{"id":54,"date":"2026-01-13T06:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cfrdevwp.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:45:35","slug":"forcible-removal-of-the-cherokee-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/forcible-removal-of-the-cherokee-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Forcible Removal of the Cherokee Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the early nineteenth century, white settlers in the eastern United States increasingly encroached upon the lands of Native Americans. Although the U.S. government had signed treaties demarcating native territory, political pressure grew to disregard them. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi River to Native American tribes that gave up their lands east of the river. In 1832, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Native Americans constituted \u201cseparate nations\u201d who were not subject to state law. President Andrew Jackson ignored the ruling. On May 23, 1838, the first members of the Cherokee Nation were pushed out of their lands in what is now the southeastern United States and forced to walk to their new territory in northeastern Oklahoma. Four thousand of the sixteen thousand Cherokee who began the journey died on what became known as the Trail of Tears. SHAFR historians ranked the forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation as the sixth-worst U.S. foreign policy decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the early nineteenth century, white settlers in the eastern United States increasingly encroached upon the lands of Native Americans. Although the U.S. government had signed treaties demarcating native territory, political pressure grew to disregard them. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":955,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-worst-decisions"],"acf":{"add_section":[{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"The Cherokee Nation","add_section_content":"The Cherokee lived in the southeastern United States in parts of what are now Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The arrival of European settlers in the eighteenth century put pressure on Cherokee lands. The Cherokee signed a series of treaties, first with the American colonies and then with the United States, governing their relations. The 17971 Treaty of Holston placed the Cherokee \u201cunder the protection of the said United States of America\u201d and established the boundaries of their territory.\r\n\r\nAt the urging of many Americans, including President George Washington, the Cherokee adopted European-American culture and practices. They hoped to both improve their standard of living and diminish the potential for conflict with white settlers. The Cherokee exchanged traditional dress for Western-style clothing and shifted from traditional hunting and gathering to growing and trading crops and livestock. The Cherokee also developed a written language that enabled a rapid shift to mass literacy, and they created a formal government with a written\u00a0constitution and elections. Conversion to Christianity was common among the Cherokee elite, as was enslaving Black people.","add_image":955,"image_position":"right","background":true,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"The Indian Removal Act","add_section_content":"<div class=\"field__item\">\r\n<div class=\"paragraph paragraph--type--rich-text paragraph--view-mode--default\">\r\n<div class=\"text-content field field--name-field-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item\">\r\n\r\nNeither the treaties nor the willingness to assimilate eased the pressure on Cherokee lands. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson and others proposed setting aside lands west of the Mississippi for Native Americans. They argued that the separation of the two communities would prevent conflict and enable Native Americans to prosper. Jefferson never acted on his proposal, but the idea resonated with many Americans, especially in the South. Georgia argued that when it ceded its claims to lands west of its current borders, the federal government had agreed to expel Native Americans, most of whom were Cherokee, from their state.\r\n\r\nIn 1829, President Andrew Jackson took up the settlers\u2019 cause. He opposed the existence of sovereign Indian governments operating with existing states and argued they were unconstitutional. In his annual message to Congress, he called for \u201csetting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi,\u201d though he said that the \u201cmigration should be voluntary.\u201d Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in May 1830. It authorized Jackson to negotiate the transfer of Native American tribes to land west of the Mississippi River. A few Native Americans were quickly bribed or forced to abandon their lands. The vast majority, however, refused.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","add_image":2079,"image_position":"right","background":false,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"Worcester v. Georgia","add_section_content":"The provisions of the Indian Removal Act primarily targeted the so-called Five Civilized Tribes: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole. Over the course of 1831 and 1832, the Choctaw, Creek, and Chickasaw were removed from their lands after U.S. negotiators struck deals with tribal leaders who were willing to leave their ancestral homes. The Seminole fought two wars to avoid being expelled entirely from their lands.\r\n\r\nEmboldened by Jackson\u2019s support and spurred by the discovery of gold on Cherokee land, the state of Georgia in 1829 claimed jurisdiction over the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee turned to the courts to defend their sovereignty. In\u00a0<em>Worcester v. Georgia<\/em>\u00a0(1832), the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Cherokee Nation, finding that it and other Native American tribes were sovereign nations and not subject to state laws. Jackson is often quoted as responding to the ruling by saying that Chief Justice \u201cJohn Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.\u201d There is no record of Jackson ever uttering those words. However, they capture his view of the Supreme Court\u2019s decision. He and other U.S. officials simply ignored it.","add_image":2084,"image_position":"right","background":true,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"The Treaty of New Echota","add_section_content":"Most Cherokee leaders rebuffed the Jackson administration\u2019s call to leave their ancestral lands. U.S. negotiators responded as they had with the other Native American tribes: they found a minority faction of Cherokee that was willing to negotiate. Led by Major Ridge, members of the Treaty Party believed that the United States would take their land no matter what. They saw their only option as making the best deal they could. On December 29, 1835, they signed the Treaty of New Echota. It ceded all Cherokee lands in exchange for $5 million and an equal amount of territory in what is now northeastern Oklahoma.\r\n\r\nPrincipal Chief John Ross, the elected leader of the Cherokee Nation, and most other Cherokee leaders denounced the Treaty of New Echota. Ridge\u2019s Treaty Party represented fewer than five hundred Cherokee. The vast majority of Cherokee supported the National Party, which they argued was the only group that could speak for the Cherokee Nation. These protests fell on deaf ears. In May 1836, the Senate approved the Treaty of New Echota by a single vote. Ross submitted a petition in early 1838 with nearly sixteen thousand signatures asking Congress to void the treaty. Congress never took up the petition.","add_image":2093,"image_position":"right","background":false,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"quote","add_section_title":"","add_section_content":"","add_image":"","image_position":"null","background":false,"quote_content":"I have signed my death warrant.","quote_footer":"Major Ridge, leader of the Treaty Party, after signing the Treaty of New Echota","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"The Trail of Tears ","add_section_content":"The Treaty of New Echota gave the Cherokee two years to leave. Members of the Treaty Party left for Oklahoma on their own terms. Most Cherokee, however, refused to move. On May 26, 1838, acting at the direction of President Martin Van Buren, who had succeeded Jackson a year earlier, federal troops under the command of Major General Winfield Scott began to remove the Cherokee. Although Scott\u2019s Orders No. 25 forbade the use of violence against the Cherokee, the directive was widely ignored. A thousand Cherokee escaped the roundup by fleeing into the hills or because they had accepted land settlements or married white settlers. (Their descendants today constitute the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.)\r\n\r\nMost Cherokee were initially confined to internment camps where overcrowding, malnutrition, and poor sanitation produced diseases like dysentery. Those who survived these conditions began the eight-hundred-mile walk to their new homeland in October. Some seven thousand U.S. troops pushed them forward. The Cherokee followed several different routes, passing through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas before reaching Oklahoma. The Cherokee were poorly provisioned and equipped for the march, and they faced bitter winter weather. By the time they completed their trek in March 1839, four thousand had died on the Trail of Tears. Ridge and two other leaders of the Treaty Party were murdered by fellow Cherokee on June 22, 1839.","add_image":"","image_position":"null","background":false,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"","add_section_content":"","add_image":2105,"image_position":"bottom","background":false,"quote_content":"Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when they leave Old Nation. Womens cry and make sad wails. Children cry and many men cry...but they say nothing and just put heads down and keep on go towards West. Many days pass and people die very much.","quote_footer":"A Cherokee who experienced the Trail of Tears","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"quote","add_section_title":"The Legacy of the Forced Removal of the Cherokee","add_section_content":"The forced removal of the Cherokee epitomized the United States\u2019s treatment of Native American peoples. The United States repeatedly signed treaties defining and purporting to respect the boundaries of Native American lands. Just as frequently, the United States broke its treaty commitments and ran roughshod over the rights of Native Americans. Claims that the Cherokee and other Native Americans voluntarily left their lands were a fiction. They were compelled to move at the point of gun and endure great hardships traveling to their news. Many did not survive the trek. In forcibly expelling the Cherokee and other Native Americans from their lands, the United States abandoned its constitutional principles and violated its own laws.\r\n<h3><strong>What Historians Say<\/strong><\/h3>","add_image":1287,"image_position":"right","background":true,"quote_content":"Long time we travel on way to new land. People feel bad when they leave Old Nation. Womens cry and make sad wails. Children cry and many men cry...but they say nothing and just put heads down and keep on go towards West. Many days pass and people die very much.","quote_footer":"A Cherokee who walked the Trail of Tears","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""},{"quote_section":"imagecontent","add_section_title":"The Legacy of the Forcible Removal of the Cherokee","add_section_content":"The forced removal of the Cherokee epitomized the United States\u2019 treatment of Native American peoples. The United States repeatedly signed treaties defining and purporting to respect the boundaries of Native American lands. Just as frequently, the United States broke its treaty commitments and ran roughshod over the rights of Native Americans. Claims that the Cherokee and other Native Americans voluntarily left their lands were a fiction. They were compelled to move at gunpoint and endured great hardships traveling to their new lands. Many did not survive the trek. In forcibly expelling the Cherokee and other Native Americans from their lands, the United States abandoned its constitutional principles and violated its own laws.","add_image":"","image_position":"null","background":false,"quote_content":"","quote_footer":"","video_title":"","video_link":null,"youtube_link":""}],"add_testimonials":[{"author_name":"Anthony Guerrero","add_testimonial_content":"The forcible removal of the Cherokee nation was not only deplorable from an ethical standpoint, it also had the potential to destroy faith in the Constitution since President Jackson forcibly removed the Cherokee after the Supreme Court held it to be illegal.","add_university_department":"Doctoral Candidate in the Department of History, Temple University","add_image":2124},{"author_name":"Jessica Chapman","add_testimonial_content":"The forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation is the most obvious manifestation of the genocidal tendencies of U.S. settler colonialism.","add_university_department":"Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Professor of History Chair, Department of History, Williams College","add_image":1831},{"author_name":"Emily Conroy-Krutz","add_testimonial_content":"The forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation was a racially motivated decision to ignore both the Constitution and the norms of U.S. relations with Indian Nations out of the presumed right of white Americans to settle on Cherokee land, and it set a terrible precedent.","add_university_department":"Professor of History, Michigan State University","add_image":1316}],"learn_more_title":"Learn More","add_learn_more_content":"Primary documents, books, articles, and more on the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation. ","add_sources":[{"add_sources_title":"Primary Documents","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"The Treaty of Holston, 1791","url":"https:\/\/avalon.law.yale.edu\/18th_century\/chr1791.asp","target":""},"source_content":"The text of the treaty the United States negotiated with the Cherokee Nation establishing boundaries between Cherokee lands and the United States.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"George Washington, \u201cLetter From George Washington to the Cherokee Nation,\u201d August 29, 1796","url":"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Washington\/05-20-02-0388","target":""},"source_content":"Washington encouraged the Cherokee to adopt European-American farming practices as a way to minimize conflict between the two groups.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Andrew Jackson, \u201cFirst Annual Message to Congress,\u201d December 8, 1829","url":"https:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/documents\/first-annual-message-3","target":""},"source_content":"Jackson asked Congress to author the voluntary removal of Native American people living east of the Mississippi to land west of the Mississippi.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Winfield Scott, \u201cAddress to the Cherokee Nation,\u201d May 10, 1838","url":"https:\/\/www.evanfriss.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Address-to-Cherokee-Nation.pdf","target":""},"source_content":"The text of the order Scott issued directing the Cherokee people to vacate their lands pursuant to the terms of the Treaty of New Echota.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Winfield Scott, \u201cOrders No. 25,\u201d May 17, 1838","url":"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/resource\/rbpe.1740400a\/?st=text","target":""},"source_content":"The order issued to U.S. troops setting the objective and rules of engagement for the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Ralph Waldo Emerson, \u201cLetter to Martin Van Buren,\u201d April 23, 1838","url":"https:\/\/www.bartleby.com\/lit-hub\/the-complete-works-of-ralph-waldo-emerson\/iii-letter-to-president-van-buren","target":""},"source_content":"The American essayist and poet criticized President Martin Van Buren\u2019s order to forcibly relocate the Cherokee to Oklahoma.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"John G. Burnett, \u201cA Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.ncpedia.org\/anchor\/primary-source-soldier-0#:~:text=I%20saw%20the%20helpless%20Cherokees,and%20started%20toward%20the%20west.","target":""},"source_content":"A U.S. Army soldier\u2019s recollection of the forced relocation of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Daniel S. Butrick, \u201cCherokee Removal\u201d","url":"https:\/\/coretexts.org\/old\/cherokeelessons\/unit5\/downloads\/Butrick%20Journal%20cherokee_removal_1.pdf","target":""},"source_content":"Butrick was a Congregationalist minister who lived among the Cherokee people until the last were expelled in November 1838.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":"","source_content":"","source_image":""}]},{"add_sources_title":"Books","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History","url":"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fyalebooks.yale.edu%2Fbook%2F9780300276671%2Fthe-rediscovery-of-america%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7COBerry%40cfr.org%7Ce9c82a1bca624b4d436208de39aeec04%7C146cc3db32f24b3c815625bcc3553464%7C0%7C0%7C639011620605680549%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=9t9I6aDgq0P75L1pkOo5HzX8b0fJVl5By1i%2BNa%2BJ06Q%3D&amp;reserved=0","target":""},"source_content":"A professor of history at Yale, Blackhawk won the 2023 National Book Award in Nonfiction for his retelling of U.S. history that stresses the role of Indigenous peoples.","source_image":2673},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Daniel S. Butrick, Cherokee Removal: The Journal of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick ","url":"https:\/\/www.amazon.com.au\/Cherokee-removal-Journal-Butrick-Monograph\/dp\/B0006R5M7S","target":""},"source_content":"A Christian missionary who lived among the Cherokee, Butrick documented the events that led up to the Trail of Tears.","source_image":3288},{"source_link_title":{"title":"John Ehle, Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation","url":"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/45450\/trail-of-tears-by-john-ehle\/","target":""},"source_content":"A novelist and nonfiction writer, Ehle tells the story of how the Cherokee people were evicted from their lands.","source_image":1411},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Tim Alan Garrison, The Legal Ideology of Removal: The Southern Judiciary and the Sovereignty of Native American Nations","url":"https:\/\/ugapress.org\/book\/9780820334172\/the-legal-ideology-of-removal\/","target":""},"source_content":"A historian, Garrison discusses how state courts enabled the mass expulsion of Native Americans from their southern homelands in the 1830s.","source_image":2147},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green, The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears","url":"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/296364\/the-cherokee-nation-and-the-trail-of-tears-by-theda-perdue-and-michael-d-green\/","target":""},"source_content":"Historians Perdue and Green explore how the U.S. government shifted from encouraging the assimilation of the Cherokee Nation to forcing its relocation to Oklahoma.","source_image":2151}]},{"add_sources_title":"Articles","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"Bill of Rights Institute, \u201cThe Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/billofrightsinstitute.org\/essays\/the-trail-of-tears","target":""},"source_content":"A summary of the policy decisions that produced the Trail of Tears.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Tim Alan Garrison, \u201cOn the Trail of Tears: Daniel Butrick\u2019s Record of the Removal of the Cherokees\u201d","url":"https:\/\/perspectivia.net\/servlets\/MCRFileNodeServlet\/pnet_derivate_00004216\/garrison_trail.pdf","target":""},"source_content":"Garrison reviews the effort by the Christian missionary Daniel Butrick to oppose and then document the removal of the Cherokee. ","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Christopher Klein, \u201cHow Native Americans Struggled to Survive on the Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/trail-of-tears-conditions-cherokee","target":""},"source_content":"Klein discusses how the Cherokees struggled to survive their forced march to Oklahoma.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Tony Tekaroniake Evans, \u201cThe Cherokee Leader Who Tried to Prevent the Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.history.com\/articles\/john-ross-cherokee-chief-indian-removal","target":""},"source_content":"Evans tells the story of Chief John Ross, who fought unsuccessfully to prevent the expulsion of the Cherokee from their homeland.","source_image":""}]},{"add_sources_title":"Lectures and Podcasts","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"Code Switch, \u201cA Treacherous Choice and a Treaty Right\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/03\/31\/824647676\/a-treacherous-choice-and-a-treaty-right","target":""},"source_content":"An exploration of how the 1835 Treaty of New Echota provided the legal basis for the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Readex, \u201cAndrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears: Setting the Record Straight\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=REPRSlkzksk","target":""},"source_content":"Daniel Feller, a professor of history and editor and director of the papers of Andrew Jackson at the University of Tennessee, discusses Jackson\u2019s support for the relocation of Native Americans.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, \u201cCherokee Days 2014: Trail of Tears With Catherine Foreman Gray\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ukiCZhWclK8","target":""},"source_content":"A citizen of the Cherokee Nation as well as its history and preservation officer, Gray discusses the events that culminated in the Trail of Tears.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Stuff You Should Know, \u201cHistory of the Trail of Tears, Part I\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/1119-stuff-you-should-know-26940277\/episode\/history-of-the-trail-of-tears-29467445\/","target":""},"source_content":"An in-depth exploration of the forces that culminated in the forced relocation of Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokee, during the 1830s.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Stuff You Should Know, \u201cHistory of the Trail of Tears, Part II\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/1119-stuff-you-should-know-26940277\/episode\/history-of-the-trail-of-tears-29467521\/","target":""},"source_content":"An assessment of how what was described as a voluntary resettlement program became a violent, forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"This American Life, \u201cTrail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/107\/transcript","target":""},"source_content":"Sarah and Amy Vowell retrace the path that their Cherokee ancestors took on the Trail of Tears.","source_image":""}]},{"add_sources_title":"Documentaries and Short Videos","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"History in a Nutshell, \u201cThe Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/the-trail-of-tears-vffpwi\/","target":""},"source_content":"A twelve-minute recounting of the forced relocation of Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokee, during the 1830s.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Learn Liberty, \u201cThe Trail of Tears: They Knew It Was Wrong\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qalhDKLrWEQ","target":""},"source_content":"A seventeen-minute discussion of the forced relocation of the Cherokee Nation.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"National Park Service, \u201cTrail of Tears National Historic Trail\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7LSkfmCj8Jg","target":""},"source_content":"An overview of the route the Cherokee took during their forced relocation in the 1830s.","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"PBS, \u201cDIGADOHI: Lands, Cherokee, and the Trail of Tears\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/video\/digadohi-lands-cherokee-and-the-trail-of-tears-tsdojy\/","target":""},"source_content":"An hour-long exploration of the Cherokee Nation\u2019s forced relocation.","source_image":""}]},{"add_sources_title":"Timeline and Websites","single_source":[{"source_link_title":{"title":"Digital History, \u201cIndian Removal Timeline\u201d","url":"https:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/active_learning\/explorations\/indian_removal\/removal_timeline.cfm","target":""},"source_content":"","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, \u201cForced Removal\u201d","url":"https:\/\/americanindian.si.edu\/nk360\/removal-cherokee\/forced-removal.html","target":""},"source_content":"","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, \u201cThe Trail of Tears: A Story of Cherokee Removal\u201d","url":"https:\/\/americanindian.si.edu\/nk360\/removal-cherokee\/index.html","target":""},"source_content":"","source_image":""},{"source_link_title":{"title":"Supreme Court Historical Society, \u201cThe Cherokee Nation Cases\u201d","url":"https:\/\/civics.supremecourthistory.org\/article\/the-cherokee-nation-cases\/","target":""},"source_content":"","source_image":""}]}],"add_bottom_title":"","add_bottom_image":"","add_background_image":"","add_bottom_button":"","add_year":"1838"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/build.mini.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/iiif-service_gmd_gmd386_g3861_g3861e_np000155-full-pct_12.5-0-default-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3292,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/3292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}