On this day in US history, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law on May 28, 1830. The bill allowed the federal government to “negotiate” with Native tribes in the southeastern part of the country, resulting in the forced removal of many Natives from the only place they called home. By removing the native population from those states, the Jackson administration claimed it would advance rapidly in wealth and power. 25 million acres of land left by the Natives would be used to expand the slavery industry. Nearly 60,000 Natives were pushed thousands of miles west into unknown territory, resulting in thousands of deaths; it is now known today as the Trail of Tears. The effects of the mass migration are still being felt by the Native communities forced from their ancestral lands.
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