Following the Indian Removal Act of 1830 the American government began forcibly relocating East Coast tribes across the Mississippi . The removal included many members of the Cherokee , Muscogee ( Creek ) , Seminole , Chickasaw , and Choctaw nations , among others in the United States , from their homelands to Indian Territory in eastern sections of the present-day state of Oklahoma . About 2,500 – 6,000 died along the Trail of Tears . Chalk and Jonassohn assert that the deportation of the Cherokee tribe along the Trail of Tears would almost certainly be considered an act of genocide today . The Indian Removal Act of 1830 led to the exodus . About 17,000 Cherokees , along with approximately 2,000 Cherokee-owned black slaves , were removed from their homes . The number of people who died as a result of the Trail of Tears has been variously estimated . American doctor and missionary Elizur Butler , who made the journey with one party , estimated 4,000 deaths
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Genocide of indigenous peoples