Native American Land

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Recommended: History of relations with native America

The national policy that had been in effect since with Washington’s administration in the 1790’s was to oversee the Natives and assimilate the Indians into society. The United States’ government recognized the fact that Natives were roaming the New World when the Spanish arrived in the 1500’s and made policies according to that. However, President Andrew Jackson’s administrations forced the Natives to move to the west of the Mississippi River. Therefore, Jackson’s presidency from 1829 to 1836 to remove the Natives were a significant departure or change from previous administrations. Prior to the 1830’s, the United States government did not make it’s aspirations of attaining Indian lands, but rather Indians were given rights to be treated as nations, and protected their rights according to the Constitution. According to the letter to President George Washington from Henry Knox, “The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war” (Doc B). To add on, the United States believed that “intrusions upon the lands of the friendly Indian tribes, is not only a violation of law, but in direct opposition to the policy for the government towards its savage neighbor” (Doc G) was considerate of the Indians’ territories. Therefore, this indicates that the government of the United States did not want to take any risk and was rather cautious against having the desire to obtain the Natives’ land. Through President James Monroe’s First Annual Message to Congress in 1817, the United States morality about Natives’ Land was identified as “it is our [United States’] duty to make new efforts for the preservation, improvement, ... ... middle of paper ... ...okee territory. However, Jackson was reluctant to believe how the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution, which showed that his action was against the American’s moral beliefs and was unconstitutional. By abandoning the set path of handling Natives that the predecessors left him, nevertheless, Jackson was able to satisfy his interest of the west side of the land. Even with the court cases and the moral values that American already head, Jackson forced the Indians to move from their lands. Without a doubt this act was clearly against everything the American’s believed before his presidency. Therefore, Jackson’s change in policy clearly confirms that “the decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s was more a change in the policy than a simple reformulation of that national policy.

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