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What was the Trail of Tears? Option 1: A trail that the U.S. government forced indigenous people to travel west to resettle. Option 2: A line that divided the free North from the enslaving South before the Civil War. Option 3: The harsh trail that European settlers traveled westward to claim new territories. Option 4: The political path that the North and South took from disagreements to civil war.

User Rob Mayoff
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Final answer:

The Trail of Tears refers to forced relocations of Native Americans in the southeastern U.S. to territories in the west during the 1830s, a devastating event named for the suffering experienced during the brutal journey.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Trail of Tears refers to Option 1: A trail that the U.S. government forced indigenous people to travel west to resettle. Taking place in the 1830s, this event is a significant and tragic part of American history. Thousands of Native Americans from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes were forcibly moved from their ancestral territories in the southeastern U.S. to areas to the west that had been designated as Indian Territory. The forced migrations were brutal and many Native Americans died from exposure, disease, and starvation during their journey west, thus the name 'Trail of Tears'.

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