In May 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which forced Native American tribes to move west. Some Indians left swiftly, while others were forced to to leave by the United States Army. Some were even taken away in chains. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, strongly reinforced this act. In the Second State of the Union Address, Jackson advocated his Indian Policy. There was controversy as to whether the removal of the Native Americans was justified under the administration of President Andrew Jackson. In my personal opinion, as a Native American, the removal of the tribes was not in any way justified.
The removal of the Native Americans was an egocentric move on Jackson’s part. Jackson was only able to
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Jackson felt the removal of the Cherokees from our land was justified because the government was paying for everything. Money can not compensate for the blood that was shed by our ancestors.
When some Indian tribes did not leave the land, federal troops came to Georgia to remove the tribes forcibly. Cherokees resisted leaving their land until the bitter finish. Cherokees were marched by gunpoint which was known as the infamous Trail of Tears. Many died due to the horrid conditions, including my great grandmother. Any sensible person would have considered the consequences of these actions. Jackson tried to make the trade seem peaceful and reasonable, but there is nothing sane about the Trail of Tears. “The consequence of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, and to the Indians themselves”(91). If Jackson really cared about our well being, like he claimed, why would he allow the horrific Trail of Tears to persist? This exhibits Jackson's insincerity and disregard for the inhuman conditions my ancestors had endure.
A main argument Andrew Jackson had was that the Indian Removal Act was only a continuation of a change that was already happened, “The present policy of the government is but a continuation of the same progressive change by a milder process”(93). He then continued to state how the tribes that previously occupied the eastern states were annihilated to make room for the whites. This was a transparent
Robert V. Remini shows that Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act benefits the Native Americans. Andrew Jackson made notice of the issue with the Indians in his inaugural speech on March 4, 1829. He declared that he wanted to give humane and considerable attention to the Indian’s rights and wants in respect to the government and people. Jackson knew that meant to get rid of all remaining tribes beyond the Mississippi River. He (Jackson) believed that the Indians would be better off in the west; without the influence from the white man or local authority. Jackson hired two Tennessee generals to go visit the Creeks and Cherokees to see if the Indians would leave voluntarily. In that, those who did not leave would be protected by the
Andrew Jackson’s tone about native American removal was a lot different from Michael Rutledge’s tone about the trail of tears. Andrew was very confident and business like and you could just sense how sure of himself he was. He was happy to get the removal passed. The way he spoke made it sound like what he was doing must be right so it is no wonder the removal was
“Build a fire under them. When it gets hot enough, they’ll move”. There are many opposing opinions as to if Andrew Jackson abused his presidential power under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and accordingly, each side can be justified. However, there is more solid evidence proving that Andrew Jackson did indeed misuse his duties as president by transforming the free movement of Indians to a forced one. Although many believed that Andrew Jackson demonstrated a genuine concern for the well being of the Native Americans, Jackson abused his power as president by unfairly enforcing the Indian Removal Act that did not authorize him to repeal treaties or force the relocation of Indians.
Jackson did not serve for the people of America, Jackson served to change America how he believe it should be run. By ignoring the government Jackson acts more like a king than a president. Jackson went against Supreme Court decision and removed Indians from their land. As Jackson said in his Second Annual Message to Congress Jackson commented that, “the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation” (Doc E). Indians on the land that Jackson forcibly removed them from was delegated as their land by the Supreme Court. By going against the Supreme Court, Jackson did not act presidentially. Also, The removal of Indians resulted in countless Indian deaths and resulted in violence. Another example of Jackson attending to his own agenda was the issue of nullification and South Carolina. Jackson had a personal bias against John C. Calhoun, and threatened him when Calhoun exclaimed that South Carolina would leave the union if Jackson didn’t allow South Carolina to lower or rid of the tariff on imported
The Indian Removal act of 1830 was passed by President Jackson. President Jackson wanted the Natives land so he made false treaties with them in order to speed up the process of taking their land. Some of the Natives agreed to go to Indian territory on their own but, the majority of them didn’t like the idea of leaving their home. Many of the natives fought and raided the settlers many of the natives tried to make peace with the white men. Soon many of the Natives grew weary and finally decided to cede their land and move to Indian Territory. Still many Natives had to be forced to make the journey. Many of the natives didn’t survive the journey. The Five Tribes that were removed were the Choctaw,Creek,Chickasaw,Cherokee, and the Seminole.
During the 19th Century, The Trail of Tears was the greatest crime against the indigenous population, in which the Indian removal Act led to their destruction. President Andrew Jackson removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands because he believed that they were uncivilized. Jackson had no remorse for the Native Americans, as he and the whites forced them out of their own land, as he abused his power of authority.
Andrew Jackson, The United States seventh president, was possibly one of the worst human beings to be president and treated the Native Indians horribly. He, was a bully and used his position to get acts and petitions like the Indian Removal Act passed, to help push Native Indians around so he could get his own way. The Indian Removal Act in and of itself seemingly doesn’t contain that much power, however it was all the power Jackson needed. The circumstances of Jackson’s character and the debates surrounding the Act also lend and interesting lens to examine what Jackson intentions were. When looking at Jackson and how he managed to relocate the Native it becomes substantially more integral to examine all the documents with a wide scope to see how he even managed the relocation of Natives.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson addressed Congress stating two Native tribes had accepted the terms of the Indian Removal Act. Jackson said he hoped the two tribes consent would set an example for the other tribes to leave because he thought leaving was an advantage for them. He explained, “It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State governments on account of the Indians.” The two different civilizations didn’t agree, which lead to violent conflicts that lasted centuries. For thirty years, the United States had tried to come to find a way to get the two civilizations reach an agreement. The Indian Removal Act became the United States government’s solution that ended the violent encounters. This Act removed the Natives from northern Tennessee, southern Louisiana, western Alabama and the state of Mississippi, which helped the United
When Americans expanded their country west, they interfered with many American Indian Tribes. In a letter he wrote to congress, he explained “This emigration should be voluntary… (but) if they remain within the limits of the states they must be subject to their laws” (Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress December 7, 1829). Andrew Jackson offered to let the American Indians stay if they followed their laws. But in 1831, Jackson forced the Native Americans out of their homelands starting the Indian Removal. According to a reprinted in Niles Weekly Register, the Cherokee’s said “We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation”. Jackson lied to the American Indians about allowing them to stay. Jackson did not act democratically because he did not allow the American Indians to stay and forced them to move west. Jackson was fair to his supporters, but not to
The Indian Removal Act, inspired by Andrew Jackson; the 7th president of the US and the enhanced ambition for American settlers to find more land in the southwestern regions of North America. The Indian Removal Act enabled Jackson the power of negotiating removal treaties with Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. Among these tribes were: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaws and Seminoles. Very few authenticated traits were signed. The Choctaws were the only tribe to agree without any issues. All other attempts resulted in War and blood shed for both white settlers and Indians. The conflict with the U.S. and Indians lasted up until 1837. In 1838 & 1839 Jackson forced the relocation of the remaining Cherokee Indians;
The second incident where Jackson stood by his solicitude for state rights was in the removal of the Indian tribes. Jackson has been associated mainly with his decision to support Georgia in its efforts to remove the Cherokee from their land, despite a Supreme Court ruling against the state. However his enthusiastic support for Indian removal was "undoubtedly one of the reasons he swept the southern states in the 1828 election" . Jackson had Native Indian policy on his mind from the beginning as he saw that Indians were subject to American sovereignty and that national security demanded they be removed. Removal to the West would increase the security of the US from outside attacks. Upon
In reading Alfred A. Caves’ article, it says that Jackson violated treaties that the U.S. had with the Indians in order to remove them from their land. It says that the government “misunderstood and often times misrepresent the provisions of the law” . Many times the treaties with the Indians were not seen as actual agreement that the government didn’t have to follow and abide by what was said in the agreement. When the Indian Removal Act came along in 1830, the act made things even more complicated. One of the
Jackson’s removal policy did not sit well with a lot of groups; many were uncomfortable about it but agreed it had to be done. President Jackson showed great leadership apart from everything else, and handled the Indian Removal act when no one else wanted to address the growing issue of Indian problem. Most government officials saw little to gain from addressing this and would do nothing. Some historians believe the president’s motivation was clearly out of concern for the Indians customs, their culture and their language, but his first concern was the safety of the military, Indians occupying the east might jeopardize the defense of the United States.
One of the defining moments of President Andrew Jackson’s career, if not the most significant, was the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This was a controversial bill at the time and the impact from it is still felt today. The Indian Removal Act directly led to the displacement of thousands of Native Americans; including four thousand deaths during the Trail of Tears, the forced march from Georgia to Oklahoma. While overt racism played a clear role in relocating Native Americans past the Mississippi, it is possible that other factors were at play. The living conditions in many of the states were poor for Natives and Jackson hoped that giving them a new location to live could remedy these problems while opening the land up for white settlers.
The Indian Removal Act was supposed to give Native Americans the option to stay on their sacred land, but they were driven out involuntarily anyway. Jackson did not abide by the Indian Removal Act passed through congress, which exemplified absolute abuse of his power as president. “ In both houses of Congress, a substantial block of legislators