Native Mississippians

​By the early 1800s, some Native American groups in the Southeast began to take on the culture of their white neighbors. These tribes—The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, Creek, and Chickasaw—were called the Five Civilized Tribes. Despite all this, white settlers did not wish to live with Native Americans. Instead, they wanted Native American land in the South and West for farms. As a result, President Jackson decided to remove the Native Americans from their lands.

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​Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The law ordered all Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. In 1830, Jackson pressured the Chocktaw to sign a treaty that required them to move from Mississippi. In 1831, he ordered U.S. troops to forcibly remove the Sauk and Fox from their lands in Illinois and Missouri. In 1832, he forced the Chickasaw to leave their lands in Alabama and Mississippi.

The Cherokee Nation, however, fought the Indian Removal Act in court. Chief Justice Marshall ruled in their favor. The Court said that the United States had no right to take Cherokee land.

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But Andrew Jackson refused to obey the Court’s ruling. Instead, federal agents signed a treaty with a group of Cherokee leaders willing to leave their land. Beginning in October and November of 1838, U.S. Army troops began forcing the Cherokee to travel from Georgia to the new Indian territory west of the Mississippi River.

​The 800-mile trip was made partly by steamboat and railroad but mostly on foot. As the winter came, more and more of the Cherokee died. Along the way, government officials stole the Cherokees’ money, while outlaws made off with their livestock.

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The journey became known as the Trail of Tears because more than a quarter of the travelers died on it. When they reached their final destination, the Cherokee ended up on land far inferior to that which they had been forced to leave.