Can you imagine soldiers from a foreign place coming to your door and forcing you and your family to leave your home to never return again? The Cherokee did not expect this to happen to them either. The Indian Removal Act was formally adopted in 1825 during the presidency of John Quincy Adams. In the reelection of 1828, Andrew Jackson would take the presidential seat after defeating John Quincy Adams. In 1830, President Jackson would sign and set the Indian Removal Act into motion. This legalized the moving of the Indians into the western Indian colonization zone in order to open up the southern cotton lands. In the beginning of the 1830’s there were around 125,000 Native Americans that lived on the land that their ancestors had maintained, …show more content…
in the southern states, for generations prior to their existence. This land included Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. By 1838, there were very few of the natives left in their homelands. The Cherokee were one of the last of the five tribes to be removed because they put up a fight to stay where their home was. In 1838-1839, only about 2,000 Cherokee Indians had left their Georgia home to go to the new Indian Territory reserved for them. As a result, 7,000 soldiers were sent to finish the removal process. General Winfield Scott forced the Cherokee at gun point to begin the march while the white men took everything they had to leave behind. One out of every four Cherokees died on the 1,200 mile journey resulting in over 4,000 total deaths. Most of the deaths were due to whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera, and starvation. Some may say Andrew Jackson was removing the Indians for their own good because he knew if they remained there it would keep causing fights between the white men and the Indians and that the Indians would be better off living across the Mississippi River. However, it is believed that Jackson was selfishly forcing them off their land to take advantage of the gold that had been discovered on the Cherokee land, the fertile soil that could be used for cotton, and the racial prejudice that stood between the white men and the Cherokee Indians. In 1829, thousands of “Twenty-Niners” rolled into Georgia searching for their big break. While this may have been beneficial to those thousands of miners this would eventually mean the end of the Cherokees Indians remaining on their land. The Georgia Gold Rush only lasted a decade but it did not take the white men long to remove the Cherokees from their land through both the trail of tears but also the Georgia land lottery. The lottery worked by bundling up pieces of Cherokee owned land and selling chanced too many white men. The land that was won was used mainly used by the miners that had come to Georgia searching for gold. Obviously, one man would win and the winner would go claim his land by forcing the Cherokees who happened to be living on his land off. This happened frequently and left many Cherokee families to be beggars. The Cherokee Indians named this gold rush The Great Intrusion. Instead of backing down from the intrusion, the Cherokee decided to fight back in an unexpected way. They went through the government taking their argument all the way to the Supreme Court. In the case of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia of 1831 the Supreme Court ruled in that Georgia was wrong in forcing the Cherokee Indians off their land and ruled in favor of the Indian being allowed to remain where they always have been. The ruling was decided based on the fact that the laws that were already being repeatedly put into place that stated the Cherokee were their own nation or state and as such had their own rights to do as they saw fit with their land. However, President Andrew Jackson did not acknowledge Chief Justice John Marshalls ruling and without thinking twice went ahead with Georgia’s land lottery, the Indian Removal Act, and mistreatment of the Cherokee Indian tribes. (Johnson, Edward) Another reason Andrew Jackson pushed the Cherokee Indians out of Georgia so fiercely was because of the rich soil all across the land that could be used for agriculture benefits. The white man had seen how flawlessly the Indians had thrived surviving on only what the earth had provided them. Everything that the Indians had, they had used some part of nature to come by it. In this day and age cotton was a major cash crop and it was primarily produced solely in the southern states which is what made the Cherokee land such a major desire in the white man’s eyes. Some of this land was won through the Georgia land lottery but much of this mineral infused land was seized as the Trail of Tears neared its initial stages. The Indians land was taken from them without any time to prepare or to pack anything useful so aside from the white men gaining their land they also obtained many useful Cherokee homemade tools, clothes, and other valuable utensils. After the mining was drawing to a close the white man began to see many other opportunities to put the land to use. They began to set up boundaries between their land and their neighbors and once everything was all settled their cotton business boomed. Sothern soil at this time was the most suitable for cotton so the gaining of new unused soil was a great asset to the south. This made the North need the South just as much as the South needed the North, which created more equality between the states. Cotton was not the only crop that was used of this newly gained land. They also used the land to produce the food that would provide their family throughout the long winters ahead. Another use of the land was to attract the wild game that would be hunted to produce meat, profit, and the option of bartering with other families for things needed. This is what Andrew Jackson had hoped to happen. After the attainment of the new land, the South did nothing but continue to grow and grow especially with the use of African American Slaves. ("Trail of Tears..") Since the beginning of time, prejudice has existed among humankind all over the world.
What would make the United States any different? Nothing. The minute the English stepped foot onto what would become American soil, the Native Americans were seen to be uncivilized savages who must be taught the right way of doing things or there would be no option but to spill blood. By the time the Indian Removal Act came around, the prejudice still remained and was the main reason for the intention to remove the remaining Cherokee Indians left in Georgia. Despite the Cherokee people giving up most of their land, learning to read and write, and abandoning many customs Andrew Jackson did not like the Cherokees. A Cherokee man by the name of Sequoya created an alphabet that could be used to start the first Cherokee newspaper. Their newspaper was named the Cherokee Phoenix and they had it written in both English and the Cherokee language. Another major change the Cherokee were faced with to try to adjust to the white men was to change the way their government worked. Originally they operated on a blood for blood revenge which meant that if someone messed with their tribe they would simply fight back with just as much hatred and anger towards the other tribe. However, in an attempt to fit in so they could remain on the land that had been maintained by them and by all before them they accustomed a Republican Government. By becoming a Republican Government this meant that they had trials and took their problems to a committee of individuals who oversaw and made a final decision. It seemed that no matter what the Cherokee nation tried to do to satisfy the white men, nothing was ever good enough. The American people were deeply set in their racial prejudice ways and too stubborn to see it in a different light. The white men and the Cherokee could not and would not ever be equals in the eyes of Andrew Jackson or any other American man so they must be sent to the designated Indian
Territory in Oklahoma. Even after being promised that the white man would never impose or be a problem to the Cherokees again after leaving to their new home the Americans eventually expanded westward and took over Indian land once again. (Garrison, Tim Alan) In conclusion, Andrew Jackson’s persistence in the removal of the Cherokee Indians is said to be one of his most controversial decisions made in his lifetime. The decision was so controversial because of the many individual views on the reason why he actually pushed for it to happen. It is said he either had an extreme hatred for the Cherokee Indians or that he actually was trying to help them by forcing them to leave. More evidence, however, points to the fact that he made his decisions based on pure meanness. He knew there was gold buried under the Cherokee land and that this would be a great for the white society and the growing of the southern states would greatly improve. It was also known that the land could be used for a variety of agricultural reasons and if the Cherokee remained the land would not be able to be used for the white man’s profit and growth. This would be a major help in the society in the event of making their own life. Lastly he was racist against the Cherokee Indians. He knew there would never be peace if the Cherokee stayed because others would also not be able to co-exist with people that were as uncivilized as the Indians. Andrew Jackson knew there was only one way to make all of this a reality. He didn’t care about the Cherokees well-being or starting over. In his eyes they had to be sent away and the white man must have their land to thrive and do with what they pleased. The white man benefited greatly from everything that the Indians had left behind after they had been fully removed. This would make Andrew Jackson an all American hero in the eyes of many people in this era but would come to be viewed differently with time.
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 Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress in order to allow the growth of the United States to continue without the interference of the Native Americans. Jackson believed that the Native Americans were inferior to white settlers and wanted to force them west of the Mississippi. He believed that the United States would not expand past that boundary, so the Native Americans could govern themselves. Jackson evicted thousands of Native Americans from their homes in Georgia and the Carolinas and even disregarded the Supreme Court’s authority and initiated his plan of forcing the Natives’ on the trail of tears. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Indians, however Jackson ignored the ruling and continued with his plan. The result of the Indian Removal Act was that many tribes were tricked or forced off their lands, if they refused to go willingly, resulting in many deaths from skirmishes with soldiers as well as from starvation and disease. The Cherokee in particular were forced to undergo a forced march that became known as the Trail of
What should the Indian become?” For over a century at this point, the Americans are still trying to ponder the question and control the life of the different Native American tribe. Interestingly, the board does not call out specific tribes, rather, generalizing all the tribes at the time into one category. As mentioned in class, the United States recognized five tribes as “civilized”. The tribes that the United States specially mentioned were: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and the Seminole. Again, the United States government contradicts itself in regards to Indian policy. Since the colonial period, Americans tried to “civilize” all different types of Indian tribes. Fast forward a hundred years, after recognizing these five tribes as civilized, the American government is still trying to control the “destiny” of Indian tribes. The “destiny” that the Board of Indain Commissioners decides is that the Indians should become a citizen of the United States. It seems that the American government could never be satisfied with the policy in which was set before
... 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.
The American Indians were promised change with the American Indian policy, but as time went on no change was seen. “Indian reform” was easy to promise, but it was not an easy promise to keep as many white people were threatened by Indians being given these rights. The Indian people wanted freedom and it was not being given to them. Arthur C. Parker even went as far as to indict the government for its actions. He brought the charges of: robbing a race of men of their intellectual life, of social organization, of native freedom, of economic independence, of moral standards and racial ideals, of his good name, and of definite civic status (Hoxie 97). These are essentially what the American peoples did to the natives, their whole lives and way of life was taken away,
Andrew Jackson signed the indian removal act in 1830. This act allowed him to make treaties with the natives and steal their lands. The Trail of Tears was a forced relocation of more than 15,000 cherokee Indians. The white men/people gave the natives 2 options: 1. Leave or 2. Stay and Assimilate (learn our culture). The natives couldn’t have their own government. There were 5 civilized tribes including the cherokees. They learned english and went to american schools and when the cherokees went to court they won.
Back in 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This act required the government to negotiate treaties that would require the Native Americans to move to the west from their homelands. Native Americans would be moved to an area called the Indian Territory which is Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Some tribes that were to be moved are Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. All of the other tribes had relocated in the fall of 1831 to the Indian Territory besides the Cherokee who did not relocate until the fall of 1838. They did not move from their homeland without a fight. Their homeland was parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They started this march in the fall of 1838 and finished in early
Unfortunately, this great relationship that was built between the natives and the colonists of mutual respect and gain was coming to a screeching halt. In the start of the 1830s, the United States government began to realize it’s newfound strength and stability. It was decided that the nation had new and growing needs and aspirations, one of these being the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. Its continuous growth in population began to require much more resources and ultimately, land. The government started off as simply bargaining and persuading the Indian tribes to push west from their homeland. The Indians began to disagree and peacefully object and fight back. The United States government then felt they had no other option but to use force. In Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson on May 18, 1830. This ultimately resulted in the relocation of the Eastern tribes out west, even as far as to the edge of the Great Plains. A copy of this act is laid out for you in the book, Th...
In May 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which forced Native American tribes to move west. Some Indians left swiftly, while others were forced to to leave by the United States Army. Some were even taken away in chains. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, strongly reinforced this act. In the Second State of the Union Address, Jackson advocated his Indian Policy. There was controversy as to whether the removal of the Native Americans was justified under the administration of President Andrew Jackson. In my personal opinion, as a Native American, the removal of the tribes was not in any way justified.
Once the white men decided that they wanted lands belonging to the Native Americans (Indians), the United States Government did everything in its power to help the white men acquire Indian land. The US Government did everything from turning a blind eye to passing legislature requiring the Indians to give up their land (see Indian Removal Bill of 1828). Aided by his bias against the Indians, General Jackson set the Indian removal into effect in the war of 1812 when he battled the great Tecumseh and conquered him.
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...
...enefitted them more than if they did stay. The whites wanted the Cherokee land and would take it by force if they had to. On their own, the Cherokee would not have been able to survive with their outdated methods of living which was inefficient. The Cherokee living among the whites would not have turned out well since the whites did not associate and relate themselves to the Cherokee which created conflict and rivalry between both groups. Since the takeover of Cherokee land seemed inevitable, the Cherokee should have accepted relocating and adopted the ways of the white people. The Cherokee should have realized that the whites were a flourishing powerhouse in comparison.
The removal of Indians from their lands can never be wiped away from the pages of history. By far the events surrounding The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is one of the darkest episodes of our nation. The men in charge of America during the 1820s and 1830s were expansionists, with no regard for whom they were expanding upon. We can not undo the mistakes of the past, the Cherokee will never be able to regain their lands nor the rightful peace and respect they deserve, not only as men, but as the original American ancestors.
The early 1800’s was a very important time for America. The small country was quickly expanding. With the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, America almost tripled in size by 1853. However, even with the amount of land growing, not everyone was welcomed with open arms. With the expansion of the country, the white Americans decided that they needed the Natives out.
In the 30 years after the Civil War, although government policy towards Native Americans intended to shift from forced separation to integration into American society, attempts to "Americanize" Indians only hastened the death of their culture and presence in the America. The intent in the policy, after the end of aggression, was to integrate Native Americans into American society. Many attempts at this were made, ranging from offering citizenship to granting lands to Indians. All of these attempts were in vain, however, because the result of this policies is much the same as would be the result of continued agression.