- The discovery of gold on Cherokee land in Georgia in 1828 led to pressure from white settlers for the government to remove Native American tribes.
- Leaders of the five civilized tribes—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, and Seminole—were compelled to sign unfair land treaties.
- President Andrew Jackson enacted the Indian Removal Act, which forced the Cherokee nation to abandon their eastern homelands and relocate to a western territory in Oklahoma.
- The primary motivation for this forced removal was that Native Americans occupied fertile land desired by white settlers for agricultural use, including crops and plantations.
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