Thousands of people left Europe, during the period of colonial settlement, for the desire to receive land or for the opportunity to obtain land, to obtain religious freedom and many other reasons. Europeans emigrated with their entire families to settle in a far distant frontier, now known as the Americas. Wasn't this really the basis for leaving Europe and coming to the Americas? But what was inflicted on the Indians who occupied North America was almost exactly what the colonists wanted to escape from. What the Indians have been subjected to is absolute and utter hypocrisy. The Trail of Tears was an event focused on ethnic cleansing, blatant racism, religious oppression, and the subjugation or elimination of Indian tribes. It is shameful, and it is a great stain on the conscience of the history of the United States, that this idea was imagined and supported, and then put into practice. Forcibly removing the Indians, taking their lands to further the white settlers' goal of expansion, and to exert control and use over their lands and natural resources, was extremely wrong. The Trail of Tears was a calamitous, sad and truly revolting time during our countries history in the early 19th century. It was an eight hundred mile death march, forced and escorted in many cases by the military (“Cherokee”). The various Indian tribes were forced to suffer tremendously, all in the name of the greater good and the cowardice and greed of the white settlers. However, it is a little known fact that Trail of Tears was a law fully supported and enforced by the government. It was known, officially, as the Indian Removal Act of 1830. There were five main tribes affected by this act. The affected tribes were: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muskogee Creek and......middle of paper......from or Mexico. This would have prevented the bloodshed, hardship and all the consequences associated with the plight of the Indians. Ultimately, the plight of the Native Americans was completely avoidable. However, the Americans chose the easy and wrong path, through outright savagery, enslaving the Indians or confining them to unwanted territories. What's worse is that this was not a singular event. The government and the Native Americans never signed a treaty, thus refraining from granting them their sovereign land, to this day. Instead, a band-aid for a solution was offered: reservations. The reservations granted some leeway in jurisdiction as a minor consolation, but this is by far a very insignificant concession compared to what the Indians once had. This too will one day be revoked by the government and consolidated in the United States. Mark my words.