The Political Issues of the Indian Removal Act of 1830
Former President Andrew Jackson was responsible for putting the Indian Removal Act of 1830 in place. It forcibly removed five civilized Native American tribes— Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—from the southern United States. The act would stay in effect until the end of the Second Seminole War in 1842. Native Americans’ feelings toward the United States government have changed from one of annoyance to disgust since being taken advantage of during the Indian Removal Act. In this research paper I will illuminate the political issues involved with the Indian Removal Act by examining whether Jackson’s decision to move forward with the Act was constitutional, defining the
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According to John T. Fierst,
The idea of removal as a solution to the “Indian problem” had been kicked around since the eighteenth century. Policy makers were drawn to it in the 1820s for two reasons: the weaken position of the Native Americans after the War of 1812 made removal possible; and the pressure to open up new lands made this action politically desirable. (9)
In addition, the southern states with “large populations of Native Americans pressured the administration to change its policies,” (Fierst, 9-10) pertaining to the Native American presence and relations. The most outspoken state was Georgia, who wanted the Native Americans evacuated from the state’s lines so that it could claim the land. Since Andrew Jackson believed that the Native Americans, living within the United States, had no sovereignty over the land, more authentic steps were taken to remove them upon his election. The Native Americans felt betrayed by the American people. After all the work and effort to help the white man through means of trade, the Native Americans were now being forcibly removed from their homes and made to move to the other side of the Mississippi River, hundreds of miles away. The Choctaw tribe was told that they needed to choose quickly between “surrendering tribal sovereignty and removing to the west.” (Davis, 67) They were told that if they moved peacefully, they would receive rations and provisions; however, if they decided to stay-
They would be subject to suit
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was issued as a result of President Andrew Jackson’s beliefs that the Native Indians could not be assimilated into the white population. Many people believed it was pivotal to relocate the Indians west of the Mississippi into present-day Oklahoma, in order to further develop and grow the United States. Although the Indian Removal Act was successfully carried out, it was completely uncalled for, and an overextended action for many reasons. The Indian Removal Act should have been rejected because it was morally wrong to cast out the original Indian settlers of the land, the US created Indian protection treaties for which they must uphold, as well as there was surely enough space to fit the small Indian population in such vast lands.
There have been numerous debates about whether the Indian Removal Act that lead to the Trail of Tears was justified or not. Some said it was necessary for the expansion of the United States, others believed it was unconstitutional. Regardless, through identifying the positive effects on Andrew Jackson, the Indians, and the negative effects on both sides of the act, it will help to come to the conclusion whether the act was necessary. Not only will this be achieved by weighing the benefits and disadvantages, but by looking at why Jackson presented this as an option, and what were his true intentions.
This conclusion that relocation was their only chance at survival convinced a minority of the Natives to support Indian Removal. On the other hand, while I support Jackson’s concept of Indian Removal, I do not agree with his execution and speedy retraction of promises. Jackson was right to believe that the assimilation and protection of Natives would cost too much and that relocation was an adequate solution to the predicament. However, he did not account for the execution of the plan and the
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
But in 1829, Jackson said to Congress that if a state chose to advance it’s power and legislation on the indians that the federal government wasn't required to restrict it. So when the state chose to discontinue certain treaties, Secretary of War Eaton explained in the place of president Jackson to the natives that any of the assurances in the negotiations with the U.S. were nothing more than temporary grants from one power-the United States- to a weaker nation- the Cherokees. Therefore, he declared, there were no certainties in any arrangement that could be considered permanent. This led Jackson to eventually disregarded a key section of the removal act but he also but broke a number of federal treaty commitments to the Indians; some of which he personally negotiated(Cave, 215-216). The Indians thought that the documents that they were signing would actually protect them, but Jackson thought the only way to make his twisted dream come to pass was to make a sense of false security to a group of people who had done nothing to be
The mid 1800’s bore witness to one of our nation’s greatest shames, an act nearly as terrible as that of slavery itself. There had always been tension between the native populations of the Americas and the Europeans since the very first settlers arrived, yet 1830 saw one of the worst acts perpetrated on the native populations by the newly formed United States. During the war of 1812, Andrew Jackson oversaw several defeats of Native American forces when he was General which seized hundreds of millions of acres of land, and ended the chance of a British-backed Native American confederacy in the Midwest. Later when he took the office of President, Jackson continued his mission of providing ‘national security’ to the States by pressuring congress to pass the “Indian Removal Act.”
Robert V. Remini argues that Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 was socially motivated by humanitarian impulses, and that Jackson’s actions where driven by the desire to save the culture and populace of the Native
Jackson mistreated and harmed the Native Americans which was oppressive and undemocratic. In Andrew Jackson’s message to Congress, he lied when he stated that, “This emigration should be voluntary… (but) if they remain within the limits of the states they must be subject to their laws,” (Doc 8). The Native Americans had adapted and begun to resemble a civilized society with town meetings, public education, and an alphabet. Less than six months later, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act and would soon take military force to push the Native Americans west into a reserved territory for them in what is present day Oklahoma (Doc 10). It was very undemocratic of Jackson to lie to the Native Americans and oppress them by forcefully moving them to the reserved Indian Territory. The Cherokee however, did not give up easily and took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Their plea to remain on the land of their ancestors without interruption was upheld and clarified that the Cherokee had the right to establish their own nation within the state of Georgia (Doc 9). Jackson ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court and ultimately
“By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi, and had secured treaties which led to the removal of a slightly larger number ( indian removal policy). In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. It gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west.” Jackson saw the indians as paternalistic and patronizing -- he described them as children in need of guidance. He clearly wanted them gone. In this piece of text evidence it says that Jackson pushed the indian removal policy through both houses of congress which shows that he enforces what he wants
Authorizing the president to exchange unsettled land west of the Mississippi for Indian land within state borders, the Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. Being pursued for nearly thirty years, the relocation of the Indians was desired primarily for pecuniary advantages and the termination of the contention between white settlers and “dangerous” Native Americans. While some tribes accepted their inevitable fate, many resisted and faced harsh government and social brutality. As a result, Jackson’s presidential administration is tainted by the 4,000 lives lost on the Trail of Tears, the separation of the Native Americans from their ancestral lands and cultural ties, and the condemnation of the Native people
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.
One of the many subjects of critical importance in American history was the relocation of American Indians, known as the Indian Removal. President Andrew Jackson favored the rapid settlement of Western and Southern lands by whites, therefore he wanted to make a drastic change, and he certainly did. In his two terms as president, Jackson worked to implement his vision of a politics of opportunity for all white men (The American Promise, 285). He held the belief that previous efforts to promote the assimilation of Indian peoples had failed. In his 1830 letter to Congress, Jackson announced the benefits resulting from the relocation of the native people, and the “pecuniary advantages” that such movement would bestow on the Anglo American population
There were several motives for the removal of the Indians from their lands, to include racism and land lust. Since they first arrived, the white Americans hadn’t been too fond of the Native Americans. They were thought to be highly uncivilized and they had to go. In his letter to Congress addressing the removal of the Indian tribes, President Jackson
Should we act with violence or just have a civil conversation? Do we rely on trust for the sake of ourselves and others or do we see the face of death every time we turn our backs on people with such uncertainty? The indians was one of the most horrific acts of history. The act/law was passed on May 28th, 1830 during the presidency of the 7th president of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson came up with law that forced Indian Tribes such as the Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminoles, etc, to move west the the Mississippi River to gain their ancestral land. They promised the Indians a more “civilized life” but ended up going in the other direction. The Indian Removal Act was a step in the direction because they chose to solve the action with violence and instead of simply having a negotiation in a conversation. The soldiers, in my state of mind, acted/ overstepped their boundaries. They took advantage of their authority they were given and handled this the way they should not handle anything.
In 1830, congress passed The Indian Removal Act, which became a law 2 days later by President Andrew Jackson. The law was to reach a fairly, voluntarily, and peacefully agreement for the Indians to move. It didn’t permit the president to persuade them unwillingly to give up their land by using force. But, “President Jackson and his government