In 1812, the United States purchased one of the richest states referred to as Louisiana, which facilitated the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. This effectively ended the war that had affected the economic and political development of the region for long. The Ghent Treaty flushed out foreigners in the region, making Native Americans part of the American territory. Before the westward expansion, Native Americans were accorded protection and other forms of favors from the British, but this changed as soon as Louisiana was acquired. The American policy makers embarked on policy formulation, which affected the life chances of many Indians.
For instance, the Cherokees, the Creeks, and the Chickasaws, popularly referred to as the Five Civilized Tribes, went through various problems. They had a cordial relationship with the whites before the westward expansion strategy, but they were subjected to inhuman conditions once the treaty was signed. They were requested to surrender their tracts of land to the American government without compensation. They had to rely on whites for survival, which was difficult to take given the fact that they had their own established culture and economic system.
A policy constituted in 1829 by the then president Andrew Jackson demanded that Native Americans had to be removed forcefully from their ancestral land. Another bill was passed in the subsequent year, which granted the head of state adequate funds to facilitate the removal of Native Americans. Westward acquisition was a blow to Native Americans since they could not be allowed to be witnesses in court cases that involved whites. The treaties signed in 1830 to 1832 removed the Chickasaws from fertile land, including Alabama while Choctaws were eliminated from the same place in an inhuman manner.
In Georgia, the policies introduced in 1836 allowed some militias to attack the Creeks, which destabilized their economic and social systems. The behaviors of the militias forced at least fifteen thousand Creeks to migrate from Mississippi. The American government funded a war between 1835 and 1840 that aimed at removing Seminoles from Florida. Consequently, at least four hundred and twenty million locals were transferred forcefully from their homes to various places. The Native Americans demanded for their right through legal proceedings, but their efforts were in futility, as the American government was unwilling to listen.
In 1927, the Cherokees declared independence and claimed that Georgia was an independent state within America. The Cherokee nation was to be respected and accorded the respect that it deserved, but the Georgia lawmaker pushed a bill that gave the state powers over the Cherokee nation. A legal battle followed whereby the high court ruled that Native Americans had the right to coexist peacefully and the government had the responsibility of ensuring that they achieve their objectives. However, the decision of the judge was interpreted to be personal meaning that the executive had a different opinion.