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 The US government used treaties (agreements signed by the government and Indians) as one means to displace Indians from their tribal lands.  When the treaties failed the government sometimes violated agreements for the spread of European American westward across the continent.

 Land-hungry Americans poured into the backcountry of the coastal South and began moving toward and into what later became Alabama and Mississippi.  Indian tribes living there appeared to be the main obstacle of westward expansion  Americans petitioned the government to remove them

 In 1814, Andrew Jackson led an expedition against the Creek Indians where his forces soundly defeated the Creeks and destroyed their military power.  He forced them to sign a treaty where they surrendered to the US over twenty-million acres of their land  For the next 10 years Jackson lead the Indian removal campaign

 Under these pressures Indians realized they could not win a war against the U.S.  They decided to appease the settlers by agreeing to give up a lot of their land so they could keep a small portion  This did not appease the settlers  They also held their ground with wars, but did not win against the U.S.

 They listened to the settlers who wanted the land  They heard the Indians fighting back  They decided to systematically remove Indians based on legal documents

 This document stated that the Indians would be given land west of the Mississippi River that agreed to give up their homelands.  It also allowed the Indians financial and material assistance to travel to their new locations  They could live there with protection from the U.S. government forever

 He government was free now to persuade, bribe, and threaten tribes into signing treaties and leaving the Southeast  The Cherokee Nation resisted which made the U.S. government just go in and kick them out, creating the Trail of Tears

 70 removal treaties were signed  50,000 Indians were moved from their homelands  Millions of acres of rich land was open for white settlers