The Cherokee Nation once spread across parts of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama and was home to thousands of men, women, and children. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 required the Cherokee to surrender their land and move west, and in 1838 more than 15,000 Cherokee began the trek from their eastern homeland to Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma, along the Trail of Tears. Traveling by roads and rivers, many passed through Jackson, Missouri. More than 1,000 died during the journey westward, and more than 4,000 died as a result of the forced migration. Federal Indian removal policy stirred fierce and bitter debate: supporters called it benevolent and argued it would save tribes east of the Mississippi River from being overwhelmed by an expanding American population, while opponents condemned its inhumanity and tragic consequences for Indian peoples. Removal also freed millions of acres of Indian land for white settlers. Thousands of American Indians were removed from their ancestral lands under the Indian Removal Act, often leaving in the fall to avoid summer heat and disease but instead facing treacherous winter weather, and many died during the ordeal. Despite these hardships, members of the five removed tribes established new lives in the West as successful sovereign nations preserving cultural traditions while adapting to the challenges of the 21st century. Cherokee survivors of the Trail of Tears created a new sovereign nation in present-day Oklahoma, while some Cherokee remained in North Carolina under a special exemption and formed the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.