Somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of the Cherokee Nation was lost as a result of the Trail of Tears. Historian Amy Sturgis explains why the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation to “Indian Territory” (modern-day Oklahoma) was wrong on both moral and legal grounds. People at the time knew that it was wrong, that it was illegal, and that it was unconstitutional, but they did it anyway.
The Trail of Tears shouldn’t have happened.
