Background
The Five Civilized Tribes, consisting of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, and Seminole were well established as autonomous nations in the southeastern United States. The acculturation proposed by George Washington was well underway among the Cherokee and Choctaw. Thomas Jefferson's policy had been to accept the Native Americans' rights to their homelands. All Indians who had adopted a civilized behavior could remain east of the Mississippi. His plan was to guide them towards practicing an agriculturally based society. However, Andrew Jackson sought to renew a policy of political and military action for the removal of the Native Americans from these lands and spoke of enacting a law for Indian removal in an 1829 oration.
Read more about this topic: Indian Removal Act
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