The Trail of Tears was the direct result of the 1830 Indian Removal Act that forced the southeastern Native nations to relocate west of the Mississippi, most predominately the Cherokee. The journey for the southeastern Native people was one marked by great suffering both emotionally and physically that cost the lives of thousands in what was supposed to be “peaceful” and “willing” relocation. Andrew Jackson was a major supporter of the Indian Removal Act, which promised that Natives would be relocated by means of negotiation; however, southeastern Natives weren’t responsive due to their connection to their agricultural land and the disruption of their intricate trading and political systems. The true reason for the relocation of the Native people of the southeast and the subsequent Trail of Tears lay in the greed of individuals who sought prime and fertile agricultural land in the southeast. With the Native people gone from the southeast, citizens of the United States could swoop in and buy up the farmland in which they could turn a profit.