Who proposed the Indian Removal Act of 1830?

• A. Abraham Lincoln
• B. Andrew Jackson
• C. Thomas Jefferson
• D. James Madison

Answer: (B)

Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president, proposed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. He believed relocating Native American nations from their southeastern homelands to lands west of the Mississippi would open up territory for white settlers and reduce conflicts, pushing the federal government to negotiate removal treaties and fund the process. The act set up the legal framework to move tribes like the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole, a policy that had lasting and tragic consequences, including the Trail of Tears. Other presidents such as Jefferson and Madison engaged with Native nations in different ways, and Lincoln came later, so they were not the originators of this policy.