The New Echota Treaty of 1835 negotiated what is commonly called the Cherokee Removal. Because the treaty was not supported or sanctioned by the majority of the Cherokee Nation, its enforcement was costly to the U.S. Government and deadly to the Cherokee people. President Andrew Jackson found a way to negotiate an agreement with subchief John Ridge, who apparently did not represent the wishes of the Indians. Cherokee Chief John Ross opposed any treaty to expulse the Cherokees from their land. After Senate ratification in 1836, several U.S. leaders as well as Ross approached the president and Senate about modifying the treaty. Unable to reach a compromise with Ross two years later, the new president, Martin Van Buren, ordered the Indians forcibly removed with great loss of life. Historical accounts differ regarding the culpability of both Ridge and Ross in the less-than-smooth negotiation and execution of the treaty. What is generally agreed upon is that the Cherokee Removal as spelled out in the New Echota Treaty was not the wishes of the Nation nor in their long-term best interests.
Basically, the Cherokee Nation sold to the United States its remaining territory east of the Mississippi for $5 million. The price also included a common interest in west Indian territory and part of what is now Kansas. The United States government also agreed to pay for the Indians' move and their living expenses for one year after settlement in the west. The Cherokees were given two years after treaty ratification to relocate. The initial version allowed that some Indians would be allowed to remain in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama and become citizens. But President Jackson struck down that provision because he wanted all the Cherokees removed. The Indian territory, home of the western Cherokee, had been assigned to them in the treaty of 1833. The treaty stated that the United States agreed to "guaranty it to them forever, and t...