When Europeans first entered what they called the New World in the late 15th century, they encountered a myriad of Indigenous tribes, some of which were inherently nomadic, moving either to the coastal lands or to the interior, depending on respective food supplies. This behavior contradicted European understandings of homeland and settlement and may have contributed to the belief among many Europeans and, later, Americans that Indigenous peoples could be moved with relative ease to make room for White settlers.

While migration was normal among many tribes, displacement was another matter. Starting in 1830, during President Andrew Jackson’s tenure, thousands of members of the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw) were moved from Florida, Georgia, and Alabama to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The policy of removal was the first major action by the US federal government to assert white American dominance over tribes’ homelands.

Later in the 19th century, the federal government’s policies of removal were carried out in the West, particularly on the Plains, where Indigenous tribes stood in the way of ambitions to build railroads and to open up the land for cattle grazing. While many Indigenous people submitted to the government’s insistence that they live on reservations, they did so at the expense of their cultural lives and traditions.