Editing Martin Van Buren (section)

===Indian removal===
Federal policy under Jackson had sought to move Indian tribes to lands west of the [[Mississippi River]] through the [[Indian Removal Act of 1830]], and the federal government negotiated 19&nbsp;treaties with Indian tribes during Van Buren's presidency.<ref name=MVforcebehind>{{cite web|title=Martin Van Buren: The Force Behind the Trail of Tears|url=https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears/|last=Landry|first=Alysa Landry|date=February 23, 2016|publisher=Indian Country Media Network|location=Verona|access-date=March 16, 2017|archive-date=March 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317143750/https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears/|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1835 [[Treaty of New Echota]] signed by government officials and representatives of the [[Cherokee]] tribe had established terms under which the Cherokees ceded their territory in the southeast and agreed to move west to [[Oklahoma]]. In 1838, Van Buren directed General [[Winfield Scott]] to forcibly move all those who had not yet complied with the treaty.<ref>{{cite book |last= Sturgis |first=Amy H. |date=2006 |title=The Trail of Tears and Indian Removal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xyS9GtYci7IC&pg=PA39 |publisher=Greenwood |page= 39|isbn=978-0-313-33658-4}}</ref>

The Cherokees were herded violently into [[internment camp]]s where they were kept for the summer of 1838. The actual transportation west was delayed by intense heat and drought, but in the fall, the Cherokee reluctantly agreed to transport themselves west.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Cherokee Removal: Before and After|last = Anderson|first = William|publisher = University of Georgia Press|year = 1991|isbn = 978-0-8203-1254-5|location = Athens, Georgia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears|title = Trail of Tears|date = 2014|access-date = October 27, 2014|website = history.com|publisher = A&E Television Networks|archive-date = October 14, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171014141218/https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/trail-of-tears|url-status = live}}</ref> Some 20,000&nbsp;people were relocated against their will during the Cherokee removal, part of the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref name=newnetherland>{{cite web|title=Martin van Buren [1782–1862]|url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/buren-martin-van/|publisher=New Netherland Institute|location=Albany|access-date=March 10, 2017|archive-date=September 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914221702/http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/buren-martin-van/|url-status=live}}</ref> Notably, [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]], who would go on to become America's foremost man of letters, wrote Van Buren [[Emerson's letter to Martin Van Buren|a letter]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=ajeyaseelan |date=2022-10-11 |title=III. Letter to President Van Buren |url=https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/the-complete-works-of-ralph-waldo-emerson/iii-letter-to-president-van-buren |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Collection at Bartleby.com |language=en-US}}</ref> protesting his treatment of the Cherokee.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Emerson: Political Writings|last=Sacks|first=Kenneth S.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-521-88369-6|page=xxii}}</ref>

An estimated 4,000 Cherokee died during the Trail of Tears. Entire Indian nations were relocated, with some losing as much as half their populations. Van Buren claimed that America was "perhaps in the beginning unjustifiable aggressors" toward the Indians, but later became the "guardians". He told Congress that a "mixed occupancy of the same territory by the white and red man is incompatible with the safety or happiness of either", and also claimed the Cherokee had not protested their removal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Landry |first=Alysa |date=2018-09-13 |title=Martin Van Buren: The Force Behind the Trail of Tears |url=https://ictnews.org/archive/martin-van-buren-the-force-behind-the-trail-of-tears |access-date=2024-08-11 |website=ICT News |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Seminole War in Everglades.jpg|thumb|A United States Marine Corps boat expedition searching the [[Everglades]] during the Second Seminole War]]
President Jackson used the army to force [[Seminole]] Indians in Florida to move to the west. Many did surrender but they then escaped from detention camps. In December 1837, in the [[Second Seminole War]] the army launched a massive offensive, leading to the [[Battle of Lake Okeechobee]] and a new phase of attrition.  Realizing it was almost impossible to remove the remaining Seminoles from Florida, the administration negotiated a compromise  allowing them to remain in southwest Florida.<ref>John Missall, and Mary Lou Missall, ''The Seminole Struggle: A History of America's Longest Indian War'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019).</ref>