Indian Removal Act Research Paper

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The Indian Removal Act of 1830 Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, once stated, “The individual who refuses to defend his rights when called by his government deserves to be a slave, and must be punished as an enemy of his country.” The Indian Removal Act was one of the greatest injustices in American history. It didn’t matter that the Indians had cultured the ways of the new settlers, Jackson could only see the tribes as complications to increasingly spread the new superior civilization over America. One major failure that Jackson had was his attitude towards the Indians. Jackson saw himself being the leader to a group that was misplaced and need to be forcefully reminded that they were in the wrong spot. The desire…show more content…
The Choctaw tribe were the first to sign the treaty. The Muskogee tribe did not leave like slaves in the night, however they bravely fought for their land which lead to the Creek War 1836-37. The Chickasaw tribe possibly were the easiest to move, because they had a small tribe. The Seminole were tricked by the government into signing their treaty, leading to the Seminole War in 1835. The one Indian tribe out of the five that was mostly devastated by the Removal Act was the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokee territory had gold that was easy to get to. The miners took over the Cherokee lands in hope to get rich. The miners ended up tarnishing the land the Cherokees land. The Cherokee people begged for help, but Georgia simply told them it’s not their problems you deal with it. 3In response, a Cherokee named Aitooweyah wrote, “We, the great mass of people think of the love we have to our land for… we do love the land where we were brought up. We will never let our hold on this land go… to let it go it will be like throwing away… our mother that gave… us birth.” The battle between the Cherokee and Georgia went to the Supreme Court; sadly, the Cherokee lost. The Cherokee ran out of corners to turn when the Treaty of New Echota was passed. This treaty stated that the Cherokee would receive land west of the Mississippi River, and they would receive pay if they signed. During the…show more content…
It didn’t matter to Jackson that some Indians had took on many of the settlers ways, he could only see tribes inferior to the new civilization. Jackson once asked "What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms . . . and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and religion?" Jackson's statement clearly shows how he failed to see the Indians as a well-established civilization. He should have proposed a way that both he, the settlers, and the Indians lived coherently amongst each other. Instead, he proposed that the tribes establish themselves only on Indian Territory, where the tribes would be free from contact with the settlers. Jackson failed morally by brutally removing the Indians like foreigners on land they occupied before he knew it to

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