There’s a brief article by Tim Alan Garrison called Cherokee Removal that summarizes what happened. There’s also a large volume of books and websites on this subject. I encourage you to visit these for more authority and detail.
Here’s my rendition of the story. Essentially, the white lawmakers in Georgia wanted the Cherokee lands for 3 reasons, ethnic cleansing, cotton, and gold. Between 1827 and 1831, the Georgia legislature enacted laws that stripped the Cherokee of their individual and societal rights protected by the Treaty of Hopewell (1785) and the Treaty of 1819.
Rather than fighting the crooked Georgia legislators with arms, the Cherokee took to the courts and won two major battles to protect their rights to their sovereignty and lands. In Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia and Worcester vs. Georgia, the US Supreme Court recognized the Cherokee as a sovereign nation and the Georgia laws as unconstitutional.
Despite these victories, President Andrew Jackson, disregarded the courts decision, and encouraged the Georgia government to continue its enforcement of its now unconstitutional laws. The Cherokee people moved their capital to Red Clay just over the border in TN and did what they could to maintain themselves. Opinion was greatly divided among the people and leadership. Some wanted to fight, others wanted to continue to peaceably stay put, while others wanted to negotiate a treaty to move to the land established by the US government as Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma.
Some of the Cherokee leaders, not including Principal Chief John Ross, signed the treaty of New Echota relinquishing their land in exchange for $5 million dollars, provisions for one year, and guaranteed land in Oklahoma. Several thousand (~16,000?) Cherokees signed a petition stating that they did not recognize the leadership that signed the treaty and did not agree to its terms.
Ultimately, the US government ratified the treaty and began the removal. With the handwriting on the wall, some Cherokee voluntary moved to Oklahoma. The first land detachment under Canon was comprised of these folk. The rest of the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their homes beginning in May 1838 when President Van Buren ordered US troops to the area. The Cherokee were largely stripped of all of their possessions including food and clothes and put into stockades where many died of disease and starvation even before beginning to walk the trail of tears.
Atone The Removal 