Old News: The start of Michigan Road and the end of the Potawatomi

• The land the Potawatomi leaders ceded under "intense military and economic pressure" would be known as Michigan Road, and state leaders encouraged its construction with the hope that it would spur population and economic growth in Indiana the way The National Road did for the rest of the nation.
• Federal funds covered the cost of construction, connecting key towns to the new state capital in Indianapolis.
• Upon completion, Michigan Road went through 14 counties.

Yes, but: According to the Indiana Historical Bureau, the tale of Old Michigan Road is also one rooted in "injustice, genocide and survivance."

• A year before the treaty, state and federal governments were applying pressure on the Potawatomi to leave Indiana to ease the creation of the Michigan Road.
• The bureau says the treaty did not clearly define the land being ceded.

The end result: In 1838, Michigan Road was used to remove the Potawatomi from the region in the "Trail of Death."