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Native Americans
Some whites favored the displacement and dispossession of all Native Americans. Others wished to convert Native Americans to Christianity, turn them into farmers, and absorb them into the white culture. -
Since the War of 1812
Some Southeastern tribes such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, and Chickasaw began to adopt the European culture from their white neighbors. These "five civilized tribes," were in larges areas of Georgia, North and South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee where most white planters and miners wanted that land. -
Jackson and the Choctaw
For Jackson, the removal policy was " not only liberal but generous," but his arguments were mainly based on the rights of states to govern within their own boundaries. In 1830, Jackson pressured the Choctaw to sign a treaty that required them to move from Mississippi. -
Indian Removal Act of 1830
Jackson thought allowing the Native Americas to live in their original areas would have required too many troops to keep the areas free of white settlers. So Jackson believed the only solution was to move the Native Americans from their lands to areas farther west. Congress then passed the Indian Removal Act. The federal government funded the negotiation of treaties that would force the Natives Americans to move west. -
Jackson removing Indians
In 1831, Jackson ordered the U.S. troops to forcibly remove the Sauk and Fox from their lands in Illinois and Missouri. -
Leaving
In 1832, he forced Chickasaw to leave their lands in Alabama and Mississippi. -
Worcester v. Georgia
The Cherokee Nation tried to win just treatment through the legal system. They knew the Court would have to recognize a citizen's right to be heard. In Worcester v. Georgia, the Cherokee Nation finally won recognition as a distinct political community. The Court ruled that Georgia was not entitled to regulate the Cherokee nor to invade their lands. Jackson refused to abide by the Supreme Court decision, saying: "John Marshall has made his decision; not let him enforce it. -
Cherokee Nation signing a Treaty
Cherokee leader John Ross still tried to fight the state in the courts, but other Cherokee began to promote relocation. Federal agents declared the minority who favored relocation the true representatives of the Cherokee Nation and promptly had them sign the Treaty of New Echota. Eight million of Cherokee land to the federal government in exchange for $5 million and land west of Mississippi. Signing the treaty marked the beginning of the Cherokee exodus. -
After the Treaty
20,000 Cherokee still remained in the East, President Martin Van Buren ordered their forced removal. U.S. Army troops under the command of General Winfield Scott rounded up the Cherokee and drove them into camps to await the journey. -
The Trail of Tears
The Cherokee were sent off in groups of about 1,000 each on the journey. The 800-mile trip was made partly by steamboat and railroad but mostly on foot. The Cherokee buried more than a quarter of their people because of weather, disease, or lack of food which became known as the Trail of Tears. They reached their final destination, they ended up on land far inferior to that which they had been forced to leave.