The Trail of Tears

The story of the Cherokee removal, The Trail of Tears, refers to the forced relocation between 1836 and 1839 of the Cherokee Nation from their lands in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina to the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 17,000 Cherokees.
In the Cherokee language, the event is called Nu na da ul tsun yi (the place where they cried). The Cherokees were not the only American Indians to "emigrate" as a result of the Indian Removal efforts. American Indians were not only removed from the American South but also from the North, Midwest, Southwest, and Plains regions. The Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creek Indians (Muskogee) emigrated reluctantly. The Seminoles in Florida resisted removal by guerrilla warfare with the United States Army for decades (1817-1850). Ultimately, some Seminoles remained in their Florida home country, while others were transported to Indian Territory in shackles. In contrast, the Cherokees vainly resisted removal by hiring lawyers.
The phrase "Trail of Tears" is also used to refer to similar events endured by other Indian people, especially among the "Five Civilized Tribes". The phrase originated as a description of the voluntary removal of the Choctaw nation in 1831.
In October of 1835, Principal Chief John Ross and an Eastern visitor, John Howard Payne, were kidnapped from Ross' Tennessee home by a renegade group of the Georgia militia. Released, Ross and a delegation of tribal leaders traveled to Washington, DC to protest this high-handed action, and to lobby against the removal policy of President Andrew Jackson. In this power vacuum, U.S. Agent John F. Schermerhorn gathered a group of dissident Cherokees in the home of Elias Boudinot at the tribal capitol, New Echota, Georgia. There on December 29, 1835, this rump group signed the unauthorized Treaty of New Echota, which exchanged Cherokee land in the East for lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory. This agreement was never accepted by the elected tribal leadership or a majority of the Cherokee people.
The number of people who died as a result of the Trail of Tears has been variously estimated. American doctor and missionary Elizur Butler estimated 4,000 deaths and this remains the most cited figure, although he acknowledged these were estimates without having seen government or tribal records.

Perhaps America should re-examine its own history before it poses as the worlds moral policeman.

And what relevance does this have to today? The beans on my childs drawing of a Native American are called Cherokee Trail of Tears, they are direct descendants of the beans taken from Georgia by the Cherokee and apparently are rare. I have saved some back each year from my last three years harvest and I am just about to replant for this year. They are a climbing french type bean, they crop quite heavily and have pretty pods streaked with purple. Nice to think that old species are still being preserved. If you want to try yourself Real Seeds are the place to go.