Statue of President Andrew Jackson

By the end of his presidency, Andrew Jackson had signed into law nearly 70 Indian-removal treaties.

Approximately 50,000 indigenous people in the Southeast were moved to Indian Territory, the dry plains west of the Mississippi River.

Thousand died en route.

This purge opened millions of acres of fertile land east of the Mississippi to white settlers.

Indian Territory was vast, however the government intended the Native Americans' destination be a more confined area; what would become eastern Oklahoma. 

Photograph © 2019 Larry F. Levenson.

All rights reserved.