Before the American Revolution, Thomas Jefferson had believed that Native people were capable of integration into the American system if they adopted white culture. Several decades later, however, Andrew Jackson leaned towards removal of Indian peoples. What forces caused a shift in attitude and federal government policy toward the Native Americans?

As more people arrived to America, the need for westward expansion was inevitable. As land-hungry settlers began moving westward, the faced challenge on Native American tribes along the way. Since Indian tribes living there appeared to be the main obstacle to westward expansion, white settlers petitioned the federal government to remove them. Although Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe argued that the Indian tribes in the Southeast should exchange their land for lands west of the Mississippi River, they did not take steps to make this happen. Indeed, the first major transfer of land occurred only as the result of war.

Jackson’s government succeeded. By the end of his presidency, he had signed into law almost seventy removal treaties, the result of which was to move nearly 50,000 eastern Indians to Indian Territory.