<Table> Trail of Tears <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> The Trail of Tears memorial monument at the New Echota Historic Site in New Echota, Georgia which honors the 4,000 Cherokees who died on the Trail of Tears </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Date </Th> <Td> 1831--1850 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Location </Th> <Td> Southeastern United States and Indian Territory, present - day Oklahoma </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Participants </Th> <Td> U.S. Government, U.S. Army, state militias, Five Civilized Tribes of Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Outcome </Th> <Td> 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 . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Deaths </Th> <Td> <P> Cherokee (4,000) Creek Seminole (3,000 in Second Seminole War--1835--1842) Chickasaw (3,500) </P> Choctaw (2,500--6,000) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> The Trail of Tears memorial monument at the New Echota Historic Site in New Echota, Georgia which honors the 4,000 Cherokees who died on the Trail of Tears </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Date </Th> <Td> 1831--1850 </Td> </Tr>

Why was the term the golden years used to describe the period between relocation and the civil war