American Indian Argumentative Essay

Up in the beginning of the 1830s about 125,000 Native Americans stayed on millions of land in Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. By the end of the 1830s very few Indians remained occupied on the land. They were all forced out of their land by the federal government for white settlers so they could take over that land and use it for growing cotton. The government forced them to travel to “Indian territory”, a special designated place across the Mississippi river. This long and difficult journey is known as the trail of tears. White Americans, particularly those who lived on the western frontier, often feared and resented the Native Americans they encountered: To them, American Indians seemed to be an unfamiliar, alien

Many of these whites yearned to make their fortunes by growing cotton, and they did not care how “civilized” their native neighbors were: They wanted that land and they would do almost anything to get it. They stole livestock; burned and looted houses and towns; and squatted on land that did not belong to them. State governments joined in this effort to drive Native Americans out of the South. Several states passed laws limiting Native American sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their territory. In a few cases, such as Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the U.S. Supreme Court objected to these practices and affirmed that native nations were sovereign nations “in which the laws of Georgia [and other states] can have no force.” Even so, the maltreatment continued. As President Andrew Jackson noted in 1832, if no one intended to enforce the Supreme Court’s rulings (which he certainly did not), then the decisions would “[fall]…still born.” Southern states were determined to take ownership of Indian lands and would go to great lengths to secure this territory. Andrew Jackson had long been an advocate of what he called