Final answer:
The Indian Removal Act of 1830, signed by President Andrew Jackson, led to the Trail of Tears, where Native American tribes were forcibly removed to lands west of the Mississippi, resulting in the death of thousands.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was legislation passed during the presidency of Andrew Jackson that initiated a tragic event in American history known as the Trail of Tears. The act authorized the forced removal of Native American tribes from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River designated as Indian Territory. This policy was supposedly voluntary but in reality, many Native American tribes faced immense pressure and were forcibly removed, often at gunpoint.
One of the most notorious examples of the policy's implementation was the removal of the Cherokee tribe in 1838, known specifically as the Cherokee Trail of Tears. An estimated 16,000 Cherokee were forced to march to Oklahoma, with approximately 5,000 perishing during the journey due to exposure, disease, and starvation. Similar fates befell other tribes, such as the Choctaw and the Creek, with similarly devastating loss of life.
Jackson's policies and the subsequent removals played into a broader narrative of land appropriation and westward expansion under the guise of civilization and progress, despite the high human cost paid by the indigenous populations.