The year 1838 was the beginning of a terrible tragedy in American history which in turn led to the deaths of 4,000 of the 15,000 Cherokee during the 1200 mile journey. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay on what is infamously known as The Trail of Tears (Ehle). Initially the territory of the Cherokee, an indigenous group of Native Americans, included parts of Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and the southern Appalachian Mountains (Ehle). Much of the original Cherokee territory was conquered and sold by the United States government. In fact, when Andrew Jackson became president in 1828, he profited greatly from selling Cherokee territory to the people (Purdue). This may have encouraged him to pass laws to move the Cherokees to Missouri and to discover gold deposits in northwest Georgia (Gilbert). With the persistence of the Georgians and President Andrew Jackson, the Cherokee were officially removed from their territory starting in 1838 under the Treaty of Echota passed in 1835 (Treaty of New Echota). Most Cherokees refused to leave their homeland, but the resistance was futile because the U.S. government refused to take no for an answer. Because of this long and treacherous journey, a group of Cherokees faced death, starvation, disease, and exhaustion. The Trail of Tears was a horrific incident that forced the Cherokee to leave territory they had owned for generations and resulted in the torture and death of thousands of their tribe members. As mentioned above, the government profited a lot from the sale of the Cherokee. territory, because their land was so agriculturally rich and many people found gold deposits in northwest Georgia. With these two financial benefits attributed to Cherokee Territory, many people wanted the Cherokees gone so they could benefit from the riches of Cherokee Territory. However, not everyone was in favor of the removal of the Cherokee and attempted to speak out against it. For example, Governor Sam Houston made a special trip to the White House to try to beg President Andrew Jackson to stop him from forcing the removal (Gilbert). David Crockett, congressman from Tennessee, also spoke out against the forced removal of Indians from their eastern homeland (Gilbert). Along with Houston and Crockett, Daniel Webster, a senator from Massachusetts, aggressively fought the Indian Removal Bill and advised the Cherokee to appeal to the Supreme Court (Gilbert). Despite the efforts of all these political officials, Jackson began passing laws to eventually remove the Cherokee from the East. The Cherokees rebuked the demand to leave their land initially introduced by the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and with the help of John Ross, elected principal of the Cherokee chief in 1828; the Cherokee did their best to keep their land (Gilbert). The first major step in maintaining their territory involved the Cherokee going to the Supreme Court in hopes of gaining legal rights to fight removal. In their first case, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Cherokee constituted a dependent nation existing under the care of the United States government, but the court also held that it had no jurisdiction to strike down Georgia's laws (Garrison ). The second case that ensured the Cherokee kept their land was Worcester v. Georgia. In the case of Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall hadasserted the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation, redirecting the conflict to one between Georgia and the United States, which was a huge relief (Purdue). The Supreme Court further held that the Cherokee Nation remained a separate sovereign nation with legitimate title to its homeland (Garrison). Although these cases administered decisions that would allow the Cherokees to maintain control over their territory, nothing was enforced by the courts that did not ensure the Cherokees' possession of their territory. The fights to go to the Supreme Court to protect their land did not produce the result that the Cherokees hoped would allow them to keep their land. President Andrew Jackson completely ignored the Court's decisions and promptly approved the Treaty of New Echota on December 29, 1835 (Ehle). This treaty was signed by General William Carroll and Commissioners John F. Schermerhorn on the United States side and Major Ridge, who negotiated the treaty with the United States, claiming that it represented the Cherokee Nation although it represented only a small fraction of it (Treaty of New Echota). The Cherokee Nation rejected this treaty once they heard the news of what was to be decreed. Because Major Ridge acted against the interests of the Cherokee, they murdered him along with his son John and cousin Elias Boudinot in 1839 (Treaty of New Echota). Unfortunately, since the Treaty of Echota was signed and approved, the United States government could legally remove the Cherokees from their territory. Since the Cherokee had no intention of leaving their land, force was the only way to remove them and they had only two years from the signing of the treaty to move away from their land and head west. Only two thousand Cherokees left their homeland when the two-year deadline arrived (Ehle). Accordingly, in May 1838 General Winfield Scott assumed command of seven thousand soldiers, militia, and volunteers to remove the Cherokee and establish headquarters at New Echota, Purdue. They used no discretion or mercy and the Cherokees were arrested, dragged from their homes and driven at bayonet point towards the stockades (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). During the roundup, large numbers of children were separated from their families and all those who resisted were murdered in cold blood and several female prisoners were forced to drink with the soldiers and raped (Gilbert). En route to Missouri, most of the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears began this horrific journey at Rattlesnake Spring, near what is now Charleston, Tennessee (Gilbert). All those marching were divided into groups of about a thousand, and each group had a conductor, or leader, with guides, wagon masters, commissars, farriers to shoe the horses, blacksmiths, and two doctors (Gilbert). It is estimated that there were 645 wagons, 5,000 horses and a large number of oxen (Gilbert). This might seem like an appropriate amount to accompany the Cherokee and the soldiers on the long journey, but unfortunately it was not. There were not enough wagons, teams, horses, blankets, and there were only eighty-three tents for the thousands of people traveling. Warm clothing was also needed for the winter months, food was in short supply and the water provided was often contaminated. Most of the Cherokees had to walk all the way to Missouri; the sick, disabled, elderly, and young children could ride in available wagons with belongings packed on the wagons (Gilbert). Cherokees who were able to keep their animals were able to ride or drive their own horses and use their own vehicles loaded with their belongings. The supplies that were given to the Cherokee and the soldiers were supposed to last what was supposed to be a three-month journey, but the journey.