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Native American policy 1934-79
Conflict with Native Americans in the 1800s
Native Americans in the 19th century
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Recommended: Native American policy 1934-79
In regard to the policy towards Native American in the 19th century, Americans agreed on the movement of Natives in the East to the West for white development. This however was a slow process and by the early 1930s, Georgia began to be agitated by this gruelling process. Upset with the federal government for not removing cherokee Natives from their state, Georgia took matters into their own . However despite this attempt Chief Justice John Marshall of U.S supreme court ruled in 1832 that a state's laws could not be applied to Native Americans and therefore denied to give Georgia the power to remove Cherokees from their land. Nonetheless, President Jackson had opposed the Worcester v. Georgia ruling and believed that John Marshall's decision
Throughout Jackson's two terms as President, Jackson used his power unjustly. As a man from the Frontier State of Tennessee and a leader in the Indian wars, Jackson loathed the Native Americans. Keeping with consistency, Jackson found a way to use his power incorrectly to eliminate the Native Americans. In May 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act. This act required all tribes east of the Mississippi River to leave their lands and travel to reservations in the Oklahoma Territory on the Great Plains. This was done because of the pressure of white settlers who wanted to take over the lands on which the Indians had lived. The white settlers were already emigrating to the Union, or America. The East Coast was burdened with new settlers and becoming vastly populated. President Andrew Jackson and the government had to find a way to move people to the West to make room. In 1830, a new state law said that the Cherokees would be under the jurisdiction of state rather than federal law. This meant that the Indians now had little, if any, protection against the white settlers that desired their land. However, when the Cherokees brought their case to the Supreme Court, they were told that they could not sue on the basis that they were not a foreign nation. In 1832, though, on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation," and therefore, eligible to receive federal protection against the state. However, Jackson essentially overruled the decision. By this, Jackson implied that he had more power than anyone else did and he could enforce the bill himself. This is yet another way in which Jackson abused his presidential power in order to produce a favorable result that complied with his own beliefs. The Indian Removal Act forced all Indians tribes be moved west of the Mississippi River. The Choctaw was the first tribe to leave from the southeast.
The case Worcester v. Georgia (1832) was a basis for the discussion of the issue of states' rights versus the federal government as played out in the administration of President Andrew Jackson and its battle with the Supreme Court. In addition to the constitutional issues involved, the momentum of the westward movement and popular support for Indian resettlement pitted white man against Indian. All of these factors came together in the Worcester case, which alarmed the independence of the Cherokee Nation, but which was not enforced. This examines the legal issues and tragic consequences of Indian resettlement.
When John Marshall made his decision, President Jackson said, “John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” He was so pleased with the act and was very dedicated to setting it out that he said, “It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages,” in the Second Annual Message to Congress. Georgia and other southern states passed laws that gave them the right to control the Cherokee lands when gold was discovered, which President Jackson supported.
... the unwilling tribes west of the Mississippi. In Jackson’s letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, he explained that the Cherokees were still in Georgia, and that they ought to leave for their own benefit because destruction will come upon them if they stay. By 1835, most eastern tribes had unwillingly complied and moved west. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to help out the resettled tribes. Most Cherokees rejected the settlement of 1835, which provided land in the Indian territory. It was not until 1838, after Jackson had left office, that the U.S. Army forced 15,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia. The hardships on the “trail of tears” were so great that over 4,000 Cherokees died on their heartbreaking westward journey. In conclusion, the above statement is valid and true. The decision the Jackson administration made to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River was a reformulation of the national policy. Jackson, along with past Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson, tried to rid the south of Indians This process of removing the native people was continuous as the years went on.
Prior to the fall of 1940, Native Americans had never faced any significant effects of a military draft prior or during a U.S war. This was because before 1924, not all Native Americans were citizens of the United States. During the years of the first World War, it is estimated that as much as half of the Native American population in the U.S were not citizens (Bernstein, 22). Even so, many Native Americans still saw action during this conflict which later help influence the passing of the Citizenship Act that granted “blanket” citizenship to all Indians born in the United States (Bernstein, 22). This act played a huge role at the start of the 1940’s when the United States started militarizing large amounts of their citizens. After the passing
President Jackson declared that “our ancestors found them the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions” (188). It has been through persuasion and force that we have moved the Native Americans until some tribes have become extinct. The governor, Lumpkin, of Georgia argued that the state cannot exercise against the constitutional rights and moral duty. The Cherokee’s claimed that the treaties and laws of the United States had guaranteed their residency, their privileges and secured them against intruders. Even though the Cherokees had successfully appealed to the Executive, Legislative and Judicial governments Georgia continues to rob them of their laws government and land rights. The Cherokee people petitioned to the government of the United States to fulfill their promises and protect them and all they were given for a response was that the United States could not interfere. Even though I believe the Cherokee Nation had to fight for their sovereignty none of the choices available to them would have provided them with a good resolution. The white people really did not want them to assimilate because they feared them and considered them uncivilized. Moving freely to unknown lands would have been very difficult. By this time the Indians had suffered many losses from disease, they were becoming dependent on
The majority of us Americans know some basic things about how our nation came to be. We came from our mother country, Europe, and took over the native’s land. However, did the Native Americans have a fighting chance against the English?
The Cherokee Trail of Tears resulted from the execution of the Treaty of New Echota (1835), an “agreement” signed under the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). With the expansion of the American population, the discovery of gold in Georgia, and the need for even more land for American results in the push to move the Natives who were “in the way”. So with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Congress acted to remove Natives on the east coast of the United States to land west of the Mississippi River, something in which was never embraced or approved by them (The Cherokee and the Trail of Tears). Many state governments, such as Georgia, did not want Native-owned land within their boundaries, while the Natives did not want to move. However, under the Removal Act, the United States Congress gave then-President Andrew Jackson the authority to negotiate removal treaties.
The Cherokee Indians, the most cooperative and accommodating to the political institutions of the united states, suffered the worst fate of all Native Americans when voluntarily or forcibly moved west. In 1827 the Cherokees attempted to claim themselves as an independent nation within the state of Georgia. When the legislature of the state extended jurisdiction over this ‘nation,’ the Cherokees sought legal actions, not subject to Georgia laws and petitioned the United States Supreme Court. The case became known as Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia in 1831. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall denied their claim as a republic within Georgia, he then deemed the Cherokee as a ‘domestic dependent nation’. One year later through the case of Worcester vs. Georgia, the Cherokee’s were granted federal protection from the molestation by the state of Georgia. Through the Indian Removal act in 1830 President Andrew Jackson appropriated planning and funding for the removal of Native Americans, Marshall’s rulings delayed this for the Cherokee Nation, and infuriated President Jackson. Marshall’s decision had little effect on Jackson and ignoring this action the president was anxious to see him enforce it.
Throughout our country’s history there have been several groups who have fared less that great. Every minority group was treated unfairly, Indians were uprooted and had no control, I can’t imagine for a second being a soldier in combat, women struggled for basic rights, and many people fell victim to the changing ways of our economy, losing their jobs and fighting to survive. It seems wrong to pick one group over another, as if to say some people who were treated horribly or who faced mounting obstacles didn’t actually have it as bad as another group. But throughout all the years we’ve studied, one group that stood out to me who were dealt a horrible fate were Native Americans living in the west during the 19th century. When Americans began to expand westward, Indians unwillingly had their lives flipped upside down and changed drastically. After years of displacement, they were being forced to live in certain areas and follow certain rules, or risk their lives.
Considering historical evidence, the notion: Native –Americans was not the first inhabitant of America is a complete false. For centuries, history kept accurate and vivid accounts of the first set of people who domiciled the western hemisphere. Judging by those records, below are the first set of Native-American people who inhabited America before the arrival of another human race; the Iroquois: The Iroquois of Native Americans was one of the tribes that lived in America before other people came. Based on historical evidence, it is believed that the Native Americans came from Asia way back during the Ice Age through a land bridge of the Bering Strait. When the Europeans first set foot in America, there were about 10 million Native Americans
The Effects of Colonization on the Native Americans Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worse. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture. Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them.
The Native American Indians have faced so many adversities of which some have kept them from flourishing. For example placing them in reservations has greatly decreased their chance to progress in life. They always have had to evolve their lives due to the changes of the environment due to the settlers. This inhibited them from having a solid place where they could settle and setup a foundation for their lives. The concept of freedom had been carried on throughout the history of the United States, yet it has failed to be carried with treating the American Indians. Reservations have been seen as the United States showing their gratitude towards the American Indians, but Carlos Motezuma who wrote What Indians Must do sees it as a wall of progress for them and must be done away with.
First, the Cherokees don’t want to move to their new territory. According to Joan Marshall in the article “Allow the Cherokee To Stay” that, they were treated horrible, and they didn’t get the treaties said when they moved. The Cherokees decided to ring their problems to the U.S. Supreme Court which is just fair. The U.S. Supreme Court didn’t really favor on the Cherokees but
Natives were forcefully removed from their land in the 1800’s by America. In the 1820’s and 30’s Georgia issued a campaign to remove the Cherokees from their land. The Cherokee Indians were one of the largest tribes in America at the time. Originally the Cherokee’s were settled near the great lakes, but overtime they moved to the eastern portion of North America. After being threatened by American expansion, Cherokee leaders re-organized their government and adopted a constitution written by a convention, led by Chief John Ross (Cherokee Removal). In 1828 gold was discovered in their land. This made the Cherokee’s land even more desirable. During the spring and winter of 1838- 1839, 20,000 Cherokees were removed and began their journey to Oklahoma. Even if natives wished to assimilate into America, by law they were neither citizens nor could they hold property in the state they were in. Principal Chief, John Ross and Major Ridge were leaders of the Cherokee Nation. The Eastern band of Cherokee Indians lost many due to smallpox. It was a year later that a Treaty was signed for cession of Cherokee land in Texas. A small number of Cherokee Indians assimilated into Florida, in o...