The Indian Removal Act of 1830: Corrupt from the Outset

The Trail of Tears was one of the deadliest and most gruesome act of violence ever carried out in the 19th century. It would result in the death of 4000 Indians in a forced relocation of 15000 Cherokee. This march was directly carried out by the United States Government and the Jackson administration. It was characterized at the time as a humanitarian alternative to letting the Native Americans die at the hands of land hungry white settlers. However, this event was inherently evil as it was purely based on greed, racism, and the unspoken purpose of prolonging southern society; it was also unconstitutional in multiple aspects.

In the vast collection of Indian tribes that the United States would encounter in its gradual expansion, the Cherokee would be considered to be one of the most “civilized” in that they mostly adopted western culture and practices that white settlers had introduced to them. “Many Indians sent their children to schools operated by white missionaries, and some had embraced the Christian religion. Cherokees had devised their own written language and published a newspaper in English and Cherokee.” (Watson 106). All this change was encouraged by white settlers who hoped that the rapid development would allow for the gradual opening up of Indian lands for purchase. When the Cherokee continued to hold fast and refused to sell their ancestral land, the state of Georgia exercised its supposed sovereignty over the region and took away Cherokee land. This move was solely motivated by the greed for the rich black soil that the tribe lived on. The Cherokee’s relative development and familiarity with American society led them to take one of the most American approaches to check American encroachment: they sued. De...

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...nomic interests were also hyper aware of the necessity of land acquisition as southern social mobility was halting and northern industrial capitalism was chugging along happily. Political interests too aligned in that the Jackson and Van Buren Administration thought it politically prudent to remove the Native Americans in order to win crucial votes in the South and West. This policy was also heavily supported stateside by governors and legislatures who were looking for more land for their constituents. The final nail in the genocidal coffin was the overt racism of many Americans. No one questioned the right of white settlers to land and everyone agreed in the subservience of the Native Americans. It is no surprise that with the political and economic will, and the willingness of the people to go along resulted in the worst tragedies in American history.