The Indian Removal policy of President Andrew Jackson was prompted by the desire of white settlers in the South to expand into lands belonging to five American Indian tribes. After Jackson succeeded in pushing the Indian Removal Act through Congress in 1830, the U.S. government spent nearly 30 years forcing American Indians to move westward, beyond the Mississippi River.
In the most notorious example of this policy, more than 15,000 members of the Cherokee tribe were forced to walk from their homes in the southern states to designated Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma in 1838. Many died along the way.
This forced relocation became known as the “Trail of Tears” because of the great hardship faced by Cherokees. In brutal conditions, nearly 4,000 Cherokees died on the Trail of Tears.
It is false that is gave cherokees permission to attack anyone who settled on thier land. The trail of tears actually were taken from thier land hundreads of miles to a reserve on the trail of tears.
