Indian Removal Act In 1830, the Jackson administration instated the Indian Removal Act. This act removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands to make way for an increase of additional American immigrants. This act forced many Native American tribes from their homes including five larger tribes, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creek, and Seminole. These tribes had populations were estimated to be around 65,000 people strong that lived in North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. (Foner, 2012) The American Indians fought for their rights and beliefs through the American court system. Their other objective other than fighting for their rights was but in the end, they were forced out of their homes to move …show more content…
When the Georgia government realized that Worcester was helping the Cherokee, they arrested him a total of three times; the last time, he was convicted along with other missionaries and sentenced to four years in prison. The Cherokee tribe had paid a lawyer to represent Worcester in his case Worcester v. Georgia in the U.S. Supreme court. The Supreme court ruled in Worcester’s favor declaring that the Cherokees possessed the right to live free from the state’s trespasses. Even though the Supreme Court ruled in Worcester’s favor, Georgia ignored the ruling and did not remove the missionaries from prison and continued to remove Cherokees from their land. President Jackson also did not enforce the ruling and told the Cherokee people to either leave the land or fall under Georgia’s jurisdiction. (Garrison, 2004) In the end, tens of thousands of Cherokee people were forced by federal soldiers to leave their homes a move west from Georgia to Oklahoma in what many know as the “trail of tears” (Foner, 2012)
Seminoles
Other tribes such as the Seminoles stayed in Florida and fought for their land alongside slaves that had escaped from Georgia. Georgia sent militiamen into Florida to fight the Indians and African Americans. Hundreds lost their lives on both sides during the Seminole War from 1835 – 1842. In the end, the Seminole people were forced from their
United States Supreme Court voted on Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, was a case in which the United States nullified the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional the President Jackson disagreed. S0, the Trail of Tears happened which was a series of forced relocation of Native American nations in the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern U.S. to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. On May 26, 1830,
There was a group of missionaries that lived on Indian and they refused to get a special license. The missionaries supported the Cherokee Indians’ stance against Georgia laws that they should not be removed from their land. Missionary Sam Worcester and his wife along with five other missionaries refused to move from Indian Territory or apply fro a special license. The army came and arrested them. After Worchester was arrested, he appealed to the Supreme Court saying his constitutional rights were violated. Worcester and the other missionaries were convicted of living on the Cherokee land without a special license. They were sentenced to four years of hard labor. Worcester and the other missionaries were kept in prison until 1833. The court decided that the law under which Worcester was prosecuted violated the constitution, treaties and the laws of the United
“…I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west…” Private John G. Burnett remembered on December 11, 1890, his eightieth birthday. Private Burnett recalled the cold fall morning in 1938 when he accompanied his new Cherokee family on their forced relocation from different parts of Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia to west of the Mississippi river, land set aside by the United States government for the relocation of Native Americans during the 19th century. The forced relocation of five major Native American tribes to Indian Territory was the result of former President Andrew Jackson’s approval of the Indian Removal Act signed into law by congress on May 28, 1930. The Indian Removal Act gave Jackson the funds and authority to forcibly remove the Native Americans from their land in order to give their valuable property to white settlers who had begun to inhabit the surrounding areas.
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
First of all, the Indian tribes claimed their land. For example, article #2 stated, “ The Cherokee lived in what is now northern Georgia more than-one hundred years before the Georgians arrived.” This means that the Indian tribes started settling in the land way before the actual Georgians arrived. Also, article #2 stated, “ In the case of Worcester vs. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia couldn't force the Cherokee off of their land.” This shows that the U.S. even agreed that the Indian tribes had no right of moving from the land they claimed. Even though the U.S. government offered the Indian tribes more than “one square mile per person”
The Market Revolution adversely affected the liberty of Native Americans residing within the United States because they were seen as an obstacle to the country’s economic progress. As the Market Revolution ideas of commerce and expansion took hold in the minds of the people, these white citizens shared the view that Native Americans were hindering the goal of expansion. It was the United State’s God-ordained right to occupy and settle the land westward (Manifest Destiny), and the Native Americans were in the way. The conflicts with Native Americans has existed in America since the first settlers, but with the increased emphasis on commerce and development brought by the Market Revolution, the relations worsened. In 1823, during the case of Johnson v M’Intosh, the Supreme Court claimed that Native Americans only had the “right of occupancy” on their land, and that they did not own it. In 1830, under Jackson’s administration, the Indian Removal Act was created which tried to move the 5 Civilized Tribes out of their lands. Finally, in the Trail of Tears during 1838-1839, 18,000 Cherokee men, women, and children were forcibly removed from their lands and relocated to Oklahoma by federal soldiers. Soon
The term “kill the indian, save the man” began in the year 1887. It was a phrase the U.S government used to change the ways a Native American was taught.The federal government's goal was to ‘americanize’ the Native Americans. In steps to achieve their purpose, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson passes the Removal Act. This bill required Native Americans to colonize in the Indian Territory West of the Mississippi River.
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
"One by one Indian peoples were removed to the West. The Delaware, the Ottawa, Shawnee, Pawnee and Potawatomi, the Sauk and Fox, Miami and Kickapoo, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole. In all some 90 thousand Indians were relocated. The Cherokee were among the last to go. Some reluctantly agreed to move. Others were driven from their homes at bayonet point. Almost two thousands of them died along the route they remembered as the Trail of Tears." For decades, the state of Georgia sought to enforce its authority over the Cherokee Nation, but its efforts had little effect until the election of President Andrew Jackson, a longtime supporter of Indian removal. In 1838 the U.S. government forced the Cherokee Indians out of their land
Indian removal act – Passed in 1830, this act forced Native Americans to leave their tribal lands and settle on federal lands to the west of the Mississippi River.
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.
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 the legislation that opened the door for current economic struggle of the Native American communities. President Andrew Jackson signed the policy
From “friendly neighbors” to “noble savages” the view from the early settlers to Americans and their government in the Eighteenth Century, certainly deteriorated over history. The Federal Government did not view the Indians to have the same rights as the white man. Native Americans were told that they had some legal status within the nation, through treaties that assured them that lands would be theirs forever. This was basically a façade. This came about over time because the white men wanted more and more of the rich lands that the Indians had claimed. The treaties were not being honored by Congress and this caused more problems between the Indians and the white settlers.