Indian Removal Act

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Indian Removal Act

From the time of Thomas Jefferson’s term as president the United States government was trying to encourage Indians to adapt to the ways of the white people living in the United States (Out of Many 280). Many groups of Indians refused to adapt to these ways causing them to be removed from their land in the East to land in the West (Out of Many 280). Some Indian tribes refused to move making the federal government sign treaties to remove Indians from their land which, opened up room for white settlers (Out of Many 280). In the Southwest five tribes remained, of which, the Cherokees were the most dominate in adapting to the ways of whites (Out of Many 280). In 1830 President Jackson convinced congress to pass an act to remove southern Indian tribes (Out of Many 280). Jackson responded by creating the Indian Removal Act which was “President Andrew Jackson’s measure that allowed state officials to override federal protection of Native Americans” (Out Of Many G-5). The act required Native Americans in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to give up their land and move westward to Indian Territory (Professor Fritz, Lecture 16). The Cherokee Indians fought against the act and won their case in court but, were later forced to move westward. (Professor Fritz, Lecture 16). The movement of Indians westward became known as “Trail of Tears” (Out of Many 280).

Compromise of 1850

The compromise of 1850 caused the opposition to slavery to grow dramatically (Professor Fritz). In 1850 there was a gold rush in California which made it a very rich state (Out of Many 383). California then decided to apply for statehood (Out of Many 383). Since California wanted to become a state it would make the balance of free and slave states u...

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...ds of the family (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). Skilled work was now being divided into a series of unskilled work and semi-skilled work (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). Women were willing to do this unskilled work because they were not fit to work in the fields. (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). Women were paid by the piece and not by the hour and most women were willing to work for low wages (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). Starting in the early 1800’s women began to work in factories, and by 1840 half of all manufacturing was done by women (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). Men began to figure out how to use machines to produce goods more quickly (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19). With the change in consumer goods women were now able to go out and help to support their families while men worked in the fields and were in charge of the factories (Professor Fritz, Lecture 19).

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