Indian Removal Dbq

It has been 186 years since the Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. The way other people view Native Americans, particularly the Choctaws and Chickasaws, has changed drastically over time; but how has that changed the way Native Americans view themselves. I plan to explore what it meant to be Native American at the time of Indian Removal and compare it to what it is believed to mean to be Native American today. I plan to look at the cultural attitude that was in place at the time of removal and how the Native Americans reacted and compare it to modern day opinion.

In 1838, the Cherokee Indian Removal Act forced Cherokee and Creek Indians out of Georgia on a 5,045 mile walk all the way to the farthest west land that the United States had at the time, Oklahoma[1]. This event is now known as The Trail of Tears known for the many tears shed by the Indians that had to travel on the trail. The main reason for their removal from the premises was because of the gold that was discovered in the land of the now Hall County or Dahlonega. People have their opinions on whether the Creek and Cherokee should have been removed, to be honest, I am on the fence about this topic. I can recognize the great injustice that was made to the Indians but I also see that this action allowed for growth in Georgia and its economy, which contributed to growth for the United States as a whole. If I had to choose, I would say that the Cherokee Indians should not have been removed from their territory. For one, they were settled in their land before the english came and were in a way civilized. Two, the Indian Removal Act should never have been approved and was invalid for a few reasons. And finally, it was immoral to remove them from their land and didn't have any right to do so.

The Cherokee people were forced out of their land because of the settler’s greed for everything and anything the land had to offer. Many Cherokee even embraced the “civilization program,” abandoning their own beliefs so that they may be accepted by white settlers. Unfortunately for the Cherokee though, the settlers would never accept them as an equal citizen. A quote from historian Richard White says it very well, “The Cherokee are probably the most tragic instance of what could have succeeded in American Indian policy and didn’t. All these things that Americans would proudly see as the hallmarks of civilization are going to the West by Indian people. They do everything they were asked except one thing. What the Cherokees ultimately

The U.S. Government had many reasons or why the Cherokee removal was a good idea. One reason was even though Major Ridge, the Cherokee who signed the Treaty of New Echota, had no legal right to sign it, they still had a Cherokee signature (Exhibit J). They said Major Ridge claimed he represented all Cherokee when he only represented about 2000 Cherokee. Another good reason for the removal was that moving would likely save the Cherokee’s culture. If they stayed, they

Gold was discovered near Cherokee territory in Georgia. As result, Georgia desired to remove the Cherokees and relocate the Cherokees to lands west of the Mississippi river. This struck a major debate. Andrew Jackson was known to support the removal of Native Americans, so the state of Georgia took advantage of the scenario. With little difficulty, the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The Cherokees did not relocate without a civilized fight. They sent several documents to Congress to argue their case. These documents included three arguments to support the sovereignty of the Cherokee nation. These three arguments were Great Britain saw the Cherokees as separated nation from the Colonists, George Washington saw them as an independent nation, and the Cherokees had the same natural rights as the United States.

Georgia). The state of Georgia never released them from imprisonment and Jackson never intervened. The government also turned a blind eye when dealing with treaties that were previously agreed to with the Indians. In 1791 the Cherokee nation acknowledged themselves to be under the protection of the United States and no other sovereign, also an agreement was made that white men could not be on their lands without passports. Jackson himself offered false promises to the Indians that they would have the lands west of the Mississippi "as long as Grass grows or water runs.

When the precious mineral gold was discovered in Indian Territory, the US government had a new perspective about the Native Americans. Even before the US government leaders had discussed about the Indian Removal Act, which became even more tempting after the gold was discovered.

The Cherokee are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Although they were not considered states at this time, they would have been in present day Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. However, in 1938 the Cherokees found an abundant amount of gold which left the United States in a scramble. Thus, President Johnson signed the removal act, which forced the Cherokees East of the Mississippi into the Great Plains and then went into dig up gold. The Cherokees thrived in the Great Plains, becoming farmers and excellent hunters. They settled along the Arkansas River, becoming fisherman. Just as it happened in 1938 the Cherokees were eventually forced off their lands and into the Oregon Territory. This trail they walked along was called the trail of tears, many Cherokees died because of food deprivation or various diseases. Today, this Trail of Tears is seen as the worst displays of discrimination in the history of the United States. Thus, we gave the Cherokees Reservations to live on in the Western United States. This journey they faced is arguably the hardest journey any tribe has ever faced and the way the Cherokees overcame this and turned their tribe into what it is today is what makes it special.

While the government may have been thinking for the betterment of their people, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was not a justified action. The settlers bullied and attacked the original inhabitants, the Indians, into giving up their land. Perhaps to the government this may have seemed justified considering it was beneficial to them, but they essentially stole land that was not theirs to take. In an attempt to feign compassion for these original inhabitants, President Andrew Jackson states in his 1829 case to congress that this Act will help the Indians, “…to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community” (Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress, 2).

“I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew”, remarked a Georgia soldier who had participated in the removal of Indian Natives during the mid-1800’s. As a result of the Indian Removal Act, Indian natives have been perceived as mistreated and cheated throughout history. The Indian Removal Act was passed during the presidency of Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. This act granted authorization to the president to exchange unsettled lands west of Mississippi for Indian lands residing in state borders. Initially, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed to expand the Southern United State for farmland and to aid the government in furthering our development as a nation. With this plan in mind, the government provided money to establish districts in the west of the Mississippi River for the Indian natives, ensured trade and exchange in those districts, allowed Native Indian tribes to be compensated for the cost of their removal and the improvements of their homesteads, and also pay one years’ worth subsistence to those Native Indians who relocated to the west.

The Indian Removal Act signed by the president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, caused controversy and the brutal and merciless suffering of the Native Americans during The Trail of Tears. The beginning of the 1830’s was a time when the Native Americans occupied The Deep South. This, however, was problematic for the white farmers who were in need of farmland in order to increase their production of cotton. Nevertheless, Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, coerced the Native Americans to relocate their civilizations to lands west of the Mississippi. A close examination at the tribes that were compelled to move west would show that they were civilized. Thus, Andrew Jackson was not justified in his policy towards

“What the Removal Bill did not do was as significant as what it did. It did not define precisely the constitutional rights of any tribe that had been removed. It did not make mandatory the allocation of funds for tribal assistance if Congress wanted the money for anything else. It specified no machinery for carrying out the removal. Also, it made no mention that in 1828 gold had been discovered on Cherokee land at Dahlonega, Georgia, and it drew no lines between state or federal rights” (Jahoda 41).

The Indian Removal act was strongly supported in the south because they want the Indian lands because they found gold in them. Also, the Americans believed in manifest destiny; which is that we the people can use the land or thing better than you so I am going to take. As Jackson said, “I suggest, for your consideration the property of setting apart an ample district west of the Mississippi…” (Jackson document #1). The way that Jackson said those words, it sounded as if he was asking if they want to go and it was optional, but in the real world, the Indians that didn’t leave peacefully had to leave forcefully. The U.S Government thought that the movement was easy and simple, but it actually was devastating and horrific. The movement of those southern tribes resulted in the Trail of Tears and the death of many Indians because the soldiers were taking all the resources sent from the U.S and keeping it for themselves. Even though some people started blaming Jackson for the act he created it wasn’t his fault, because Jackson always believed in majority rule. So before he voted yes on the act he asked the people and the majority of those people said yes so Jackson voted yes on the act. Even though it as only one act it resulted in a huge impact on all

There has always been a big debate on whether the Cherokee Indians should have or should not have been removed from the land they resided on. Although the common consensus of the whites was for removal, and for the Cherokees it was against removal, there were some individuals on each side that disagreed with their groups’ decision. The Cherokee Indians should have been removed from their homeland because the Cherokees would not have been able to survive on their own with the way they were living, they would not have been able to exist amidst a white population, and if they were removed, the whites would have helped them create a new and prosperous civilization.

However, many of the members of the tribe disagreed and continued to move away to Arkansas to escape the shites. Some Americans could not wait for any further moving of the Indians, turned up on the Indian land, and started settling. Andrew Jackson wanted all of the Indians to be removed east of the Mississippi River so when he was elected President in 1828, the Indians were in trouble. Congress passed the Indian Removal Acts in 1830, which gave the President of the United States the power to force all the Indians to relocate west of the Mississippi. If that weren't enough of a reason to have the Indians leave the territory, gold was discovered in the Cherokee area that same year. At this point, people from all over were traveling to Georgia to find some fold for themselves.