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© Kara Lee The first six Presidents of the United States came from either Virginia or Massachusetts. All six Presidents also came from wealthy families. Andrew Jackson, the 7 th president, was different. Jackson was from the Carolina frontier. He was poor, but he was very tough and determined. Jackson moved to Tennessee where he was a successful lawyer, politician, and business owner.

© Kara Lee Andrew Jackson became President in He was the first President who had come from a state that was west of the 13 original colonies.

© Kara Lee Many people moved to the areas south or west of the 13 original colonies after the War of These areas later became states which gave the citizens that lived in these states the right to vote. Suffrage is the right to vote.

© Kara Lee Before these new territories were given the right to vote, the only people who voted were white men who owned land or had money. However, many of these people that could now vote had little money and little education. In the 1800s, the United States was the only country that gave suffrage to white men who did not own land. Women and most African Americans could still not vote.

© Kara Lee These new voters helped Jackson become President in They supported him because he was wanting to support ordinary citizens. They also liked his campaign message of this support. A campaign is a series of actions taken toward a goal, such as winning a presidential election. Jackson becoming President was a huge success, and people from the frontier were excited that he had a background like theirs.

© Kara Lee With more settlers moving west each and every year, there was often conflict between settlers and American Indians. Jackson thought that the American Indians were slowing down the growth of the nation by living on land that settlers wanted. Congress agreed with this. So, in 1830, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act.

© Kara Lee The Indian Removal Act was a law that made all the Indian nations that were east of the Mississippi River move west of the Mississippi River. This meant that these families had to leave their homes behind. The United States army made many tribes in the southeast move to present-day Oklahoma, which congress called the Indian Territory. These tribes included Choctaw, Creek, and Chicaksaw.

© Kara Lee

The Cherokee living in Georgia had added parts of the settlers’ culture to the traditions they already had. Lots of Cherokee Indians became farmers, and they helped build roads, schools, and churches. A man named Sequoya even invented a writing system for the Cherokee language. They published books and even a newspaper using this new alphabet.

© Kara Lee A Cherokee chief named John Ross led a fight against the Indian Removal Act. Ross went to the Supreme Court (the highest court in the United States) with his complaints. Chief Justice John Marshall was the head of the Supreme Court, and he said that it was against the law to make the Cherokee move. President Jackson ignored Marshall’s ruling, or official decision.

© Kara Lee The United States Army forced the Cherokee to travel 1,000 miles to the Indian Territory in This trip was extremely hard because the Cherokee ha d little food to eat. The winter was cold. Lots of disease spread among the Cherokee. About ¼ of the Cherokee died during this trip. This became known as the trail of tears.

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