In 1829, when President Andrew Jackson took office, one of his main goals were to move the Native Americans to the west of the Mississippi River. Jackson's purpose for their movement was to give the white settlers the land that the Native's had resided on and Jackson also had a strong belief that a good Indian was a dead Indian. When the Native Americans were ordered to move, the Cherokees went to the Supreme Court to challenge the removal order. In the case of Worester vs. Georgia, the verdict stated that the Cherokees had the right to keep their land, but Jackson refused to recognize the Court's decision. Jackson's Native American policy resulted in the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland to settlements across the Mississippi River,
His views regarding the Indians were distorted by his absolute loathe towards them, creating a toxic environment for the Natives. Due to the constant requests and suggestions to relocate the Indians west of the Mississippi River, a dry place seemingly uninhabitable for farm life, Andrew passed the “Indian Removal Act” which remunerated the “Five Civilized Tribes,” the Creek, Chickasaw, Seminole, Cherokee, and Choctaw to abandon their lands and move west of the Mississippi. Although this may sound fair, paying the tribes to migrate someplace else, the lands that they were given was much too unsuitable for the sustainability of crops and the conditions they had to endure during their journey west were absolutely sickening. Some tribes accepted the policy, whereas the Cherokee was defiant against the unethical policies, stating that the policy did not apply to them as they were a separate and independent nation with their own individual laws. Jackson, being the tyrant he is, ignores the Cherokees’ statements and continues to enforce the policy, even though the Supreme Court had already settled on a final ruling.
We have read and completed packet pages and work sheets about the whole Andrew Jackson unit. I have taken away from many class periods that there are two us ideals that fit into our unit. Those Ideals are Equality and Rights. The Indians were stripped of their rights and forced to move out of their homeland. To go more into depth the Act or law that I am explaining is the Indian removal act of 1830.
In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. It gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west. Those wishing to remain in the east would become citizens of their home state. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but many others further north.
Was the Government Justified in Removing the Cherokee from their native land? “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it…” (Jackson). After a suffering loss of the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson made a comeback in the election of 1828 and became the president of the United States. During this time westward expansion was still a very desirable wish.
However, as Andrew Jackson came into office, he claimed to congress that ‘ “if the states chose to extend their laws over [Indians] it would not be in the power of the federal government to prevent it” ’ (Takaki, p. 81). In 1832, in the Worcester v. Georgia case the Supreme Court officially ruled that states do not have the authority to have jurisdiction over Indian territory. Once again Jackson ignored it and continued his Indian removal plan after passing his Indian removal act in 1830 that gave him the authority to draw up treaties to move Indians west of the Mississippi River. In 1831, The Dancing Rabbit Creek Treaty was ratified which gave the Choctaw a chance to stay in Mississippi or move West.
This law allowed the federal government to pay the natives to move west. Most Native Americans accepted the payment for their lands and agreed to move, but the Cherokee nation refused. They took their case to the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice John Marshall decided that Georgia had no right to interfere with the Cherokees. Jackson disagreed with the Supreme Court’s ruling. The textbook states “ ‘John Marshall has made his decision,’ Jackson reportedly said.
While Jackson believed that everyone who wanted could do this, he used what would today be considered terrible methods to get results. Jackson sent the military to fight against many Indian tribes and, after they had beaten the Indians, they claimed their lands for white settlers. This forced the Indians to move farther and farther west into less favorable lands. He created the "Indian Removal Act", which made it legal and, in his opinion, morally right to force the Indians from their lands. The biggest and most remembered event of this was the "Trail of Tears", where tens of thousands of Indians were led on a forced march to lands west of the Mississippi.
Andrew Jackson supported the Indian Removal Act which allows Americans to gain the territory belonging to the Native Americans. The eastern natives were forced to move west of the Mississippi River. This became known as the Trial of Tears where thousands of people died along the way. The white inhabitants were happy about his because gold was found on the native lands. Another thing Jackson promoted while he was in office was the expansion of democracy.
The Indian Removal Act authorized Jackson to give the Indians land west of the Mississippi in exchange for their land in the states, but could not force them to leave. He violated and broke commitments that he even negotiated with them. He tried to bribe the Indians and even threatened some of them. Alfred Cave organizes his article thematically and is trying to prove
The president during the enforcement of the Indian removal act, Andrew Jackson, thought that the indigenous people were less civilized and moral than the settlers, although many of the tribes had adapted to the European lifestyle. He did not believe that the more “civilized” people should live alongside the indigenous people. When congress passed the Indian removal act in 1830 that stated that it was legal to force indigenous people off of their land, he fully enforced it, pushing tribes west. When there was an auction of Cherokee land, he claimed he couldn 't do anything to stop it, but he didn 't truly want to. The indigenous people wanted to coexist in peace, as Red Jacket stated, “‘You have got our country but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion upon us….
According to “Memorial to the Cherokee Nation”, the land was bad out west. One of the Cherokee even saying,“The far greater part of that region is… badly supplied with food and water” This means that Jackson wanted to move the native Americans somewhere where they would not be able to thrive. And according to the “Indian Removal Map”, it shows that some tribes had to travel hundreds of miles, and some even cross large bodies of water. Jackson knew they would have to do this.
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).
Andrew Jackson’s sentiment towards the Native Americans was certainly not a kind one. Manifest destiny was a popular belief among Americans, including Jackson, and he would go to the extent of forcing Native Americans out of their homes to reach their “ordained goal”. He believed in the expansion of southern slavery which is why he pushed for removing the Indians west of the Mississippi, which makes it the more disgraceful. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 said that it will allow American government to offer in-state territories to the Indian’s for their western land. This wasn’t the case when the U.S. went in and drove the Indians out by force.
Although Jackson was important, he was part of many terrible things. Around the 1820s there were many major indian tribes in eastern United States such as Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole. This soon came to a change. Andrew Jackson thought these Indians were in the way of eastern development, using the Indian Removal Act which the congress had approved he decided to kick them out and send them west. In 1831 the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Indians had the right to self government and the United States could not interfere with that.
He favored the relocation of all eastern Indian tribes. Jackson only sought the whites to have more power and land he saw the Indians as a problem. Jackson claimed “removing the Indians to territory west of the Mississippi was the only way to save them.” (pg. 285 The American Promise).