Indian Removal Act

Indian Removal Act, in U.S. history, law signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830 providing for the general resettlement of Native Americans to lands W of the Mississippi River. From 1830 to 1840 approximately 60,000 Native Americans were forced to migrate. Of some 11,500 Cherokees moved in 1838, about 4,000 died along the way.

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Indian Removal Act

(May 28, 1830) First major legislation that reversed the U.S. policy of respecting the rights of American Indians. The act granted tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their territories within state borders, mainly in the Southeast. Some tribes refused to trade their land, and U.S. troops forced tribes such as the Cherokee to march westward in what became known as the Trail of Tears (1838–39). In Florida the Seminoles fought resettlement in the Seminole Wars (1835–42).