Indian+Removal+Act

THE INDIAN REMOVAL ACT...

In the early 19th Century, The US was rapidly growing and they started expanding to the lower south. But they faced what they considered an obstacle, because this land was the home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw and Seminole Indian nations. They thought of the Indians as standing in the way of progress. They wanted the land to grow cotton, and they sought with the government to control the Indian lands.

From 1814 to 1824, Andrew Jackson was very important in getting the treaties to move the Indians from their eastern land to new western lands. The Indians agreed to the treaties because they didn't want the whites to harass them. As a result, the US gained control over parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and North Carolina. But in 1824, the Supreme Court made a decision that the Indians could live in the lands of the US, but they couldn't hold the title of those lands. The figured that the Indians' "right of occupancy" was subordinate to the United States' "right of discovery".

Some of the tribes, like the Creeks and Seminoles, refused to leave their land and even fought to protect their territory. While the Cherokees tried to use legal means to protect them. After a few tries, the Supreme Court passed a law that the Cherokees has the right to self-government. But nobody abided by the law.

In 1830, Andrew Jackson passed the "Indian Removal Act". The removal was supposed to be voluntary and peacefull. But the Indians resisted, and Jackson forced them to leave. The different tribes were moved out of their home lands one by one. Again, the Creeks and Seminoles tried to fight, but their attempts were useless and they were forced out. Some stayed to live and become a citizen of the US, as the Treaty stated they could. The Cherokees, on the other hand, were tricked out of their lands with and illigitimate treaty. They later were forced to leave their lands and began their journey on the Trail of Tears.

By 1837, Jackson had removed over 46,000 Native Americans from their home lands.



I got all of my information from this web site: [|Indian Removal Act- PBS]