Before the Founding of Lawton
Land Lottery and Auction
Game
Teaching Materials
Congress voted to let the white settlers
take away the lands of the natives. The whites felt the natives were standing
in the way of progress. In 1830, Congress passed a new law.
It was called the Indian Removal Act. This law paid for the cost
of making treaties. It also paid for moving the natives. The
natives were forced to move west of the Mississippi River.
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In 1832,
Thomas L. McKinney got a new job. He was put in charge of a new agency.
This man was the first Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Part of McKinney's
new job was to make sure everyone followed the treaties. The other
part of his new job was moving native peoples.
McKinney had to move the natives living in the Great Lakes Region and in the Southeast. Within 10 years, more than 70,000 natives had moved across the Mississippi. Many natives died on this journey. |
 The
Removal Act was President Andrew Jackson's idea. Some people think
he was trying to keep the natives and whites from fighting. Others
thought he supported land greed. Jackson did not uphold the legal
rights of the natives. |
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