They had gardens, and apple and peach orchards. They had
built roads, and they kept inns for travelers. They manufactured
cotton and wool.... One of their number had invented an alphabet for
their language. They had a civil government, imitated from that of the
United States." Under these improved conditions all of the tribes were
growing in numbers and acquiring vested rights which it would be
increasingly difficult to deny or to disregard.
A good while before Jackson entered the White House the future of
these large, settled, and prosperous groups of red men began to
trouble the people of Georgia, Alabama, and other Southern States. The
Indians made but little use of the major part of their land; vast
tracts lay untrodden save by hunters. Naturally, as the white
population grew and the lands open for settlement became scarcer and
poorer, the rich tribal holdings were looked upon with covetous eyes.
In the decade following the War of 1812, when cotton cultivation was
spreading rapidly over the southern interior, the demand that they be
thrown open for occupation to white settlers became almost
irresistible.
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