As far back as the early 1800s, the United States began the removal of the indigenous Indian tribes from the southeast, by declaring a systemic war on them. These minority groups practised self-governance on their subtribes such as the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, Seminole, and all the other original Cherokee Nations. President Geaorge Washington had already proposed the intergration of the Indian community into the larger United States community. This would entail the changing of their customs and beliefs from their pre colonial culture. They were encouraged to convert to Christianity and learn to read and write in English, and practise the western way of life, like property ownership and even possession of slaves. Thomas Jefferson also supported the intergration idea, provided that the Indians adopt to the new American culture. They would be allowed to maintain their original homelands provided they remained east of the Mississippi, and practised the common culture synonymous with the colonialist. Andrew Jackson was the first to seek out policy change, and he proposed military and political action to remove the Indians from their lands by law.
This gave birth to the Indian removal act, that was put in place to award the southern states of America, the lands that belonged to the Native Indians. This act was finally passed in 1830, even though the negotiations had began earlier by 1802, between the state of Georgia and the federal government. “The federal government had promised the state to purchase the lands as soon as they were available and abolish the Indian title that was in place .” 1 The southern states however, began the process of evicting the Indians citing the lack of a legal contract with the federal government. They claimed that the state laws allowed them to pass the law as a state. This pressure forced the national government to pass the Indian Removal act on May 28 th 1830. President Jackson allowed the division of the western side of Mississippi to accommodate the five tribes in order to replace the land from which they were victed from.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Further in 1823, in the case between Johnson and M’Intosh, the Supreme court ruled that Indians could occypy and control lands in the united States, but could not hold their titles. According to Jackson the union was a federation of highly esteemed estates and he shunned the idea to make treaties with the Indian tribe like they were a foreign nation. For this reason, the creation of Indian only jursdictions was in violation of the laws of the state under the Constitution. He gave the ultimatum that either the Indians comprised of a sovereign state, or they became subject to the laws f the existing Union states . 2 The Indians were encouraged to obey the state laws or have their own self rule in federal territories, west of the Mississippi. The constitution opposed the formation of the Indians as sovereign states as it was in violation of the set state laws.
The act received a lot of support from the south, especially in Georgia, which was the largest state as per 1802. They were actively involved in a dispute with the Cherokee on jurisdictional matters. President Jackson enacted the act hoping it would solve the long time dispute. “The five Indian tribes were the most affected, but there wer other minor tribes that were also evicted. These included the Wyandot, Kickapoo, Potowatomi, Shawnee and the Lenape.” 3 The opposition was almost as strong as the support for the act, especially from the Christians. Jeremiah Evarts, a Christian missionary protested the act very strongly. Theodore Frelinghuysen, the New Jersey Senator at the time, and Davy Crockett, the Tennessee congressman opposd the act in congress. The act was passed after a very heated debate in congress.
President Jackson saw the move as inevitable, claiming their time was eventually going to come in the near future. He noted that settlements were advancing fast and a majority of the tribal nations in the northeast had already been phased out. The president especially reprimanded all his critics in the north claing that they had wiped out all their Native American tribes. They had set up family farms on their hunting grounds, and replaced tribal law with state law. He stated that the only way the Indians were to survive and maintain their culture, was if they could beat powerful and historic forces that went against them. Failure to this, he could only postpone their fate to an inevitable, but similar or worse fate than he had put in place for them. he shunned the romanticism attempts as sentimental feeling to return to a familiar past and claimed that in order for the nation to progress, they had to move forward.
President Jackson belived that the transfer of the Indians was wise and humane to prevent their totalwipeout in future. H.W. Brands supported the idea and stated the racism at the time would have ensured the Cherokee would be extinct if they remained in Georgia. He claimed that it was an act of mercy to the tribe, and a timely one to ensure the sustainance of the tribe for future generations. The general attitude towards the natives was not positive at the time and the racial discrimination by the Europeans to minority groups such as the Native Indians and black people was still very predominant. The wide resettlement of the Indians, popularly known as the Trail of Tears, happened in large numbers.
The first treaty implemented was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on September 27 th , 1830 where Choctaws gave up land east of the Mississippi and resettled in the West. The Treaty of new Echota in 1835 removed the Cherokee on the famous Trail of Tears. The Seminoles and other tribes fought back, backed up by fugitive slaves, and the fight lasted for seven years, from 1835 to 1842. “This prompted the government to leave some of them on the South Florida Swamplands, but over 3,000 of them were removed in the war.” 4 The conduct cannot be deemed just, but they ensured that the law worked in their favour and considered the evictions acts of mercy to the Native Indians.
Bibliography
Cave, Alfred A. "Abuse of power: Andrew Jackson and the Indian removal act of 1830." The
Historian 65, no. 6 (2003): 1330-1353.
Satz, Ronald N. American Indian policy in the Jacksonian era . University of Oklahoma Press,
2002. Stewart, Mark. The Indian removal act: Forced relocation . Capstone, 2007.
1 Cave, Alfred A. "Abuse of power: Andrew Jackson and the Indian removal act of 1830." The
Historian 65, no. 6 (2003): 1330-1353.
2 Cave, 1334
3 Stewart, Mark. The Indian removal act: Forced relocation . Capstone, 2007.
4 Satz, Ronald N. American Indian policy in the Jacksonian era . University of Oklahoma Press,
2002.
