What is the significance of the Indian Removal Act?

The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress in 1830 and
signed into law by President Andrew Jackson which mandated the removal of Indians,
primarily the Cherokee and other members of the Five Civilized Nations from lands in
Georgia and other areas. Indian land was increasingly appealing to settlers in the
Eastern United States, and a proposed "final solution" was proposed, whereby the Indians
would be moved to the West, an area known as the Great American Desert. The Cherokee
resisted attempts to be moved; they adopted western clothing and customs, even settled
down to farm and owned slaves. This was to no avail.

Chief
Justice John Marshall in Worcester vs. Georgia held that the Cherokee were a "distinct
dependent nation," and entitled to some degree of sovereignty. Andrew Jackson did
nothing to enforce the decision, and the Cherokee had no choice but to move to lands
west of Arkansas. This was the famous "trail of tears." Those on the journey were
treated cruelly by the soldiers who accompanied them as well as whites they encountered
on the way. When there, they were not accustomed to plains living, and also encountered
hostile Indians already there.

Some Cherokee managed to
escape. One group settled in the mountains of North Carolina and became the Eastern Band
of the Cherokee; others travelled to the Florida Everglades and called themselves
Seminoles