I will begin this presentation by outlining the "Indian Removal Act"
The act was signed into law by president Andrew Jackson, on May 28, 1830
and authorized Jackson to then be able to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for lands that belonged to Indians within existing state borders.
Few tribes went peacefully, and many resisted.
In the fall and winter of 1838-1839, the Cherokees were forcibly moved West by the United States government. During what we now call "The Trail of Tears" about 4,000 Cherokees died.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, or BIA., is an agency of the United States government within the U.S Department of the Interior, and the management of about 55,700,000 acres of land is their main responsibility. Established on March 11, 1824, it was first created as a division within the War Department. The bureau played a major role in negotiating treaty agreements between the United States and Indian tribes.

John Ross was a Cherokee chief, who is described as a Moses of his people. He helped lead the Cherokee people through one of the most difficult periods in Cherokee history. Ross was a strong opponent of Indian removal, and he fought against it. John filed suit and won a Supreme Court ruling against white encroachment onto Cherokee lands but President Andrew Jackson refused to honor the Supreme Court descion.

Worcester v. Georgia was a case in the Supreme Court that vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester. He held that Georgia's criminal statute that banned non-Native American persons from being on Native American land without a license from the state was unconstitutional.

The Treaty of New Echota, was a treaty that was signed on December 29, 1835 in Echota, Georgia by the United States government, and some Cherokee representatives. The treaty established terms in which the Cherokees would have to give up their land and move West. It was never approved by the Cherokee Council, but was ratified by the U.S Senate. This was the start of the Trail of Tears.

The Trail of Tears was a time of ethnic cleansing and forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians to The southeastern parts of the U.S. many of these people suffered from exposure, disease and starvation on the route to their destinations. Many died, including 2,000-6,000 of 16,542 relocated Cherokee Indians. This is only a glimpse of how terrible this event actually was.

Indian territory was land that was set aside for them by the United States government. In general, the tribes ceded land they occupied in exchange for land grants in an area purchased by the United States federal government from Napoleon, the Louisiana Purchase. These lands are called reservations.