In 1830, the Indian removal act was invented to relocate all the tribes that settled in the eastern united states to the land situated for them west of the Mississippi river. President Andrew Jackson vigorously pursued the act leading to the mass destruction of many tribes, mainly those that resisted the removal. This was backed by the idea that the Indians did not use the land as God intended so that the whites would occupy the land by bloodshed. One of the significant acts of displacement viewed was the displacement of and the migration of the Cherokees in 1838, which involved the destruction of thousands of Cherokees hence the name 'trail of tears.'