Removal.

Although the Constitution had excluded Native American Indians from the benefits of citizenship enjoyed by Americans of European descent, the federal government had not made a concerted effort to push Indians out of eastern North America. This changed in the late 1820s, when the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency combined with aggressive efforts of some Southern white farmers to gain control of lands owned by certain Indian groups. By the end of the decade, the federal government supported a policy of wholesale relocation for eastern Indians.

"Civilized" Tribes.

Long before Jackson entered the White House in 1829, land-hungry whites—often with military backup—had encroached on the lands of the five so-called Civilized Tribes of the Southeast: the Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Creeks. Cherokee tribal holdings, for example, had dwindled from 50 million acres in 1802 to just 9 million in the...