The US government used treaties to remove Native Americans from their tribal lands. If the treaties failed, the government would sometimes violate both the treaties and Supreme Court rulings to facilitate the spread of European Americans westward across the continent. In the early 19th century, American citizens began moving inland from the South Coast and began moving to and into what would later become the states of Alabama and Mississippi. As the Native American tribes living there appeared to be the main obstacle to westward expansion. The president then imposed the treaty with the Native Americans under which they ceded to the United States over twenty million acres of their traditional land, about half of present-day Alabama and one-fifth of Georgia. In 1829 Andrew Jackson told the people: "It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe towards the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to pay that humane and considerate attention to their rights and wishes which is consistent with the habits of our government and the feelings of our people.” (William, Jeanne. Trails of Tears: American Indians Driven from Their Lands. (45)) The quote comes from (http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal /jackson.htm#.U3Vvg3lOXmI) The Cherokee used legal methods in an attempt to keep their land. They sought protection from land-hungry white settlers, the white settlers continued to harass them by stealing their livestock, burning their towns, and occupying their lands. lands. In 1827, the Cherokee used a written constitution to declare themselves a sovereign nation. In previous treaties, Native American nations had been declared sovereign so that they were legally able to cede their heritage... middle of paper. .. to the Native American nations of the southeastern parts of the United States following the Indian Removal Act in 1830. By 1837, 46,000 Native Americans from these southeastern areas had been removed from their homelands, thus opening up 25 million acres for predominantly white settlements. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while traveling to their destinations. Many died, including 2,000-6,000 of the 16,542 relocated Cherokee Indians. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokee were forcibly relocated west by the U.S. government. For the next 28 years the United States government will struggle to force the displacement of the Southeastern nations. The US government succeeded in pioneering westward expansion and the incorporation of new territories as part of the United States.(www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html)