American Policies During The 1800s Essay

Preparing for the abolition of the implemented throughout 1862. December 30, 1862, the president signed "Emancipation Proclamation", announced blacks living in the territories in rebellion against the United States, "now and forever" free. The document gave impetus to the adoption of Amendment XIII (1865) to the US Constitution. Proclamation been rightly criticized by radical Republicans, since the emancipation of slaves was carried out where it is not distributed power of the federal government, but it has changed the nature of the Civil War, turning it into a war for the abolition of slavery. In addition, it has forced foreign countries, including the UK, do not support the Confederacy.

The Emancipation Proclamation needed a constitutional amendment to guarantee abolishment of all slavery in the United States since the Proclamation could not do that itself (Guelzo, 2005). In conclusion, Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves, but the slaves freed themselves. The Proclamation process was an essential step in the abolishment of the slavery in America, although it was not the reason why the slavery ended. The document motivated the enslaved individuals and freed African American people to join the Union, which eventually became a war for freedom. Determinations and preservation of the slaves across the country struck fear in the eyes of the Confederacy (Carnahan, 2007).

The constitution did not outline specific details for relations with Natives, so as America grew older, the government was left to deal with the Indians however they pleased. As America expanded west in the 1800s, conflict with natives was inevitable. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, asking the natives to give up their land in exchange for money. Some refused to move off their native land, such as the Cherokees. As a result of this, they were removed and forced to make the journey known as the Trail of Tears.

The Native Americans were treated very cruelly and scornfully by white settlers and the American Government. The white settlers and the Government did not show any slight altruism towards the Native Americans' and therefore took their land by force by cheating them through treaties or relinquishing them off with soldiers or after battles. The Trail of Tears was a devastating event that occurred in the 1830's and an example of a grueling era. In 1830 The Indian Removal Act was passed by the authorization of president Andrew Jackson.” Five Civilized Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole. Some people rejected the idea and did not feel it was right to support the Indian Removal Act.

When the Europeans began colonizing the New World, they had a problematic relationship with the Native Americans. The Europeans sought to control a land that the Natives inhabited all their lives. They came and decided to take whatever they wanted regardless of how it affected the Native Americans. They legislated several laws, such as the Indian Removal Act, to establish their authority. The Indian Removal Act had a negative impact on the Native Americans because they were driven away from their ancestral homes, forced to adopt a different lifestyle, and their journey westwards caused the deaths of many Native Americans.

government passed the Indian Removal Act which forced members of the of the Five Civilized Tribes -- the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles from their ancestral lands in the Deep South. This was to make room for white settlers who wanted the rich soil. The tribes along with their black slaves were forcibly marched west of the Mississippi River to the new Indian Territory during the "Trail of Tears" of 1838 and 1839, resulting in the deaths of thousands of Native Americans. Some Native Americans refused to register with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or to allow them to be "removed" to "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma during the 1800s. They also refused to decide for the Blacks whether they would relocate or not.

Georgia was first on the list to seize and to do so the president gave the Cherokees a “choice”. They either moved west to new lands, which were called Indian Territory, where their independence would be respected or they would have to live under Georgia laws, meaning many of their human rights such as voting would be taken away from them. This decision was completely unfair to the tribe since the region was home to them and the new lands were unfamiliar and not at all valuable to them. Jackson soon passed the bill, forcing the Cherokees to march from their homelands all the way west to a portion of the Louisiana Purchase. This march was known as the Trail of Tears where thousands of Cherokees passed away on the journey.

Their withdrawal of their homeland was being caused by Andrew Jackson signing the Indian Removal Act into law on May 28, 1830. In the letter, the Cherokee nation addresses several reason on why they should not have to move. One reason is that the new land if foreign to them. They are being expected to pack up, leave everything they know, and move to the unknown. Another reason to add on to the above is that there are other Native American tribe already

Manifest Destiny (first developed in 1845) was the idea that during the nineteenth century, America not only could but would expand from coast to coast. The accomplishment of this idea came with the removal of indians in areas like the great plains, as well as many smaller conflicts in between the indians and the Americans. The Americans attempted to make a compromise with the indians so that they would leave peacefully, examples of this would be the offer to pay the indians in the form of supplies and annuities. The idea was a good one until Americans denied a payment in 1862 because John pope regarded the Indians as “maniacs or wild beasts ” and states that they do not deserve treaties or anything of the sort. Another big factor in the expansion of America from coast to coast was the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, not only with the people that it had brought to the west for the work, but the ease that it had provided for those who wanted to travel from the east to the west and did not have the money nor the time.

The Trail of Tears event of the removal of the Indians happened in 1838. “At the beginning of the 1830s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida–land their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations.”(History.com Staff). In this event, the Cherokee community of Native Americans was forced by the US government to move from their native home in the Southern part of the contemporary America to what is known as the Indian territories in Oklahoma. Arguments over land, restrictions, and laws were common amongst the Indians and settlers/whites. The settlers also called the “white men” believed that the movement of the Indians would bring peace.