Native Americans suffered horrifically at the hands of federal leaders who vilified their identity as justification for the nation’s most brutal acts. President Andrew Jackson commanded the removal and effective genocide of thousands of Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Seminole via a 5,043-mile-long march over nine states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. President Martin Van Buren completed the “Indian Removal” campaign, and in the northern states, the Sauk, the Fox, and other native tribes faced war or removal.
