In the early 1830’s thousands of Cherokee Indians lived on a vast expanse of the southeastern United States, however, in the end of the 1840’s hardly any remained as a result of the Indian Removal Act (History). The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May, 30 1830. The Indians were working for white men who wanted to grow cotton on their land (History). The government forced them to leave and white people hated them greatly because they lived on land …show more content…
After the Indian Removal Act was signed into law, they were forced to move to the Indian Territory (Golden Ink). The government established that it was time for the Indians to be forcefully removed when gold was found in northern Georgia (Golden Ink).The Cherokee lived in the western part of Georgia for an extended period of time when gold was discovered in the Northern Georgia mountains, it had been previously searched for by Hernando Desoto to no avail (Golden Ink). The discovery of precious gold immediately preceded the creation and passage of the original Cherokee constitution and establishment of the Cherokee Supreme Court (Golden Ink). The white’s thirst for gold was a catalyst for the Indian removal process; the whites wanted them out as fast as possible (Golden Ink). The whites turned on the Natives and the United States government began the Indian removal process (Golden …show more content…
They believed that if they signed a treaty with the United States, then they would survive as a people (National Parks). In December 1835 the United States sought out this minority and put the Treaty of New Echota into effect in Georgia, only three to five hundred Cherokees were there and none were the elected officials of the Cherokee Nation. About one hundred Cherokee signed the treaty called the Treaty party, in turn, ceding all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi River to the United States in exchange for five million dollars and land that has been set aside for them, Indian Territory (National Parks). Upwards of fifteen-thousand Cherokee Indians protested against the illegal treaty, there efforts were useless and The Treaty of New Echota was signed into law by the United States Senate on May 23, 1836 by just one vote (National