The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears led to a major enumeration of Native Americans , and many controversies and misunderstandings about blood quantum that persist to this day . As they were being forcibly driven out of their ancestral homelands and subjected to genocide , many Natives understandably feared and distrusted the government and tried to avoid being enumerated . But the only way to do this was to completely flee the Indian community , during a time of persecution and war . Indians who tried to refuse , if they were not already in a prison camp , had warrants issued for their arrests ; they were forcibly rounded up and documented against their will . It is a modern-day misconception that this enumeration was the equivalent of contemporary tribal " enrollment " and in any way optional
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Blood quantum laws