What was the Treaty of New Echota?

The Treaty of New Echota was a treaty signed in 1835 between the United States government and the Cherokee Nation. The treaty ceded all Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States in exchange for land in the West and a payment of $5 million. The treaty was controversial because it was signed without the approval of the Cherokee National Council, and it led to the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands in the Southeast.