Answer:
Its purpose was to keep disaffected East Germans from fleeing to the West.
In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma the Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears" because of its devastating effects.
Yes, it was the Boxer Rebellion. :))
