Editing Indian removal (section)

=={{anchor|Calhoun's plan}}John C. Calhoun's plan==
Under President [[James Monroe]], Secretary of War [[John C. Calhoun]] devised the first plans for Indian removal. Monroe approved Calhoun's plans by late 1824 and, in a special message to the Senate on January 27, 1825, requested the creation of the [[Arkansas Territory|Arkansaw]] and [[Indian Territory|Indian Territories]]; the Indians east of the Mississippi would voluntarily exchange their lands for lands west of the river. The Senate accepted Monroe's request, and asked Calhoun to draft a bill which was killed in the House of Representatives by the Georgia delegation. President [[John Quincy Adams]] assumed the Calhoun–Monroe policy, and was determined to remove the Indians by non-forceful means;<ref name="Mahon1991" /><ref name="Teed2006" /> Georgia refused to consent to Adams' request, forcing the president to forge a treaty with the Cherokees granting Georgia the Cherokee lands.<ref name="Warnes2016" /> On July 26, 1827, the Cherokee Nation adopted a written constitution (modeled on that of the United States) which declared that they were an independent nation with jurisdiction over their own lands. Georgia contended that it would not countenance a sovereign state within its own territory, and asserted its authority over Cherokee territory.<ref name="Prucha1995" /> When [[Andrew Jackson]] became president as the candidate of the newly-organized [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], he agreed that the Indians should be forced to exchange their eastern lands for western lands (including relocation) and vigorously enforced Indian removal.<ref name="Mahon199172" /><ref name="Warnes2016" />