Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act, signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorized the President to negotiate the exchange of Native American-held land in the southeastern United States for land west of the Mississippi River. Congress passed the act after a contentious debate, the Senate 28 to 19 and the House 101 to 97. Under its authority, more than 60,000 American Indians from at least 18 tribes were forced to relocate west of the Mississippi during Jackson's presidency and that of his successor, a process known as the Trail of Tears; the first removal treaty signed under the act was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of September 27, 1830, under which the Choctaw ceded land in Mississippi.