Instructions for Preparing the Trail of Tears Stations Activity:

• This file includes the station printouts needed for the Trail of Tears Stations lesson. Each station features a primary source and a set of questions that students will use to complete their Trail of Tears Stations: Response Sheet handout.
• Before class:
  • Print and prepare the station materials.
  • For large classes, consider printing two or three complete sets of stations to allow for smaller group work.
  • Set up the stations around the room by either hanging the primary source documents on the walls or placing them on tables for easy access.

Station 1

Indian Removal Act Excerpt (1830)

Link to Original Source

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians…

enacted- made law extinguished- ended

Questions:

• What power does the government give the president?
• How does this connect to expansion?

Station 2

Cherokee Petition (1836)

Link to Original Source

The Cherokees were happy and prosperous…they made rapid advances in civilization, morals, and in the arts and sciences. Little did they anticipate, that when taught to think and feel as the American citizen, and to have with him a common interest, they were to be despoiled by their guardian, to become strangers and wanderers in the land of their fathers, forced to return to the savage life, and to seek a new home in the wilds of the far west, and that without their consent.

anticipate– expect or predict despoiled– violently removed

Questions:

• What reasons do the Cherokee give for wanting to stay?
• What principles and virtues are they appealing to?

Station 3:

Map – Routes of the Trail of Tears

Link to Original Source

Questions:

• Which tribes were relocated?
• What challenges would these journeys have created?

Station 4:

Image- American Progress, 1873

Link to Original Source

Questions:

• What message does the image convey about expansion?
• How might Native Americans have felt about this portrayal?