Ryan Spring

But the state of Mississippi started passing laws that made it illegal for Choctaw people to be a chief.

They made it illegal for them to practice our form of government.

They made it illegal to be a sovereign nation.

And they didn't have any control over it, but it put a lot of pressure on these chiefs.

So a lot of the chiefs at this time are involved, not just with the tribe, but also with the state of Mississippi.

So these areas that Choctaws were forced to cede throughout all of these decades, there's multi-ethnic people living in these areas.

And Choctaw people have a relationship with these.

And we still have to secure these trade goods.

for our communities.

It really is.

They want our water.

They want our fertile lands.

And they want these developed areas that Choctaw people have been living and improving upon.

I mean, if you're going to reset up a community, why clear land and set up something new?

It's much easier to take over something that's already existed.

So in early part of 1831, Chief Greenwood LaFleur sent an unauthorized treaty to the federal government stating that, okay, we understand that our people are going to be removed.

There's no way against this.

So Chief LaFleur was trying to get ahead of what was going on.

But this is very unpopular.

I mean, if anyone found out, he might have been killed.