The history of Mississippi became the state it is now due to many events, government actions, cultural changes, and writers. The Indian Act Removal Act, the 13th Amendment, and Reverend George Lee have had a great impact on the current state of Mississippi. The removals of the Indians increased the power of the Europeans and decreased the Indian population. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery. Reverend George Lee was killed for urging blacks to vote. All of this contributed to Mississippi's history. The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The act authorized him to negotiate with Native Americans in the South. Non-Native Americans strongly supported the act. Christian missionaries opposed this act: future President Abraham Lincoln, future Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, and Congressman Davy Crockett spoke out against the legislation. It was later approved by Congress. Due to the Indian Removal Act the current Native American population is very low. --The Removal Act of 1830, section I, in The American Indian and the United States, A Documentary History, ed. Wilcomb E. Washburn, vol. 3 (New York: Random House, 1973) 2169"That in effecting any such exchange or exchanges, it shall and may be lawful for the President to solemnly assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United States shall forever secure and warrant to them, and to their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged for them, and if they so choose, that the United States shall cause a patent or grant to be issued and executed for them for the same: provided always, Those lands will return to the United States, if the Indians become extinct or abandon them." (http://www.columbia.edu/~lmg21/BC3180/removal.html). The......middle of the paper......ppi. He was supposedly the first African American to vote in Humphrey County, Mississippi. In 1953 the Reverend George Lee and Gus Courts founded the Belzoni branch of the NAACP. He later becomes vice president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership. In 1995 he was shot in the face and killed for inciting African Americans to vote. Although an eyewitness saw a carload of whites drive by and fire at Lee's car, authorities did not charge anyone. Governor Hugh White refused to send investigators to Belzoni where the murder occurred. His death sparked great momentum in the civil rights movement and also showed the flaws of the so-called rights of African Americans in Mississippi. His life also provided an illustration of Booker T. Washington's philosophy that an economic foundation provides the necessary prerequisite for building a political rights movement.