ESL USH Set#5: The Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears

The forced relocation of Native Tribes to land west of the Mississippi River

gold rush

a bunch of people moving quickly to an area hoping to find gold and get rich quickly

Cherokee

a Native tribe from the southeast who lost many people during the Trail of Tears

Indian Removal Act

A law passed in 1830 that made it legal for the US government to force Native tribes to move from their homeland to land further west

chief

the head of a tribe or leader of a group.

Supreme Court

the highest court in the US, responsible for reviewing laws and deciding which ones are legal and allowable

treaty

an official agreement signed by two groups

controversial

describes a topic that creates many different opinions — some people are for and some people are against

oppose

to be against an idea

resettlement

the act of moving an entire group somewhere else to live permanently

resist

to fight against sth

Seminole

a Native tribe who fought against their removal from their homeland in Florida

swampland

wet land that has a lot of water in it and is hard to walk through

route

a path or trail that people take to get somewhere

wagon

a wooden cart used to move people and goods, often pulled by horses or oxen

blizzard

a very bad and heavy snowfall in which you can’t see anything but white snowflakes

damaged

hurt so that it doesn’t work well

destroyed

completely broken so that it can’t ever work again

massive

very big in size

disease

a sickness or illness that is hard to recover from

civilized

describes a group of people who follow certain polite standards of behavior

starvation

extreme hunger

merchant

someone who owns a shop who sells items and goods to other people

petition

a piece of paper that asks the government to change sth, often signed by a lot of people

acre

an area of land that is a little smaller than a football field