Native American Removal
The removal of Native Americans started when Andrew Jackson was elected President. Jackson was the candidate of a Democratic Party, which was good because he was elected at a time when national politics were becoming more democratic. Historians now refer to this trend as the Jacksonian democracy. Jacksonian democracy inforced serious limitations on Native Americans, who were not considered citizens, and women could not vote in any state. This was only the beginning of Native Americans being treated poorly.
Southerners appealed to Jackson because they expected him to help remove the Indians living in the region. Even after the victory in the Creek War of 1814, many Native Americans remained in the South. Americans viewed the land Indians lived on as a way to produce wealth, and wanted to take the land for themselves. When Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama tried to seize the land held by Native Americans, the Indians
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They are still trying to cope with adjustment to white civilization. Some are educated and understand white society, while others still live in isolation from all non-Indians.
Today there is about 300 Indian reservations, all still occupied by Indian tribes. Some reservations have greatly increased their economic wealth with the use of casinos. Gambling is a big part of many traditional Indian cultures. The traditional games included dice, archery competitions, and foot races. The use of gaming to generate profit did not begin until the late 1970s and early 1980s when the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was passed. Before this act, there was no federal gaming structure. The impact that westward expansion had on Native Americans was huge, and made a lasting impact on the lives of many. Even to this day the effects are very noticeable, as casinos are just as popular as
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.
When the word “Native American” is mentioned, the first thing most people will think of is Indian gaming. As many people know, only Native Americans can conduct gaming while people from other ethnicity cannot. This leads to the belief that it is an indirect way for the American government to repay the tribal government for taking their lands. This is partially true. The right to conduct gaming on reservations begins with the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA). Since its establishment in 1988, hundreds of tribes are able to negotiate an agreement with the governments to operate casinos on reservation lands. However, this is not the only intention of IGRA. Although Congress says that the real purpose of IGRA is to allow Indians to open casinos so tribes can support themselves, it is merely a set of laws that limits the tribe’s right on gaming.
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
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.
The tragedy of the Cherokee nation has haunted the legacy of Andrew Jackson"'"s Presidency. The events that transpired after the implementation of his Indian policy are indeed heinous and continually pose questions of morality for all generations. Ancient Native American tribes were forced from their ancestral homes in an effort to increase the aggressive expansion of white settlers during the early years of the United States. The most notable removal came after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Cherokee, whose journey was known as the '"'Trail of Tears'"', and the four other civilized tribes, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, were forced to emigrate to lands west of the Mississippi River, to what is now day Oklahoma, against their will. During the journey westward, over 60,000 Indians were forced from their homelands. Approximately 4000 Cherokee Indians perished during the journey due to famine, disease, and negligence. The Cherokees to traveled a vast distance under force during the arduous winter of 1838-1839.# This is one of the saddest events in American history, yet we must not forget this tragedy.
... 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.
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.
One reason why Andrew Jackson was not democratic was because of his mistreatment of the Native American. Today, the population of Native Americans are significantly less than when Jackson served as the leader of the free world. From the early 1830’s until 1840, Jackson forced 5 separate Indian tribes onto a small piece of land (Doc L). A likely reason for this sudden move
The Indian removal was so important to Jackson that he went back to Tennessee to have the first negotiations in person. He gave the Indians a couple simple alternatives. Alternatives like to submit to state authority, or migrate beyond the Mississippi. Jackson Offered generous aid on one hand and while holding the threat of subjugation in the other. The Chickasaws and Choctaws submitted quickly. The only tribe that resisted until the end was the Cherokees. President Jackson’s presidency was tarnished by the way the U.S. government handled the Native Americans. Although financially, and economically Jackson truly was a good leader, some people view him in a negative way because of the “Indian Removal Act.”
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
The exploration of the West could have had the greatest economic impact on the United States ever. After the west had now been explored, they realized they had a great deal of land that now had to be settled. The land was so vast and so cheap that it was sold for very low prices and sometimes just given away. This caused a huge surge of people to begin flowing west and sparked westward expansion. People began setting up farms and more and more people had opportunities to make a good living.
There were several motives for the removal of the Indians from their lands, to include racism and land lust. Since they first arrived, the white Americans hadn’t been too fond of the Native Americans. They were thought to be highly uncivilized and they had to go. In his letter to Congress addressing the removal of the Indian tribes, President Jackson states the following:
Indian policy gradually shifted from this aggressive mindset to a more peaceable and soft line policy. The Indian Wars ended in 1980 with the Battle of Wounded Knee. The battle resulted in over 200 deaths, but also, almost officially, marked a change in Indian policy. Although the change had subtly began before then, policies then became more kind. The Peace Commission created the reservation policy, although this was created 27 years before the Battle at Wounded Knee. The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 was the greatest of reform efforts. The Act provided the granting of landholding to individual Native Americans, replacing communal tribal holdings. Another policy, the Burke Act of 1906, allowed Indians to become citizens if they left their tribes. Citizenship was eventually granted to all Native Americans in the 1920s.
The Jacksonian Era was a time of great change for American citizens and the federal government of the United States itself. This period of time that started with Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828 is sometimes known as the “democratization of politics” for the United States, and many documents can be analyzed to conclude if this statement is true. Democracy is commonly known as the people's right to vote, and Jackson gave many more opportunities for Americans to vote. The majority of Americans wished for the removal of Native Americans and these Indians were very unpopular among American citizens, so, for his people, Jackson did all he could to rid America of the Indians through the Indian Removal Act. Jackson did what was beneficial for American civilian’s wants, needs, and finances. The positively evolving rights to vote, the removal of unwanted Indians, and keeping lower and middle class citizens on the forefront of Jackson’s mind led to the Jacksonian Era being a time of democratization of politics.
Not all the Indians have reservations, but all reservations have Indians. Those reservations settled at the areas usually don’t communicate with outside world a lot in more than thirty of the states. Most of reservations are poor, but there still some of them are rich. Indian lands makes up 2.3 percent of the lands in the united States. Reservation life tells its own story. Many Indians and non-Indians think this story usually is the story of tragedy. Life on the rez is hard, violent, criminal, poor and short. By thinking about what they have lost and what they have survived, the conflicts between whites and Indians are more than Indians and Indians. This is one of the hardship in Rez life. Besides all these unfortunates, the Rez life is all right.