Jackson's Indian Removal Policy aimed to move Native American tribes from lands in the eastern U.S. that settlers wanted for farming to an Indian Territory in the west. While some tribes willingly relocated, others resisted removal, which often led to violence against them. In 1830 the Indian Removal Act allowed the federal government to force the relocation of tribes such as the Cherokee, thousands of whom died during the subsequent Trail of Tears march to Oklahoma.

1. Jackson’s Indian Policy

2. Jackson’s Indian Removal Policy One of Jackson’s goals was to remove the Indians in the east and put them in a new Indian Territory in the west. Moving them would free land that American settlers wanted for growing crops like cotton. The Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole) that lived in the east had adopted many white customs and hoped to be able to live peacefully with their white neighbors. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. Some groups moved west voluntarily, but others resisted. The resistance was usually met with violence.

3. The Trail of Tears Thousands of Creeks were taken from Alabama in handcuff, and marched west. More than 17,000 Cherokee were taken from their homes in Georgia and led west by federal troops. Over 4,000 died during this journey. One soldier called it, “The cruelest work I ever knew.” Many whites were ashamed and appalled by the treatment of the Indians and protested in Washington D.C .

5. The Trail of Tears