Like his predecessors, Sevier and Archibald Roane, much of Blount's governorship was spent dealing with conflicts between Indians and white settlers. He persistently sought to acquire land from the Cherokee and Chickasaw, and attempted to suppress the activities of hostile Choctaws and Creeks. Early in his term, he suggested in a letter to Secretary of War William Eustis that the Cherokee be relocated to lands west of the Mississippi River, an act carried out two decades later by President Andrew Jackson. He also blamed northern tribes for encouraging the Creeks to harass white settlers, and at one point requested Eustis send troops to sever communications between northern and southern tribes.