INDIAN REMOVAL ACT OF 1830
The US government used treaties to displace Indians from their tribal land. One of the treaties was the Indian Removal Act. The Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by President Andrew Jackson. The act authorized the president to give unsettled lands at the West of Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. The Indians were then to be given financial and material assistance that they could use to move to their new locations.
The rationale given in 1830 for this Act
The driving force that led to the Indian Removal Act was the desire by President Andrew Jackson to reclaim their land from the Indians. The president was a forceful proponent in removing Indians from their tribal lands since his early days as an army general. The Southern states- Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, which had Indian populations, were conflicting with the Indians over resources and settlement. The Act also intended to deal with the above conflicts once and for all.
The short term and long term results of this ActThe Indians were evicted from their tribal land. Although the Act had said that the relocation was to be voluntary, Indians, majorly those in the Southeastern nations, who opposed it were forcefully evicted. By 1837, 46,000 Native Americans had been evicted from their lands in Mississippi.The Indians attempted to oppose the Act. The Cherokee tribe adopted legal means and went to the Supreme Court in 1831 to try and safeguard their rights. They argued their case on the 1830 Georgia Law, which forbid whites from occupying land in the Indian Territory without a license from the state. The Creeks refused to be relocated and signed a treaty in March 1832 which opened Alabama to white settlement. However, they had protected ownership of land portions that were not taken by the Whites. However, the government did not protect them from spectators, who cheated them out of their lands in the end. Justification of the Indian Removal Act President Andrew Jackson believed that by reclaiming the land, America would become a super nation and make the states advance in power, wealth and population. To an extent, he achieved what he wanted as at the moment, the USA is one of the world’s super powers.
However, more American whites have jobs compared to the Native American; this is not fair since the natives were the first inhabitants of the place. Moreover, the method that was applied to evict the native Indians was inhumane and led to the death of thousands- also referred as the Trail of Tears.Repatriations are appropriate to the descendants of the victims of the Indian Removal Act. This is because the Natives basic rights were violated. The land was forcefully taken away from them, some Natives died during the eviction, and the Cherokee were barred from mining in their own lands. All the above injustices deserve compensation from the government
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