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Native Americans: The Indian Removal Act

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The Native Americans, also known as Indians, were the early inhabitants of America. They travelled from Asia to America over 30,000 years ago. They have lived separately from other Asians for so long that they have genetic and cultural difference. Indians occupied America and called it home for thousands of years before the first Europeans had discovered it. This is one key reason why the Indian Removal Act was cruel, unjust, and immoral. The Americans were quite ethnocentric towards the Indians. They viewed them as inferior heathens who were not to be married or converted to Christianity. (Scupin, 2012, p. 112). Due to their different beliefs, views, and values, they often fought over land and how it should be used. Over the years, the Americans had created several policies relating to the use and ownership of Indian land. Plots of land, which are called reservations, were drawn up and reserved for the Indians. Although the Indians were given land to live on, most them had chosen not to move. There was a lot of pressure, …show more content…

One of the most terrible Indian removals would be the removal of the Cherokees. Cherokee Indians believed themselves to be an independent nation from the United States, so they had some resistance towards the act. The Cherokees even became a much more civilized tribe to please the Americans but in the end the only thing that the Americans wanted was the Cherokee land. The Americans had forcefully removed the Cherokee people from their land and made them march to Indian reservations in Oklahoma. During the multi-year trek to Oklahoma thousands of Cherokee Indians lost their lives. Similar removal tactics were used for other Indian tribes in the southeast and they had also lost many from their ranks. The forced removal of the southeastern Indians came to be know as the Trail of Tears due to the thousand of Indian lives that were

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