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Indian Removal Act
Further information: Indian removal, Indian Removal Act, and Trail of Tears
The Indian Removal Act and treaties involving Jackson before his presidency displaced most of the major tribes of the Southeast from their traditional territories east of the Mississippi.
Jackson's presidency marked the beginning of a national policy of Native American removal.[210] Before Jackson took office, the relationship between the southern states and the Native American tribes who lived within their boundaries was strained. The states felt that they had full jurisdiction over their territories; the native tribes saw themselves as autonomous nations that had a right to the land they lived on.[216] Significant portions of the five major tribes in the Southwest—the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminoles— began to adopt white culture, including education, agricultural techniques, a road system, and rudimentary manufacturing.[217] In the case of the tensions between the state of Georgia and the Cherokee, Adams had tried to address the issue encouraging Cherokee emigration west of the Mississippi through financial incentives, but most refused.[218]
In the first days of Jackson's presidency, some of the southern states had passed legislation extending state jurisdiction to Native American lands.