ipl-logo

Early American's Choices Essay

547 Words3 Pages

How did early Americans’ choices shape the America of today? How did their actions lead to and affect the life that we know in our nation? We can begin with looking at early Americans and how they used deception to take land from Indians. They took advantage of the Indians’ kindness for weakness. Americans wanted gold and fortune and allowed their greed to be their motivation. The Indians wanted peaceful interaction and respect for their lands. The American’s choices and treatment of the Indians led to the birth of racism and discrimination for our nation. Laws would eventually be put in place for protection of all citizens for this very reason. This is why I believe that the Indian Removal Act was a step in the wrong direction for …show more content…

Now some people may say that the Americans needed the land for their expanding population. Even though the Americans needed the land, they didn’t need to kill or hurt the Indians. The Trail of Tears resulted in over 4,000 Indians dying while moving west. Indians were discriminated and treated unequally and resulted in loss of land and life. This led to action to help protect citizens against abuse. Today’s laws help to protect citizens equally against abuse of power and unjust treatment by the government. Some believe that people in power will always take advantage of others. This is why laws are put in place to protect us. The 13th and 14th Amendments which abolished slavery and gave equal protection of the laws to citizens are prime examples of these laws. Laws are part of our Constitution and protect citizens. We have to take responsibility and accountability for choices in order to better our future. The Indian Removal Act was a step in the wrong direction for our nation because it took advantage of helpless Indians, unjustly removed them from their lands, and was the birth of true racism and discrimination among our citizens. To summarize, early Americans took advantage of the Indians and their lands which led to the beginning of racism and discrimination among citizens, and then laws were established to protect citizens against abuse of

Show More
Related

  • Indian Removal Act Research Paper

    584 Words  | 3 Pages

    So down below this will explain in depth why the indian removal act of 1812 is not justified Well, for starters we actually killed them using muskets and swords killing the men who tried to stop them. as well as we killed them with diseases that we had and we starved them because we killed animals for sport and we introduced new animals to the ecosystem. and intern were killing their way of life now they may have killed some of us but that is like saying a burglar runs into your house kills your family and then is trying to kill you.

    Read More

  • Indian Removal Act Dbq Essay

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    By far, the Indian Removal Act is a very barbarous thing to put our fellow Native Americans through. To begin with, removal of the indians is a very bribing and forceful action. The fact that we would all take the measures to force them off of their land is uncalled for, especially since it is land of their own. We cannot just bribe and trick the tribes for the comfort of ourselves, all stated in Document 6, Senator Peleg Sprague. In Document 5, Theodore Frelinghuysen, Frelinghuysen’s speech mentions how removal of the tribes would involve, very violent actions and crowded acres as they will be forced onto lands west of the Mississippi.

    Read More

  • How Did The Constitution Fulfill The Ideals Of Women's Rights

    685 Words  | 3 Pages

    All throughout the United State’s existence, Americans have believed in common ideals on which our beloved nation should be based. After America’s first failed attempt at a solid government, the Articles of Confederation, the Founding Fathers came together and drafted the Constitution in order to correct some of our original ideals. Still to this day, the Constitution is considered “the supreme law of the land”, but now with a few more amendments. These amendments were adopted in order to patch up some of the stray ideals that had been twisted over the years. Some of these ideals that the United States did not fulfill included Rights, Equality, and Opportunity.

    Read More

  • How The Devastating Effects Of The Trail Of Tears

    484 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Trail of Tears was named so because of its devastating effects to the Cherokee nation. They were removed for one main reason, so their land could be used by the white men. Nobody had the right to take away their land. The land had been theirs since before the Europeans came and now they were being forcibly removed from it. On top of that, soldiers forced them to travel in the winter, causing thousands of Native Americans to die.

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Research Paper

    775 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Trail of Tears was a massive transport of thousands of Native Americans across America. After the Indian removal act was issued in 1830 by president Andrew Jackson, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee, and Seminole tribes were taken from their homelands and transported through territories in what many have called a death march. The government, on behalf of the new settlers ' cotton picking businesses, forced the travel of one hundred thousand Native Americans across the Mississippi River to a specially designated Indian territory for only the fear and close-mindedness of their people. The Native Americans were discriminated against by not only their new government, but also the people of their country and forced to undertake one of the most difficult journeys of their lives.

    Read More

  • The Indian Removal Act In The 1830's

    726 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Indians did establish schools, develop written language and laws and even became sedentary farmers. Even though they had done all this to become a citizen they were still not recognized. They gave up hunting to adapt the European-American culture. The policy was designed to remove the Native Americans by the American government. The Indian Removal Act was not just created in the 1830’s but was culminated in the nineteenth century.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Mexican American War And The Declaration Of Independence

    1687 Words  | 7 Pages

    This had no consent from the Mexican people and, in the name of American expansion, showed a clear disregard for their right to self-government. The Mexican-American War violated the value of the governed's consent and disregarded the sovereignty of another nation and the rights of the people living there. The Trail of Tears, in which thousands of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and relocated to reservations without their consent, was another time of Americans not following the value of consent of the governed. The government used the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to justify these actions, arguing that it was necessary for the expansion of white settlers. However, this forced relocation ignored the rights of the Native American tribes and violated their right to self-government.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson Dbq

    744 Words  | 3 Pages

    This move, called the Trail of Tears, crushed the Native Americans as well as killing hundreds of them. Even though the Cherokee Indians court rulings did not help them directly, they did help to bring awareness to the fact that Indians need to have rights like the white

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of The Trail Of Tears

    277 Words  | 2 Pages

    Under influence of president Andrew Jackson, the congress was urged in 1830 to pass the Indian Removal Act, with the goal of relocated many Native Americans in the East territory, the west of Mississippi river. The Trail of tears was made for the interest of the minorities. Indeed, if president Jackson wished to relocate the Native Americans, it was because he wanted to take advantage of the gold he found on their land. Then, even though the Cherokee won their case in front the supreme court, the president and congress pushed them out(Darrenkamp).

    Read More

  • Why Is Indian Removal Act Wrong

    209 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first reason is that the 5th amendment states, “No person shall be…deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…” Taking the Native Americans land with the Indian Removal Act violates one of the amendments. The Native Americans did have a trial but nothing was done of it. Another reason the Indian Removal Act was unjust was because the Supreme Court said so! In the 1832 case Worcester vs. Georgia the court ruled the Cherokee Nation as being sovereign.

    Read More

  • The Indian Removal Act: The Negative Impact On The Native Americans

    1105 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of The Indian Removal Act

    1004 Words  | 5 Pages

    Contrary to a popular, exaggerated thought among the settlers in the 1800s—that the West was unoccupied and perfect for settlers to claim—around a quarter million Native Americans inhabited these lands for long periods of time. Some lived there as a result of the Indian Removal Act (1830), where many tribes in the east were forced to walk the “Trail of Tears” and were relocated to present-day Oklahoma. Settlers viewed these groups as potential threats that would interfere with their westward expansion plans. Therefore, they wished for these tribes to be removed from the Great Plains. To accomplish these goals, treaties were created, but eventually, settlers and the local militias, with the support of the federal government, used more violent and drastic methods.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Another Indian Appropriation Act

    228 Words  | 1 Pages

    In order to control even more the natives, another Indian Appropriation Act was passed in 1871. It said that Indian tribes were no longer seen as an indepedent nation but that all Indians were just individuals, like everyone. But also that they were "wards" of the federal government. This obviously made the natives less powerful, because as a tribe, they were numerous so they had more power and they could have treaties with the government. But with the act, it did not work anymore.

    Read More

  • Andrew Jackson And The Trail Of Tears

    265 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nobody's lives would be the same after losing the ones they had lost during the long journey. The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears were terrible events for the Native American people to live through. They lost lives, supplies, homes, and family memories.

    Read More

  • Trail Of Tears Research Paper

    1086 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Genocide: Trail of Tears/ The Indian removal act During the 1830s the united states congress and president Andrew Jackson created and passed the “Indian removal act”. Which allowed Jackson to forcibly remove the Indians from their native lands in the southeastern states, such as Florida and Mississippi, and send them to specific “Indian reservations” across the Mississippi river, so the whites could take over their land. From 1830-1839 the five civilized tribes (The Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chickasaw) were forced, sometimes by gun point, to march about 1,000 miles to what is present day Oklahoma.

    Read More

More about Early American's Choices Essay

Open Document