Explain the "trail of tears"

The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west (usually west of the Mississippi River) that had been designated as Indian Territory.

The forced relocation of most of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeastern United States to Indian Territory under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 signed by U. S. president Andrew Jackson clearing former Native American lands for white settlement. The forced relocation included all tribes located of east of the Mississippi. All tribes were to be relocated west of the Mississippi under the Indian Removal Act of 1830.