A good while before Jackson entered the White House the future of these large, settled, and prosperous groups of red men began to trouble the people of Georgia, Alabama, and other Southern States.  The Indians made but little use of the major part of their land; vast tracts lay untrodden save by hunters.  Naturally, as the white population grew and the lands open for settlement became scarcer and poorer, the rich tribal holdings were looked upon with covetous eyes.  In the decade following the War of 1812, when cotton cultivation was spreading rapidly over the southern interior, the demand that they be thrown open for occupation to white settlers became almost irresistible.

Three things, obviously, could happen.  The tribes could be allowed to retain permanently their great domains, while the white population flowed in around them; or the lands could be opened to the whites under terms looking to a peaceful intermingling of the two peoples; or the tribes could be induced or compelled to move en masse to new homes beyond the Mississippi.  The third plan was the only one ever considered by most people to be feasible, although it offered great difficulties and was carried out only after many delays.

The State which felt the situation most keenly was Georgia, partly because there an older and denser population pressed more eagerly for new lands, partly—­it must be admitted—­because lands obtained by cession were, under the practice of that State, distributed among the people by lottery.  The first move in this direction was to dispossess the Creeks.  As far back as 1802, when Georgia made her final cession of western lands to United States, the latter agreed to extinguish the Indian title to lands within the State whenever it could be done “peaceably and on reasonable terms.”  This pledge the Georgians never allowed the federal authorities to forget.  After 1815 several large tracts were liberated.  But by that date the State wanted unbroken jurisdiction over all of the territory within her limits, and her complaints of laxness on the part of the Federal Government in bringing this about became no less frequent than vigorous.

Near the close of his Administration President Monroe sent two commissioners to procure a general cession; and at Indian Spring a treaty was concluded in which the Creeks ceded practically all of their lands between the Flint and the Chattahoochee rivers.  The Senate ratified the treaty, and the Georgians were elated.  But investigation showed that the Creeks who stood behind the agreement represented only an insignificant fraction of the nation, and President Adams refused to allow Troup, the irate Georgian Governor, to proceed with the intended occupation until further negotiations should have taken place.  Stormy exchanges of views followed, in the course of which the Governor more than once reminded Adams that Georgia was “sovereign on her own soil.”  But in 1826 and 1827 treaties were obtained finally extinguishing Creek titles in the State.  Land west of the Mississippi was promised to all Creeks who would go there.