The Americans regarded the Native Americans as savages and enemies in war. Settlers encroaching into Indian territory were given the protection of the military. In 1828 when gold was found on Cherokee land, an influx of white settlers arrived. The State of Georgia declared control over the Cherokee and moved the Indians to Oklahoma. The Indian Removal Act authorized the president to negotiate treaties with the Indians and President Andrew Jackson and his men used force and intimidation to get the Indians to consent to these one-sided treaties. They forcibly moved the Eastern Indians to the lands west of the Mississippi in a march known as the Trail of Tears.