The Systematic Destruction of the Native American Nations in the 1830's

The Relocation of Native Americans dates back to the 1830s. Originally the Native American had befriended with Lewis and Clark when they went on their quest after the Louisiana purchase. After President Andrew Jackson's decision to purchase the territory where present day Louisiana

Until 1828, the federal government agreed that Cherokee had rights to their land, but when Andrew Jackson was elected President, that all ended. Jackson refused to believe that the tribes were sovereign and thus viewed Indian treaties, as an absurdity

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

In 1831, the Cherokee nation went to court against the state of Georgia. They were disputing the state’s attempt to hold jurisdiction over their territory. Unfortunately, because they are not under the laws of the constitution, the Indian’s right to court was denied. It was not until 1835 that the Cherokee finally agreed to sign the treaty, giving up their Georgia land for that of Oklahoma.

Some other feared the annexations because that meant losing their land, the Indians opposed to the movement that the nation was having and tried to stop it, cases like Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in which John Marshall stated that the Indians had an unquestionable right to their lands or a year later in Worcester v. Georgia

The Cherokee tribe have lived what is now Northern Georgia for more than one hundred years. So it is claimed to be there land and therefore they have the right to stay and turn down the offer. Another argument is that the Cherokee had against the Americans is that there family, homes, and everything they know would have been taken away from them. Although the Americans have gave them fortune such as 70,000 square miles of land and millions of dollars if they leave. The Cherokee wasn’t aware of what awaits them if they did move to the new land.

Imagine you were told to leave the only home you have ever known, and march 2,000 miles westward so people can tear your home down, and make a living for themselves on your land. The law required a peaceful, fair, non-violent removal of the Native Americans, that is what the Supreme Court tried to achieve for the Natives. However, Andrew Jackson did not care. He ignored the Supreme Court and the law, created the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and had the Native Americans removed. This was all for white U.S. settlers, and their desire to grow cotton.

The United States expanded rapidly in the years immediately prior to and during the Jackson Presidency as settlers of European descent began to move west of their traditional territories. White settlers were highly interested in gaining Native American land and urged the federal government to allow them to obtain it. President Andrew Jackson encouraged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which gave the federal government the authority to move consenting eastern Native American tribes west of the Mississippi River. It has been debated whether the Indian Removal Act benefitted or harmed the welfare of Native Americans, and it can be argued that the Indian Removal Act of 1830 had an extremely negative impact on the eastern Native

When Andrew Jackson became the president of the United States, he had in mind to remove Cherokee Indians from their society and place them on new lands provided by the Louisiana purchase. A bill was signed in 1830, known as the “Indian Removal Bill”, which made Cherokees migrate from Georgia, westward of the Mississippi river. The Cherokees had to be moved from their lands because the environment they were leaving in was not suiting them well and they were becoming a threat to the new government established by the United States.

As Southerners expanded west into the land of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaw, and other Indian nations the United States overlooked and abused the Indians. The Federal Government decided to force them out of their land, making the land available for white settlements. Andrew Jackson played an important role in the Indian removal. He had a complicated relationship with the Indians due to the controversial issues on the Indian Removal Act.Consin Jackson forced Congress to pass this act since he believed that it would not only benefit the Indians as well as America. The Indians, as well as others, disagree with the government's thoughts and beliefs, however, most had no say in the ruling of this Act. The passing of this act brought conserved throughout the entire country, as some Americans believed the Natives were subject to these new state legislatures while others believed the

With the revelation of the New World came a ton of contemporary issues. Local American Indians lived in peace and agreement until the point when European pilgrims intruded on that ecstasy with the journey for cash and power. The European travelers carried with them more individuals. These individuals and their relatives beginning driving the locals out of their homes, out of their territory, far before the 1800s. Be that as it may, in the 1800s, the main impetus behind the evacuation of the locals increased. A great many Indians amid this time were moved along the trail known as Nunna double Tsung, signifying "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Cherokee Trail of Tears"). The Trail of Tears was treacherous and illegal, as well as left numerous Indians wiped out, devastated, and dead.

Both thought of Natives as wards of the state that could be controlled by the government, but had very different ideas on what to do with them. For Jackson, this culminated in the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Though Jackson saw Natives as people, he did not see them as equal to whites, once again showing his conservative Southern ways. To expand the territory of the US, Jackson ordered the four remaining southern tribes to assimilate or move farther westward. His conviction that the Native Americans must be moved drove him to negotiate the terms of the Indian Removal Act himself, the only act Jackson himself pushed for in his eight year presidency. The Cherokees were the only tribe to refuse to go, and gained judiciary backing from the Supreme Court after presenting the cases Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831 and Worcester v. Georgia in 1832. Jackson’s immense support for the Native migration, despite the established unconstitutionality of it, manifested as advising Georgia to slowly move onto Cherokee territory, all the while secretly negotiating a treaty with rebels in the tribe. Jackson’s intense desire to preserve his own ideals of white supremacy and Manifest Destiny, even if it meant ignoring the rights of an entire race, exemplified his conservative nature, can be seen most clearly in his intentional

Conversely, the Choctaws, Creeks, and the Chickasaws negotiated resettlement. Sadly, they never saw any of the promised federal money they were assured to receive. The Seminoles retreated into the swamp lands of Florida where from 1835 to 1842 they fought United States troops. In the end, only a few hundred eluded death or capture. Meanwhile, the Cherokee had been trying every available avenue to resist the removal policy. The immense majority of Cherokees did not want to move west, and their leadership, primarily John Ross, fought very hard against the removal. They fought the relocation in a number of ways, but there was one that was most significant. Their fight in Supreme Court brought a great deal of attention to the historians. In 1832, the Worcester v. Georgia case was handed down by the Supreme Court. This case recognized that the Cherokees did indeed have sovereign rights. It also recognized their existence as a “distinct community, occupying its own territory, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force” (The American Promise, 287). This decision was extremely important because it nullified Georgia law within the Cherokee

Andrew Jackson was convinced that he was helping the Natives by forcing them out of the land they have thrived on for many, many years. He believed that by doing this, the Native Americans will “enable them {Native Americans} to pursue happiness in their own way” (Document A). This statement is not true because the Natives were already content and secure on the land they resided on. By removing them, he took away their happiness. Native Americans treat their land as if it is their own child, so the Indian Removal Act was very depressing for them. Jackson also said that by removing the Indians, it will prevent a war between the two groups. This is a false argument because instead of preventing a war, it actually sparked many wars between the two groups. While this was very saddening for the Natives, it was very good for American citizens. By conquering this land, it allowed the states “to advance in population, wealth, and power” (Document A). It allowed the Americans to gain gold and let them expand America as a whole. The Cherokees did not want to be removed from their land. In Document B, the Cherokees state that they want to “remain on the land of their fathers” because they feel that

The Indian Removal Act stands as one of the greatest mistreatments of the Native population in American history. Jackson supported the Indian Removal Act because he wanted to see Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi settled by white Southerners. He thought they would make better use of the land and help strengthen the Southern border of the United States with large plantations.for example “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”. moreover, Jackson even ignored a Supreme Court decision which had been made on the side of Indians against the state of Georgia. By passing and affecting The Indian Removal Act the homelands of many Native-American tribes were swiftly and brutally vacated. In Particular, the eviction of the Cherokee tribe to “Indian territory” was so vicious, it earned the nickname “trail of tears.” This single congressional act destroyed the lives of many people, an uncommon consequence for an act of the American government.