May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson Signs Indian Removal Act
Levi Rickert – Native News Online May 28, 2026
On this day in 1830 — 196 years ago — President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law.
The Act created a process that allowed the president to exchange lands west of the Mississippi River for the homelands of Native tribes in the eastern United States. In return, tribes were promised financial assistance, supplies for relocation, and the guarantee that they could live on their new lands under the protection of the United States government “forever.”
The policy culminated in the Trail of Tears — one of the darkest chapters in American history. Thousands of Native people died from disease, starvation, and exposure during the forced marches west, including nearly one-quarter of the Cherokee Nation.
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Additional Information on the Indian Removal Act:
While pressured to move west beyond the Mississippi, under Jacksons’Indian Removal Act, The Brothertown Indians avoided further relocation west by requesting US citizenship, this too has had negative consequences for our Tribe which we continue to spend much volunteer time and money trying to remedy as we work towards Restoration today…196 years later.
President Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress ‘On Indian Removal’ (1830) (National Archives)
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