The Indian Removal Act
0:00
Today in history, we remember how President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, leading to the heartbreaking Trail of Tears and ongoing struggles over land and sovereignty.
Today in history, May 28, 1830: a signature in Washington helped turn policy into forced exile. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, giving the federal government power to push Native nations from their homelands east of the Mississippi. The law spoke in the language of exchange, but for the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and many others, it opened the road to broken treaties, military pressure, and the Trail of Tears. Tens of thousands were uprooted; many never survived the journey. It still matters because the fight over land, sovereignty, and whose history gets remembered is not only a story from the past.
