In 1830 Congress, urged on by President Andrew Jackson, passed the Indian Removal Act which gave the federal government the power to relocate any Native Americans in the east to territory that was west of the Mississippi River.
Though the Native Americans were to be compensated, this was not always done fairly and in some cases led to the further destruction of many of the already diminishing numbers of many of the eastern tribes.
The Cherokee Nation was allocated land in Georgia as a result of the 1791 treaty with the U.S. Government. In 1828, not only did whites for settlement purposes desire their land, but gold was discovered. Georgia tried to reclaim this land in 1830, but the Cherokee protested and took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Court decided in favor of the Cherokee, however, the President and Congress forced the Native Americans to give up their land. 1838 called in federal troops in to “escort” approximately 15,000 Cherokee people to their new home in Indian Territory.
On the way, approx. 1/3 of the Cherokee people died. This event, known to the Cherokee as “The Trail Where They Cried”, is better known as the Trail of Tears in U.S. History textbooks.