Andrew Jackson continued to apply pressure on the Cherokees to move west.  This was having an effect, but not the desired effect.  The two major leaders of the Cherokee Nation, Chief John Ross and Chief Major Ridge, at first agreed that they should remain united.  However, continued pressure from Jackson, the sovereign rights of states over Native Americans and the influx of gold-hungry settlers all had an effect on the nation.  Factionalism was growing within the nation as well as between two chiefs.  Ridge held the minority view that the best option was to migrate.  Ross disagreed.

In 1834 when a combined Eastern and Western Cherokee nation came to Washington to seek protection against hostile plain tribes, Jackson took the opportunity to negotiate a removal treaty by sending John Eaton to meet with them.  The Senate as well as the greater Cherokee nation rejected this treaty that was signed by both parties.  In 1835, US Commissioner Rev. John F. Schermerhorn negotiated a treaty but the greater Cherokee nation rejected this treaty as well.

Later that year, after the arrest of John Ross, Schermerhorn asked the whole Cherokee nation be present at New Echota.  This was another attempt for a removal treaty.  In the proclamation it was announced that any Cherokee not present would equal a ‘Yes’ vote.  The faction headed by Ridge boycotted this meeting.  However, a removal treaty was signed and the Senate ratified it by one vote, although many considered it to be a fraudulent treaty.[iii]

Jackson ’s term in office ended before the Cherokee Nation migrated west under President Martin Van Buren’s administration.  The migration west was conducted by the Cherokees themselves, with some protection from the US military.  During their trek west, some 20 to 25 percent of the nation died.[iv]

The Seminoles were the hardest to remove to the west.  Although the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 provided for the removal of the Seminoles, it still took a war to remove them. The Second Seminole war began on December 28, 18 35 with the Seminoles drawing first blood.  A Creek chief named Osceola, who opposed the treaty, was their leader.  This war pitted about 4000 Seminoles rebels against 200,000 US soldiers.  The war lasted for a decade and ended in 1842.  Osceola, captured in 1837, was imprisoned.  He would die a year later.[v]  During the war, captured Seminoles were sent west.