On May 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the Twenty-First Congress of the United states of America. Andrew Jackson signed the bill into law after four months of strong debate. Land greed was the biggest reason for the federal government's position on Indian removal. The desire for Indian lands was also strengthened by the Indian hating mentality that was strange to some American frotiersman.
The forcible period of removal started with the Cherokee Indians in the state of Georgia. In 1802, a compact giving the federal government all of her claims to western lands in exchange for government’s pledge to cancel all Indian rights to land within the state was signed by the Georgia legislature. But by the mid-1820’s Georgians began to doubt that the government would withhold its part of the bargain. The Cherokee Indian tribes had a substantial part of land in Georgia that they had had for many generations. As they were afraid of losing their land they forced the issue by adopting a written constitution. By this document the Cherokee nation was proclaimed to have complete jurisdiction over its own territory.
But later Indian removal became entwined with the state of Georgia's rights and the Cherokee tribes had to make their claims in court. President Andrew Jackson’s reply to Cherokee nation’s sought of aid was negative. Jackson informed that he couldn’t go against Georgia state’s legislature. He saw the solution of the problem with the removal of the Cherokee tribes to lands in the west. This would keep Indians and colonists far from each other. He suggested the Indians to be moved west of the Mississippi river. But even though there was a big hatred towards Indians the enforcement was slow till the weather was more conductive to move.
Similar arguments happened between the other "civilized" tribes and white men. The Seminole tribe had land disputes with the state of Florida. The Creek Indians fought many battles against the federal army to keep their land in the states of Alabama and Georgia. The Chickasaw and Choctaw had disputes with the state of Mississippi. To ensure peace the government forced these five tribes called the Five Civilized Tribes to move out of their lands that they had lived on for generations and to move to land given to them in parts of Oklahoma. Andrew Jackson was quoted as saying that this was a way of protecting them and allowing them time to adjust to the white culture. The land in Oklahoma that Cherokees arrived in was completely different to that they had left. No longer could they live a life as planters of corn and farmers of the land. Within 10 years of the Indian Removal Act, more than 70,000 Indians had moved across the Mississippi. Many Indians died as a result of Indian Removal Act of 1830.
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