This particular passage makes part of a document known as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that was signed by U.S President Andrew Jackson. The point of this Act was to give the President of the United States leeway to make use of unsettled lands, with existing state borders, that lay west of the Mississippi river, to establish Indian citizens who gave up their lands peacefully for white settlement. One of the consequences of this Act was the famous Trail of Tears, which literally defined the forceful removal of the Cherokee tribes and the death of several of their members as they were moved to the west.
One research question that might arise from this particular passage is how the United States government at the time managed to control the conflicts that were arising between the Native Americans and the white people who were settling inside the territories of the Indians, particularly the Cherokee. This document helps to answer the question as it literally shows us what were the measures that the U.S government resorted to to resolve the issue in their favor and in detriment of the Native American tribes.
