The Indian Removal Act was legislation passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, which empowered the federal government to negotiate treaties with Native American tribes for their removal from their lands in the Southeastern United States to territories west of the Mississippi River. This movement was justified by the U.S. government on the basis of providing Native Americans with the opportunity to live undisturbed in lands west of the Mississippi, framed as a means to promote their welfare. However, the reality was a systematic and brutal removal from lands that had been inhabited by these tribes for generations.

The Act was a culmination of long-standing U.S. policies aimed at the assimilation and removal of Native Americans. It laid the groundwork for a series of removals that would result in the forced migration of thousands of Native Americans, including the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes. This forced migration is most infamously known as the Trail of Tears, which saw many Native Americans suffering from exposure, disease, and starvation during their journey to designated Indian Territory.

The enforcement of the Indian Removal Act marked a pivotal shift in U.S. policy towards Native Americans, impacting both the tribes involved and the broader landscape of American expansion. The legislative framework provided the federal government with the legal means necessary to undertake these removals, highlighting the conflicts between Indigenous rights and American territorial ambitions.