized its government, rebuilt schools, and worked to protect traditions, language, and culture despite the trauma of removal. In this new place, the Cherokee people showed determination and unity as they start a new chapter in their history.
Reflect
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Transcript
Paths of Petition and Survival: The Cherokee Nation, 1830-1839
Start
The Trail of Tears
Introduction
•It is the 1830s. You are a young member of a Cherokee family
living in Georgia. The United States government has passed the
Indian Removal Act, and pressure is growing for the Cherokee
Nation to give up its homeland.
•Throughout this story, you will make decisions based on real
choices Cherokee leaders and families faced.
•Your decisions will guide what you learn next—and will show
how difficult these moments truly were.
Next
The Indian Removal Act, 1830
•President Andrew Jackson has signed the Indian Removal Act.
Georgia has begun taking Cherokee land, passing laws that ban
the Cherokee government and seize homes.
•Cherokee leaders are discussing two major paths:
Support Major Ridge and Elias Boudinot: Negotiate a removal for treaty
Support Chief John Ross's Plan: Petition Congress and protest removal.
for safety.
Petition Congress and Protest Removal
Chief John Ross believes the Cherokee must stay united and push for legal protection. He believes that the Cherokee have strong legal and moral grounds to stay on their land.
The Cherokee presented over 15,000 petitions demanding the U.S. honor treaties it had made with them and asserted their sovereignty. When Congress and President Jackson ignored these petitions the Cherokee took legal action.
Take Legal Action!
Negotiate a Removal Treaty for Safety
You choose to support Major Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and their small group of advisors who believe removal is unavoidable. They argue that negotiating a treaty now might protect Cherokee lives by providing money, supplies, and time to prepare.
Negotiate
In supporting Major Ridge and Elias
Boudinot, a faction has formed.This group never got
approval from the elected Cherokee
government or the majority of the people. Yet they continued secret
negotiations with U.S. officials, and
they secretly negotiated the controversial Treaty of New Echota.
Sign the Treaty
Worcester v. Georgia, 1832
Your family must decide how to respond.
You stand with Chief Ross! The Cherokee Nation has won a major victory in the Supreme Court Case: Worcester v. Georgia. The court ruled that Georgia has no right to control Cherokee lands. But President Jackson refuses to enforce the ruling.
Continue legal resistance and push for enforcement of the ruling
Begin preparing for possible conflict for forced removal
Ross insists the law is on the Cherokee
side. Your family chooses to rely on the
courts and the Constitution.However,
despite the Supreme Court ruling in
favor of the Cherokee, Georgia
continues to send settlers and militias
onto Cherokee land. Cherokee are
arrested for resisting and native lands
are sold to white settlers.Your community becomes more
determined, but the danger continues.
Your family agrees with those who say
legal victory may not be enough. You begin quietly gathering food, blankets,
clothing, and tools, just in case soldiers
arrive. Some neighbors prepare to hide in the mountains if needed.
Prepare Now
Treaty Negotiations
You stand with those who support Major Ridge and agree to treaty negotiations. A small group of Cherokee leaders is considering signing a treaty to move west. Two paths emerge:
Support signing the Treaty of New Echota to secure compensation and time to prepare.
Step back—Do not sign, and encourage letting the majority decide.
You choose to support signing the treaty, believing it may protect Cherokee lives from further violence and give families months to prepare for the move west. However, only a very small group signed this treaty, and it was considered illegal by the Cherokee government. The U.S. Senate accepted the treaty by a single vote, giving the U.S. government the authority it wanted to force removal.
Treaty Fallout
You decide that such a major decision must be made by the Cherokee nation as a whole—not a small group. You support the thousands who oppose the treaty and call for Unity. Meanwhile, Chief John Ross delivered massive petitions to Washington, but the Senate still approved the treaty. Even though most Cherokee rejected it, the treaty was used to justify forced removal.
Treaty Fallout
Forced Removal Begins, 1838
General Winfield Scott and U.S. Soldiers arrive to remove Cherokee families at gunpoint. Your family has two choices:
Attempt to hide with small groups in forests and mountains.
Report to the military stockades as ordered.
Your family chooses to follow orders, hoping cooperation will prevent violence. You walk to a nearby military post, where soldiers separate large groups of Cherokee into fenced holding camps known as stockades. The conditions are extremely difficult. Families were crowded together, often without proper shelter, sanitation, or medical care. Illness spreads quickly, and many people suffer before the westward journey even starts.
Begin the march west
Your family decides not to surrender. You move into forests or high
into the Smoky Mountains, surviving on hidden stores of food, hunting, and the help of other Cherokee families and a few
sympathetic neighbors.
Roughly 1,500 Cherokee avoided being captured. After the removal
ended, these Cherokee reorganized and eventually became the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, still present in North Carolina
today.
Go into hiding
Treaty Aftermath (1836-1838)
Despite your efforts, the U.S. Senate ratifies the Treaty of New Echota by a one-vote margin. Removal will now occur. Your family must choose:
Voluntarily join an early removal group.
Remain at home until soldier'sforce removal
You choose to move west early, using the treaty terms to avoid the stockades. These groups travel by river or wagon months before
the main removal in 1838.You still face several challenges: disease, weather, shortages of supplies, and the difficulty of building new homes. You do avoid
the violence and overcrowding of the forced marches, and you and
your family begin a new life in Indian Territory sooner than most.
Begin New Life
Your family remains at home, hoping the situation will improve or that Congress will reconsider the treaty. But in Spring 1838, soldiers suddenly begin capturing families with little warning. You are captured with no time to pack belongings. Your home, farms, and all possessions were left behind or taken by others. By staying behind, you are placed in the main removal detachments.
Join the long march
The Long March West, 1838-1839
You and your family are part of a removal detachment moving west by foot. Thousands die from disease, cold, hunger, and exhaustion. You must choose one final decision:
Join a larger detachment for more resources
Travel with a smaller group led by Cherokee guides
Your family joins one of the large detachments traveling over 800 miles to Indian Territory. You walk for months through heat, rain, snow, and frozen rivers. Some days you have little food or dry clothing. Thousands die in this journey west due to disease, hunger, exposure, and exhaustion. The surviving Cherokee families support one another, continue to share resources as they can, and still maintain cultural traditions along the way. You reach Indian Territory worn down, but determined to rebuild.
Welcome to Indian Territory
Your family joins a smaller detachment led by Cherokee guides rather than U.S. soldiers. These groups leave later in the year after Cherokee leaders negotiate to take charge of their own removal. The Cherokee guides work to find safer routes, avoid dangerous river crossings, and distribute food more fairly. Your family still suffers greatly on the Trail of Tears, but traveling under Cherokee leadership offers moments of support, community, and care.
Welcome to Indian Territory
Eastern Cherokee Survival Path
Your family has evaded capture. You hide with help from sympathetic neighbors and Cherokee guides. Do you...
Stay hidden permanently and attempt to rebuild life in North Carolina
Attempt to reconnect with family being marched west.
By hiding from soldiers, your family
avoids removal. You spend months in
the mountains, moving carefully to
avoid patrols. Over time, you join other
hidden Cherokee families to form a
new, permanent community.
Your story becomes part of a rare story
of survival on ancestral homelands.
You rebuilt your communities in the
mountains and remain there today as
the Eastern Band of Cherokee.
Reflect
Your family decides that staying hidden is too painful while relatives are being marched west. You choose to leave the safety of the mountains and travel carefully toward the removal route, hoping to find loved ones in chance of rescuing them. Your choice reflects deep courage and love for family, but also great risk. Whether or not you find your relatives, you are now captured and are being sent west yourself.
Begin your march
Early Removal West
You left under negotiated terms. What do you do?
Help set upfarming and schools in Indian Territory
Scout land for future settlements and report back.
Arriving months or years before most Cherokee families, you help organize new settlements in Indian Territory. You look for good farmland, support new schools, and try to rebuild a community torn apart by removal. Your early arrival helps establish the foundations of the Cherokee Nation in what is now Oklahoma. Despite enormous loss, the Cherokee Nation rebuilt a government, schools, businesses, and a strong cultural identity. Your journey ends in a place of rebuilding and resilience.
Reflect
After months of traveling with a larger detachment, you finally reach Indian Territory. The land is unfamiliar, and many families arrive weakened from sickness, cold, and exhaustion. Even so, the strength of the Cherokee community remains. People who walked beside each other on the journey now work together to rebuild what was lost. You begin a new life, establishing new homes, farms, and community structures. The Cherokee Nation reorganized its government, rebuilt schools, and worked to protect traditions, language, and culture despite the trauma of removal. In this new place, the Cherokee people showed determination and unity as they start a new chapter in their history.
Reflect
Traveling with a Cherokee-led detachment has helped your group survive the long and dangerous journey. When you arrive in Indian Territory, your family is exhausted but together. Cherokee leaders guide families to temporary camps while scouting locations for new settlements, farmland, and community spaces. You begin a new life, establishing new homes, farms, and community structures. The Cherokee Nation reorganized its government, rebuilt schools, and worked to protect traditions, language, and culture despite the trauma of removal. In this new place, the Cherokee people showed determination and unity as they start a new chapter in their history.
Reflect