Indian Removal Research Paper

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.

The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their ancestral homelands. However, the removal of the tribes was not justified by any moral means.

In the 1820s and 1830s, Georgia ordered a cruel battle to remove the Cherokees, who held dominion within the borders of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee at the time. In 1827 the Cherokees fixed an basic government. The Cherokees were not only reshuffling their government but also declaring to the American public that they were a free nation that could not be removed without their permission. An angry Georgia legislature responded by intending to extend its authority over the Cherokees living in the states declared boundaries. The state took over the Cherokee lands; overthrew their government, courts, and laws; and settled a process for snatching Cherokee land and distributing it to the state's white citizens. In 1830 reps from Georgia and the other southern states pushed through Congress the Indian Removal Act, which gave U.S. president Andrew Jackson the ability to debate removal treaties with the Native American tribes.

The Indian Removal was a policy of the government of the United States in the 19th century whose objective was to move the native American tribes that lived in the east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river. Due to the rapid increase of the population of the country, the U.S. government urged the Indian tribes to sell their land in exchange for a new Indian territory outside the borders of the United then existing. This process was accelerated with the adoption of the Law of Forced Relocation of the Indians in 1830, which provided funds to the President Andrew Jackson to carry out land exchange treaties.With the election of President Andrew Jackson in 1829, the only large concentrations of indigenous tribes that remained on the

The Treaty of Hopewell in 1785 established borders between the United States and the Cherokee Nation offered the Cherokees the right to send a “deputy” to Congress, and made American settlers in Cherokee territory subject to Cherokee law. With help from John Ross they helped protect the national territory. In 1825 the Cherokees capital was established, near present day Calhoun Georgia. The Cherokee National Council advised the United States that it would refuse future cession request and enacted a law prohibiting the sale of national land upon penalty of death. In 1827 the Cherokees adopted a written constitution, an act further removed by Georgia. But between the years of 1827 and 1831 the Georgia legislature extended the state’s jurisdiction over the Cherokee territory, passed laws purporting to abolish the Cherokees’ laws and government, and set in motion a process to seize the Cherokees’ lands, divide it into parcels, and other offer some to the lottery to the white Georgians.

Government guaranteed the relocation of the tribe to Indian Territory. “Per the terms of the treaty, the Cherokee would surrender tribal territory in Georgia and Alabama for land in the Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma) and Kansas and would be paid $4.5 million for both the land and relocation costs” (Cherokee). This treaty fundamentally altered their way of life and shaped the course of their history in Oklahoma. The 1835 New Echota Treaty is a pact, between the Cherokee Nation and the United States Government. “One significant provision of the New Echota Treaty was the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.

The Indian Removal Act in 1830 was a relocation of the Indians from the eastern part of the United States to the West. President Andrew Jackson provided federal land for the Indians, west of the Mississippi River. Many people debate whether Jackson’s decision to remove the Indians was ethical. I believe Jackson used his decision to remove the Indians to prevent further conflict; he then was generous to allow them to make a profit off their land, and provided a place where the Indians could function as their own nation.

He wanted to end negotiations with the Cherokee Indians. Jackson alongside other politicians pressured the federal government into extinguishing the Indians and removing them from Georgia. The Treaty of New Echota, which is another factor that contributed to the removal of the Indians. A latter group consisting of Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinat, signed the treaty without the consent of the Cherokee Indian representative, or the Cherokee government. This treaty requires the Indians to relocate the Cherokee nation from Georgia, to and Indian reservation in 2 years. Regardless that the treaty was not signed by anyone affiliated with the Cherokee government, the treaty was still ratified. The movement was enforced by soldiers and was known as the Trail of

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.

On may 28, 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by the congress and was signed by the current president at the time Andrew Jackson. The Indian Removal Act authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of Mississippi in exchange for the Native Americans land. This forced Native American tribes to march their way west of Mississippi. Some tribes left in peace but most of the tribes resisted. In 1835 the agreement to, Treaty Of New Echota allowed Jackson to order Cherokee removal. Some Cherokee leaders signed the treaty and left but people under the leadership Chief John Ross resisted until they were forced to move to a new location 1838. Their forced journey to their new location was called the Trail Of Tears. Ever since, Native Americans have been living in reservation lands and the government has taken notice but don’t know if they should give them land or money. The government should be giving Native Americans land instead of money because the reservation lands are not

In the beginning of the national government and the Cherokee’s relationship, tensions were already running high. The white people saw the Cherokee as savages and nothing more. To begin the removal west process, the national government passed the Treaty of New Echota. This treaty stated that the Cherokee

The law required that the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, however Jackson and his associates ignored the law and forced the natives from their lands homes and divided their families up tortured them and cut them down right in front of their faces. Federal government drove the Creek tribe from their land for the last time, 3,500 of the 15,000 Creeks who set out for the long journey to Oklahoma never made it they died from starvation exhaustion and diseases the whites brought with them. In 1835 Cherokees negotiated a treaty called the New Echota, all land east of the Mississippi was sold off for 5 million dollars in return for the Indians, also relocation assistance and compassions of lost property. The federal government agreed to these terms, the Indians on the other hand had thought they were cheated and signed a potion, by 1838 only about 2,000 Cherokee Indians had their Georgia home land left for “Indian Territory”. President Martin Van Buren sent General Winfeild, Scott and 7,000 soldiers to drive the Natives from their their land, this started the Removal process. Soldiers forced the Indians into stockades at bayonet point while whites looted their homes and

Resentment of the Cherokee had been accumulating for some time before it reached its peak following the unearthing of gold in northern Georgia. White communities were possessed with gold fever and the desire to expand their lands. With this in mind, the U.S. government decided it was time for the Cherokees to be removed. Senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay were against the removal of the Cherokee. The missionary to the Cherokees challenged Georgia’s attempt to eliminate their title to land in Georgia. His case went before the Supreme Court and he won. According to the Cherokee Nation, “Worcester vs. Georgia, 1832 and Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia, 1831 are considered the two most influential legal decisions in Indian law.” Georgia won the case in 1831 but in Worcester vs. Georgia, the Supreme Court declared Cherokee sovereignty. In spite of the court’s decision, President Andrew Jackson ordered the removal of the Cherokee. The Cherokee Nation believes “this act established the U.S.

The White Americans would reject the Native Americans, by the reason of being greedy, burning their houses and all their belongings (Zwoniter 2009). Although, John Ross, had asked the U.S. Supreme to intervene on the Indian Removal Act, but the U.S. Supreme didn't do so. Until a year later the Supreme Court had declared that Georgia, had violated the Cherokee Nation. However President Jackson refuse to enforce the decision pressuring the Cherokees to leave (Thomas 2011). The Native Americans, were divided between those who wanted to resist the Indian Removal Act, and a Treaty Party for those who wanted to surrender and abandon the west. John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot, signed a Treaty without the authority of Chief Ross, requiring the Cherokee Nation to exchange their land for a load in the Indian Territory and relocate there in a period of two years. (Theda, and Green

In 1830 the US government called for the relocation of the native American tribes who stayed east of river Mississippi to the lands that were west of the river. The president worked out a deal of land exchange with the tribes that were located in the land. This was known as the Indian removal act. The native American was to migrate voluntarily even though most United States citizens did not follow these orders.