write:” Consequently by the end of the 1830s the United Stateswas able to forcibly move the Cherokee Choctaw Chickasaw Seminole and Creek nations from the Southeast into IndianTer

the West was inhabited byvarious Indian tribes and claimed by other nations
particularlySpain
France
and Mexico. Beginning in 1787 with the NorthwestOrdinance
the United States established a procedure for inhabiting
and ultimately incorporating
western land. As mentionedpreviously
the Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 designated Indiantribes as foreign nations
so the United States could acquire Indianland only through treaties negotiated by the federal government.Beginning in 1830
however
with the passage of the Indian RemovalAct (Document 5) Indian tribes lost the power to retain theirhomelands. In 1831
the Supreme Court ruled in Cherokee v. Georgiathat Indian tribes were not foreign nations but “domestic dependentnations.” Consequently
by the end of the 1830s
the United Stateswas able to forcibly move the Cherokee
Choctaw
Chickasaw
Seminole
and Creek nations from the Southeast into IndianTerritory (present-day Oklahoma). While the United States robbedIndians of their sovereignty and subjugated them as a people
theacquisition of their land facilitated nation building and ensured theongoing pursuit of more territory. Indian removal
though a tragicand important event in its own right
is significant in the context ofthe U.S. war with Mexico as a rehearsal for how the United Stateswould ultimately deal with the Mexicans.