The Treaty of New Echota, signed on December 29, 1835, in New Echota, Georgia, established that the Cherokee Nation would renounce its territory on behalf of the Georgia state and move to the Indian Territory.
The central cause of the conflict was the discovering of gold in the Cherokee territory, which arouse the interest of the white population to remove the Cherokees from the land. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 called for all Indian nations to be sent west beyond the Mississippi river. In view of this situation, Chief John Ross, leader of the majority of Cherokees opposed the act, while Elias Boudinot, another Cherokee leader believed that the removal was inevitable and, along with others Treaty Party leaders, signed The Treaty of New Echota. Although the treaty was not approved nor signed by Chief John Ross, it was accepted by the U.S. Senate in March 1836, and became the legal basis for the forcible removal known as the Trail of Tears. Not long after that, an unknown group of Cherokkes, probably Ross supporters, murdered Boudinot outside his home, in 1839.