could try to push his agenda to get the Native American out of the East but there was some opposition. The first one was a report from the Committee of Indian Affairs that stated, “They [Cherokees] have called upon the Executive [Andrew Jackson] to make good this guarantee, by preventing this operation in Georgia and Alabama.” What the Cherokee wanted was President Andrew Jackson to honor past treaties in order for them to stay in those respective states. After many debates and arguments in the House of Representatives, the House, passed the act. The Senate passed it and after many debates the House passed the Indian Removal Act With the most controversial law being passed in Congress and the president signing it , there will was a period …show more content…
The only course they had was to take the United States to court and Andrew Jackson.
Presidents of the United States negotiated treaties with Native Americans to take their land and move them west. Andrew Jackson was no different to make treaties but he was different because of his track record. However, “...violation of the rights of Native Americans had begun even earlier…the first Europeans arrived in North America.” He did not follow the crowd and made decisions on his own that would benefit the United States and society as a whole. Between the years 1785 -1798, there were at least seven treaties between the Creeks (two treaties) and the Cherokee (five treaties). Then from 1800 to the beginning of the War of 1812, the treaties decreased to six between the Creeks and the Cherokees. After the War of 1812 ended and before the election of 1828, the treaties between the United States and the Native American tribes of the Creeks and Cherokee increased to at least fifteen. This expected from the War of 1812, especially the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. On November 28, 1785, the Cherokee Indians and the United States signed a treaty in Hopewell which states, “…give peace to all the Cherokees, and receive them into the favour and protection of the United States of America…” Of course it said the Natives
In Andrew Jackson’s message “On Indian Removal,” he used diction to create an uplifting tone. For example, in his first line he chose those words, “It gives me pleasure to announce to congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation.” In addition, he said,”It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.” Lastly, he wrote, “To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement.” Jackson chose his words such as: “it gives
Then State governments started joining in this effort to try to drive the Native Americans out. Several states had passed laws limiting the Native Americans sovereignty and rights and encroaching on their own territory. Andrew Jackson, president during this time, has been a supporter of what he called “Indian removal.”
Many Americans believed that the Indian Removal Act would be a series of treaty making with the Native Americans, to form alliances and give them the land that the Americans didn’t believe the US would ever extend to, and the original Supreme Court ruling in 1831 also invalidated Cherokee sovereignty over their land. However, the Indian Removal Act quickly became an excuse for Jackson’s tantrum over the Supreme Court’s second ruling in 1832, which confirmed Cherokee sovereignty in 1832. Though the US believed that they had owned the land, the Cherokee had been there for much longer and held the rights to the land. The US also did not have the legal right to the land though they had the treaty because the treaty had been signed by renegade Cherokee who believed in relocation, not by the actual government of the Cherokee Nation. Chief John Ross argued that it had been made illegally, but it was ratified by a single vote and signed by Jackson.
When the U.S started to rapidly expand westward, there were major conflicts between white settlers and the Native Americans who occupied those regions. The need to push Native Americans out of their ancestral lands led to President Andrew Jackson’s speech concerning the Indian Removal Act on December 6, 1830. The Indian Removal Act was put in place by the United States government to move the Native Americans west of the Mississippi River into what was described to be “Indian Territory” (Bentley, 2011, p. 679). In his speech, President Andrew Jackson stated that the Indian Removal Act would “ Place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage hunters.” It was very evident that the Native Americans were in fact portrayed as savages and unequal to the American people.
The early 1800’s in America was a time of growth and development. The US government wanted to secure the nation's thriving future with expanding their land. According to The Cherokee Nation, In 1823 when the Supreme court made a decision that the Indians could occupy land in the United states, but later came into a issue, where Andrew Jackson wanted and persistently was pushing the Cherokees out of their land, and so were not able to keep their title to the land. Then in 1831 the Cherokee took the trail back to the Supreme court.
Their land was extremely sacred to them, and they claimed the land first. In addition to these beliefs, the Cherokee could argue that between the years 1814 and 1824, the federal government signed upwards of ten treaties with the Native Americans establishing them as a country and preventing the government from taking this land. According to the tribe, President Jackson was “ignorant” in regards to the ways of the Cherokee, resulting in his confusion as to why the land is so important to them. Nevertheless, they agreed to relocate, though not without major reluctance, and began building their lives once again.
They were also able to steal the land away by talking the Native Americans out of their allotments or by using other nefarious means such as
After many excruciating and bloody battles, one example being the Battle of Horse Show Bend, Native American tribes began to realize they couldn’t defeat Americans in war. Instead they developed a strategy of appeasement. This plan consisted of the Native Americans giving up a large portion of their land, in hopes that they could retain some of it. However, appeasement and resistance did not work. Following, Andrew Jackson convinced congress to pass the Removal Act of 1830.
Furthermore, the Cherokee and the United States agreed upon the protection and perpetual peace. “The United States agree to protect the Cherokee nation from domestic strife and foreign enemies and against intestine wars between the several tribes …” (Treaty of New Echota, Article 6). However, it was noticeable that Principal Chief John Ross or the Cherokee government did not ratify the treaty. In his letter, he argues: “A spurious Delegation, in violation of a special injunction of the general council of the nation … By the stipulations of this instrument, we are despoiled of our private possessions, the indefeasible property of
The United States federal government tried to resolve its bond with many different Native tribes by treaties. The treaties were formal agreements between the United States government and the Native Americans. Treaties were made by the executive branch on behalf of the president and then ratified by the United States Senate. The treaties made it where Native American Indians would give up their rights to hunt and live on huge sections of land that they had inhabited in exchange for trade goods, houses, and assurances that no further demands would be made in the said treaties (NebraskaStudies. Org).
The Indian Removal Act was signed in 1830 by President Andrew Jackson to remove the Cherokee Indians from their homes and force them to settle west of the Mississippi River. The act was passed in hopes to gain agrarian land that would replenish the cotton industry which had plummeted after the Panic of 1819. Andrew Jackson believed that effectively forcing the Cherokees to become more civilized and to christianize them would be beneficial to them. Therefore, he thought the journey westward was necessary. In late 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their homes and forced into a brutal journey westward in the bitter cold.
In 1838, the Cherokees were forced to give up their lands and to migrate to present-day Oklahoma, due to the signing of The Treaty of New Echota. The Cherokees were deported from their homes, betrayed by the government whom they treated with respect, separated them from their land that they nurtured; the Cherokee struggled to understand how to make a new life. The Indian Removal led to thousands of Cherokees to die due to starvation, diseases, and exhaustion during their march known as The Trail of Tears. This paper will discuss the effects it had on the Cherokees and what has happened during the trail.
government ordered the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Using the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, it justified the removal of the Cherokees. “The treaty, signed by about 100 Cherokees known as the Treaty party, relinquished all lands east of the Mississippi River in exchange for land in Indian Territory and the promise of money, livestock, various provisions, tools and other benefits.” In 1838, the U.S. Army began enforcement of the Removal Act under orders from President Andrew Jackson. An estimated of 4,000 Cherokees died during the Journey from hunger, exposure, and disease.
The Indian Removal Act was passed during Andrew Jackson’s presidency on May 28, 1830. This authorized the president to grant land that was west of the Mississippi River to Indians that agreed to give up their homeland. They believed that the land could be more profitably farmed by non-Indians.
On July 17, 1830, the Cherokee nation published an appeal to all of the American people. United States government paid little thought to the Native Americans’ previous letters of their concerns. It came to the point where they turned to the everyday people to help them. They were desperate. Their withdrawal of their homeland was being caused by Andrew Jackson signing the Indian Removal Act into law on May 28, 1830.