History of the Trail of Tears

            In the 1820s many plantation owners who were wealthy were purchasing the best cotton-farming lands in all of the southern states of America. With many profits coming from cotton farming, many planters wanted to move west to expand into the Native American territory. The Natives covered about one hundred million acres of great land. This fertile land was in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and also The Carolinas. When President Jackson first started his term he agreed to the act of America taking over Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. In the year of 1830 Jackson supported giving the Native Americans land from the Louisiana Purchase, which is called the Indian Removal Act. Jackson forced about one hundred thousand Native Americans from five different tribes to relocate. As the Native Americans moved into areas that white Americans lived in they began to pick up on white habits, rituals, and traditions. Natives began to wear the same clothes as whites, eating what white people ate, and also farming the same way. As time passed the Native Americans became literate which meant that they could read and write. .
             In 1829 white Americans who were miners found gold in the western half of Georgia which caused American miners to continue flooding into Native American lands. Violating the treaty with the Cherokee, Americans accumulated nine million more acres of land. John Marshall, Chief Justice, ruled Native Americans no standings because they were not foreigners or American citizens. Natives also tried to fight for their land again in 1832 but again John Marshall said, "Georgia had no authority over a Native's territories.".
             President Jackson took sides with Georgia and John Marshall. "John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" (253). In 1838 the United States made the Native Americans join army camps. About fifteen thousand Cherokee Indians were in these camps.