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In 1830 the Native Americans were forced to move west of the Mississippi River. At first the settlers couldn't get them to go, but finally they made a new piece of legislation and got most of them to leave peacefully. However, if the Indians didn't leave, they forced them to leave.
Early in the 1800's white settlers came east of the Mississippi River, now known as Oklahoma. There they found what they considered an obstacle. Indians of the tribes: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw, and Seminole lived there already. To the white settlers, they were in the way.
Andrew Jackson, from Tennessee, was one of
them that really wanted the Indians to leave. In 1814 he got the
military to defeat a bunch of people from the Creek tribe. When
that happened, the Creek tribe lost 22 million acres of land.
From 1814 - 1824 Jackson was one of the main ones that negotiated
(settled by talking and agreeing) with the Indians. He negotiated
9 out of 11 treaties which gave Indians land in the west in exchange
for their land in the east. The Indians agreed because they wanted
to satisfy the government in the hopes that they would get some
of their land back, and they wanted to protect themselves from
white harassment.
As a result, the U.S.A got control over three quarters of Alabama and Florida plus parts of Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. That was a time of Indian migration though only a small number of Creeks, Cherokee, and Choctaws moved. In 1823 the Supreme court made a decision that said Indians could have land, but they could not hold title to it. The Indians didn't like that, and they wanted to protect what was left of their land before it was to late. Though five Indian nations had made earlier resistance attempts, their strategies were non- violent. One method was to adopt Anglo-American practices such as large-scale farming, western education, and slave holding. This made people call them "The Five Civilized Tribes" that made the white settlers jealous and resentful.
Some of the Indian nations simply refused to leave their land. The Creeks and Seminoles even fought wars to keep their land. The first Seminole war lasted for a whole year. The Indians were helped by slaves who had lived with them for years. The white settlers fought even harder now that they knew about the presence of the slaves. The Cherokee found protection from the settlers who continually stole livestock, burnt towns and squatted (taking others land and holding title to it) their land. The Cherokee took their case to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them.
In 1831, the Cherokee went to the Supreme Court again. This time they based their appeal on the law which forbid whites from living on Indian territory. This time, the court decided in favor of the Cherokee. However, the state of Georgia refused to abide by it and Jackson refused to enforce it. In 1830, Jackson made a new policy called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of congress, the senate and house of representatives. It gave Jackson the power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River. The Indians were to give up their land in the east and exchange it for lands in the west. The Indians wishing to remain became citizens of their home state. The removal was supposed to be willingly and peaceful, and it was, for the tribes that agreed anyway. However, some tribes resisted. Jackson forced only them to leave.
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