In May 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This act authorized the president to grant American Indian tribes unsettled western prairie lands in present-day Oklahoma in exchange for their territories within state borders. U.S. citizens wanted the large tracts of land some Indian tribes still held in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act allowed for the forced removal of Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole. The Cherokee nation fought removal from Georgia by appealing to the Supreme Court. They based their refusal to leave their lands on earlier U.S. policy that had recognized Indian tribes as nations with their own laws. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia Chief Justice John Marshall initially denied the Court’s power to stop Georgia from violating Cherokee laws and land boundaries. In an appeal, however, Marshall held that treaties made with Indian nations were law. He ruled that Georgia had no legal force in the territorial boundaries of the Cherokee nation. However, President Andrew Jackson ignored the ruling and proceeded with plans to remove the Indians to Indian Territory. The Choctaw moved west in 1830. The U.S. military had to forcibly remove the Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole.
