Preview

Indian Removal Act Analysis

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1653 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Indian Removal Act Analysis
Imagine being woken up in the middle of the night and being taken out of one’s house by soldiers and moved from their homelands to a foreign land in the west. That is what happened to the Indians during the Indian removals. The Indian Removal Act gave the government enough power to seize the Indian’s land and move them west. The removals were meant to be peaceful and fair. They were also supposed to be done voluntarily (“Trail”). Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830. The Indian Removal Act affected many American Indian Tribes. After Andrew Jackson became president the Indian Removal Act was passed. The act was passed so the Americans could get the Indians off of their ancestor’s lands. Then they moved them …show more content…
They could not figure out how the United States could take their lands. They did not know how the soldiers were surprised when they refused removal (Brill 7). There were many causes for the Indian Removal Act. One of these causes were, that the Indians had a thirst for land. They wanted the Indian’s lands so they forced them to be removed (Kidwell). Some Indians were peaceful. Not even these Indians were accepted by the Americans (“Indian” 2014). The southerners were big supporters of the act. So they made arguments to try and pass the act. One of the arguments was that in the west the Indians would have more resources and a better way of living. The southerners did not seem to care that the lands in the west were already occupied (Hood, Kelleher, and Larkin). Some of the Indians were bribed from their lands. Other were threatened to be removed (Brill 38). To get the Indians to leave, the Americans made cruel laws. They wanted the Indians to become so miserable they would leave (Aaseng 7). One of these laws was that the Indians were not aloud to dig for the gold discovered on their lands (Aaseng 7-8). The Indian Removal Act made the Indians …show more content…
The law affected many Indian’s lives greatly. The Indian Removal Act was passed so the Americans could get more land. The Indians were moved from their lands to Indian Territory in the west. The act was passed for a lot of different reasons. Many tribes resisted the act. The Indians went to court to try and stop the removal of the Indians. The trials went all the way to supreme court. The removal of the Indians was harsh. They were kicked, beat, and left behind to die. The Americans affected the Indians in many ways. Many supported the Indian Removal Act. Some even fought for the law to be passed. The Indians were affected greatly by the Indian Removal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Trail of Tears

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The author, Dee Brown, gives a brief description about Andrew Jackson’s policy on Indian removal in order to gain popularity and power. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the cause and effects of “Indian Removal” during Jackson’s terms, ultimately creating the “Trail of Tears.” As early as the colonial period Indian removal was evident, Brown claims. Indians never really got along with white settlers, and even if they tried to resolve the conflicts, it would fail. Indian Removal calmed down over time but in 1828, Andrew Jackson ran for president and immediately knew he would have to wipe out the frontier states. He made a treaty in which the Indians had to remove themselves from the states and move west toward the Mississippi. On there “trip” to the Mississippi, Indians faced many hardships that included starvation, death, and disease.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. It moved more than 100,000 Indians living east of the Mississippi to reservations west of the Mississippi. The five "civilized" tribes were hardest hit.…

    • 1288 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indian Removal Act Dbq

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This act called for the government to make treaties that required Native Americans to relocate west. Jackson thought that this policy was “just and liberal.” He thought the Native Americans would be able to keep their way of life. He was wrong. The Indian Removal Act brought a lot of hardship to the Native Americans. It also forever changed the relationship between whites and Native Americans. Before Jackson passed this act, he gave the Native Americans two choices. The two choices were that they could take on white culture and become citizens of the United States, or they could move to the Western territories and keep their…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John L. O’Sullivan had said, “‘... our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.’” (www.britanica.com) During Andrew Jackson’s term, America had set its sights on the untamed West - which, inconveniently, happened to be the Indians’ territory. President Jackson decided to create a controversial treaty that would allow America to exchange the Indians’ land for a large piece of land in the Louisiana Territory. It was created on May 28, 1830 and sparked much criticism and support throughout the nation. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was justified because the Indians were enemies of America, they were given good land, and they were offered the government’s protection.…

    • 809 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Age of Jackson Dbq

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, dictating that all Indians living in the Deep South had to move to Eastern Oklahoma, because the Indians had something everyone else wanted, land. Jackson says in his First Inaugural Address,“It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.” Jackson is saying that It will be his genuine and continuous desire towards the Indian tribes, and we want to give them a fair and open policy, and give humane and kind attention to their rights and their wants which is the same with the habits of our government and the feelings of our people. He wants to give the Indian tribes a good policy. Later on, he removes the Indian tribes from their homes in the Deep South and makes them march on the trail of tears, where they relocate to Eastern Oklahoma.…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unfortunately, despite how precisely Indians followed white men’s laws and requirements, the Indian Removal would have eventually transpired. The Five Civilized Tribes shed their Indian traditions and culture to take on the Americans way of life. Indians not only adopted principles in government and agriculture, but also religiously. Despite all of this, whites still wanted to kick Indians out of their lands in order to bring profit to themselves. Even the national government could not terminate the Indian Removal. Through both the United States Constitution and Worcester v. Georgia, the national government declared that states could not operate the removal of Indians. All of this, illustrates the inhumanity and lack of compassion whites had…

    • 147 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Cherokee Removal is a brief history with documents by Theda Perdue and Michael Green. In 1838-1839 the US troops expelled the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast and removed them to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. The removal of the Cherokees was a product of the demand for land during the growth of cotton agriculture in the Southeast, the discovery of gold on the Cherokees land, and the racial prejudice that many white southerners had toward the Indians.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On May 1830, President Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) signed the Indian Removal Act, which would take tribes of eastern Indians, living in settled states, and resettle them in specially designated districts west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma). Many tribes were affected by the Indian Removal Act. Most notably, the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles tribes were subjected to eviction (O’Neill 11). By the large, these tribes were known as the "Five Civilized Tribes" (weiser). The tribes had their own customs, traditions, government, and territories. Until When the Indian Removal Act was implemented, however, they found themselves equally casted out. Though the terms of their departures diverse, the Five…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Andrew Jackson was the one who made this removal. He called it the Indian Removal. In 1830, the Indian Removal act was signed. Native Americans were forced to leave their lands. The Choctaw was the first one forced to leave. Thousands of people died. The removal kept on going.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq Indian Removal

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There were some reasons why the Cherokees moved in the first place. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 justified because the Indians did things that are very uncalled for. They did things like, scalping men, women, and children alive. and They also burned them on stakes. Also the Cherokees agree to move because they signed a treaty that if they sign it they agreed to move. Plus when they move they get to receive five million dollars and they also get a lot of land. So the Cherokees agree to move and get land and five million dollars and the Americans don’t want to die.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 should not be justified because the Americans broke treaties and cheated the Indians in deals, the Americans gave the Indians bad land, and the Indians were there first. The had a peaceful life, then the Americans came in and messed it…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Removal Act DBQ

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Since the colonization of America, there have been tensions and confrontations between white settlers and Native Americans over territory and civilization. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, allowing him to communicate with Native American tribal leaders in order to negotiate their voluntary relocation to Federal reservations west of the Mississippi River. When several tribes refused to relocate, the conflict turned violent and was conducted through the use of militias and military force. Due to this violent conflict and the subsequent relocation of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, relations between Native Americans and the United States Government have since been strained. Native Americans continually experience higher rates of poverty, fewer opportunities for educational advancement, higher rates of physical and mental illness, as well as general discrimination through social systems and policy. Strained relationships, societal, and economic opportunities have weakened and are less readily available to Native Americans, all factors that can be traced back to the Indian Removal Act.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cherokee Tribe Case Study

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The end of removal resulted in as what was known as the “Trail of Tears”, this is the process of where the Americans began forced removal of the Native Americans. All of this was allowed under the terms and conditions of the Treaty of Echota. The terms stated that, “the Cherokees had two years to move to their new home in the west.”3 During this many Cherokee lives were lost due to the vulnerability to disease and the…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Indian removal act was significant to American history because of the removal of Native American territory for usage of the government. The Indian removal act lead to the civil war because it broke the treaty between the native Americans and the government about no more communication over land, which made the north very…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Native American Poverty

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to the studies, a series of legislation by the government led to the forced migration of tribes in the 19th and 20th Century. Beginning with colonization, Tribes were forced from the East to the West coast, and to rural locations away from economic development. The lands that many settled on faced difficulties in cultivation a departure from the previously held land, ultimately leading to a failed new economy (Avitabile & Kleiner). This idea is highlighted by recent literature revealing disproportionate levels of poverty among Indian groups residing in Rural areas and on isolated land when compared to metropolitan locations (Leichenko). Furthermore, a 2009 study by Black identified the effects of the forceful relocation of American Indians and Exclusion under President Andrew Jackson. He argued that the strategic implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a huge blow to tribal lands, especially in the southeastern parts of the U.S. The government used policy to purge the coast of tribes to allow for the appropriation of vacated masses of land (Black). Though much of the movement among American Indians have been involuntary historically, some researchers have looked more closely at relocation in more recent years into the city. According to Sandefur, Rindfuss,…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays