Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Policy of 1830

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There are many theories and sorted opinions as to why Andrew Jackson implemented the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Andrew Jackson's motives for enforcing the policy, and the actions he performed when he carried it out, can be interpreted in various ways depending on the analyzer's perspective. Robert V. Remini, for one, believes that Andrew Jackson forced the Indians out of their lands solely for humanitarian reasons. He states, "[Andrew Jackson] felt he had followed the 'dictates of humanity' and saved the Indians from certain death." Andrew Jackson himself stated, in Document Q, "It is better for [the natives] to treat and move," because, "the arm of the government is not sufficiently strong to preserve them from destruction." Robert V. Remini also states, "The actual removal of the Choctaw Nation violated every principle for which Jackson stood," and "Jackson tried to prevent this calamity but he was too far away to exercise any real control. "On the other hand, Anthony F. C. Wallace insists that Jackson intentionally "oversaw a harsh policy with regard to the Native Americans." In addition, Anthony F. C. Wallace believes, "It was the team of Jackson, Cass, and Herring that supervised the removal of most of the Southern Indians."
The president, Andrew Jackson, could have also enforced the Indian Removal act for political reasons. Before the act, "white citizens demanded that their governments, at both the state and national levels, do something about the Native American tribes in their midst." Jackson could have seen it as an opportunity to gain popularity among the citizens, for the plan gave Jackson the chance to "exercise leadership as the head of the
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Democratic party within congress." Also, in the end, the policy b...

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...ntegrated, the were not allowed to "swear a Christian oath," they were "denied the right to vote, bring suit, even to testify in court," and they were "subject to state taxes, militia duty, and suits for debt." Also, "after gold was discovered on Cherokee property, the Indians were prohibited from digging or mining gold on their own land."
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Although there are many theories as to why President Andrew Jackson did what he did, the goal of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was concrete. "His congressional charge was to move them all west of the Mississippi to open up the trans-Appalachian southeast for a flood of settlers who had been spilling over that chain of mountains from the earliest days of the republic." As a result, the "monumental legislation spelled the doom of the American Indian," and the bliss of the white citizens and the states in which they resided.

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