The Indian Removal Act: The First American Civil War

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.

Promises are meant to be kept, but more than often promises lead to broken promises. Promises made to the Indians that their land would be forever theirs, became a broken promise. White settlers were starting to move toward the west beyond the Mississippi. The Indians’ lives were about to change due to new lives moving and the rise of Gold, Silver and the railroad. State government, settlers, pressured the federal government to take Indian land for their own beneficial use and more than one hundred thousand Indians from the Southwest were forced off their land and moved to reservations west of the Mississippi River.

All they wanted was peace and a safe place for them and their families but they couldn’t have it. They didn’t get to choose where they wanted to stay. In Ambrose’s article Reporting to the President, September 23- December 31, 1806, it says that “In the course of their journey they acquired a knolege of numerous tribes of indians hitherto unknown; they informed themselves of the trade which may be carried on with them, the best channels & positions for it, & they are enabled to give with accuracy the geography of the line they pursued”(Ambrose 418-421). This is saying that Lewis and Clark went out and came across Indian tribes that expanded across America and they learned a lot of things from

The seventh president of the United States was Andrew Jackson. He was accused of the slaughter of the Cherokee Indians, but can he be found innocent. There are a few reasons for his innocence like, he did give the indians two years to get ready for departure instead of kicking them out automatically. Also he actually didn’t want to remove them at first. He also told them that they would find food and clothing for all .

In the late 1830’s, where the United States was growing rapidly, whites faced an obstacle while trying to settle in the South. This area of land was home of the Cherokee and other Indian tribes. The Cherokee Indians signed treaties hoping that white settlers would not come for their land. Prompted by the state of Georgia along with the president, Andrew Jackson, whom did not like Indians, expelled the Cherokee Indians from their homeland. Cherokee’s pleas to Georgia and the Supreme Court did little to stop their removal.

The Dawes Act was created for the government’s goal to divide up the tribal land among individual natives. After the tribes were in reservations the government wanted them to become more selfish so they came up with the idea of giving them one hundred and sixty acres and American citizenship if they agreed to town land but it didn’t work very

According to Rothenberg, in order to understand where American Indians stand today, it is important to at the historical developments of the concept of Indian rights along with the civil rights movement in this country. (501). Native Americans have been disregarded in terms of their decisions and are forced to conform to demands against their free will. Native Americans continue to be exploited through new practices and policies for a variety of reasons. The Kumeyaay have been in San Diego region for thousands of years yet, they are treated as though they are invisible both literally and in voice.

Though his actions were for the good of America, this doesn’t overshadow the effects on the indian people. The most significant ethical violation was the violation of civil rights. The Cherokee were forced to leave their land even after they proved that they were in the legal right. By the use of military force the U.S. military took away their right to peaceful leave and basic civil rights. Even though Andrew Jackson’s policies were for the greater good and the prosperity of the American cause for Manifest Destiny, his actions were not ethical, did not respect civil rights granted by the U.S. Constitution, and violated constitutional review granted to the supreme court in Madison’s

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 settlers also called the “white men” believed that the movement of the Indians would bring peace. The settlers also believed that they needed the land more than the native Americans so taking the land was a must do thing. Although there have been many different opinions on the trail of tears the Indians should not have been forced to move out of their homelands. Leading up to the Trail of tears Migration from the original Cherokee Nation began in the early 1800’s. Some Cherokees, that were not comfortable with the whites moving in on their territories, the Indians moved west on their own and settled in other areas of the country.