For many the trail of tears has no meaning or relevance in their lives, but for some the Trail of Tears has great significance as many of the native ancestors endured hardship of this time. In the 1830s, Native Americans occupied many acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. The main reason for the Trail of Tears was because the Americans wanted the Indians' land for themselves so that they could raise their livestock and for good soil so that they could grow and harvest crops. Their ancestors had lived on and farmed this land for generations, and by the end of that generation very few Native Americans remained anywhere in the southeastern United States. Many think that the Trail of Tears was only that of the “Five Civilized Tribes,” but there were also many other smaller tribes involved. Some tribes agreed to sign, others were forced to, but in any case they all had to leave. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation on the journey to their destinations, making the Trail of Tears one of the greatest hardships in Native American history. In 1830, U.S. President Andrew Jackson issued an order for the removal of Native Americans, which passed through both houses of Congress. “When Andrew Jackson became president (1829-1837), he decided to build a systematic approach to Indian removal based on these legal precedents.” (William. Page 5). It gave the president the power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, Indians were required to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west. “Thomas Jefferson was the prime instigator of the idea of ​​removing… half the paper… The white settlers began to resent the Cherokees. Pressure was put on the tribe to move voluntarily, but their homeland, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama, have lived here for generations and did not want to move. In conclusion, The Trail of Tears was a very low point in Native American History. Works Cited De Rosier, Arthur H. Jr. The Removal of the Choctaw Indians. The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville; 1970 Gloria Jahoda. The trail of tears. New York: Wing Books. 1975Herman A. Peterson. The trail of tears. Lanham: The Scare Crow Press, Inc. 2011Hicks, Brain. The Holdouts. Smithsonian 41.11 (2011): 50-60. Premier of academic research. Network. 8 November 2013Path of tears. History.com. A&E television networks. November 8, 2013. www.history.com. 2013 William T. Hagan. Conquer Indian lands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 2003