The "Trail of Tears" was a result of which United States President's Indian Removal Policy?

The story behind the answer

Andrew Jackson is correct. As president, he championed and signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the forced relocation of Native American nations from the Southeast—especially the Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole—to lands west of the Mississippi. This policy culminated in the Cherokee’s “Trail of Tears” (1838–1839), when thousands died from disease, exposure, and starvation during the forced march.

Context: Although Jackson set the policy and pushed removals during his term, his successor Martin Van Buren oversaw the large-scale Cherokee removal, carried out by General Winfield Scott. The Supreme Court’s Worcester v. Georgia (1832) decision recognized Cherokee sovereignty, but Jackson’s administration refused to protect it. Memory tip: “Jackson initiated removal; Van Buren enforced it,” while John Quincy Adams came earlier and Harry S. Truman served over a century later.