The victory of Jackson and the pro-removal forces was not based merely on better arguments or the results of the great national debate taking place. Jackson's victory rewarded the skillful use of presidential power and of executive branch administrative offices and mechanisms in service of presidential policy. By the time the Removal Bill passed in 1830, the foundations for implementing removal had already been laid. Removals would continue throughout the 1830s, throughout the nineteenth century, and on into the twentieth.

Indian removal didn't just happen. Federal authorities led in planning, coordinating, anticipating, and reacting, and they led when it came to final accountability. The nation's administrators used an established administrative structure to prepare for and execute removal. Administrators adapted the treaty process for evolving purposes, and they did the same by shaping the use of personnel, locations, infrastructure, regulations, and other administrative tools. A clear organizational mission focused administrative activity, and a combination of administrative control and broad discretionary authority characterized the activities of the military and civilian officers carrying out removals.

Executive Branch Politics in Passage of the Removal Act

Jackson argued that removal was the only way to save the Indians from the fate he said had befallen the eastern tribes in the colonial era and in the years of the early republic. Proponents of removal argued that Indians lay in the path of violent and corrupting white settlers, and that white vices like the use of alcohol hindered reformers' efforts to educate and civilize the Indians.