Removal Act of May 28, 1830 was an act by both Houses of Congress of the U.S., which provided for an exchange of lands with the native Indian tribes residing in any of the states or territories and for their removal west of the Mississippi River, their traditional land, to the prairies. It was signed by then President Andrew Jackson into law.
The eviction of these Indian tribes from a land they called their own was part of the course of the Westward expansion by European-Americans. These tribes then lost their lands by purchase, war, disease or extermination but many were formalized by treaty. They fought for that right so hard that the Treaty of Greenville of 1785 had to be signed to end bloody Indian wars in Ohio (Goodman 2003). The agreement recognized such right for "as long as the woods grow and waters run."
The Injustice of the Indian Removal Act 1830
Introduction
The Indian Removal Act signed by Andrew Jackson in 1830 was meant to establish peace in the nation and to give the Native Americans their own territory where they could practice their own activities, traditions and culture without interference from the American government. However, the Act resulted in the forced migration of thousands of Native Americans from their traditional homelands to a region of the U.S. that did not suit their lifestyle or their culture. Many suffered and died during the march on the Trail of Tears from the Southern states to Oregon. Though Jackson may have had good intentions at the time, the removal can now be viewed as an American tragedy that might have been prevented. In fact, it was just one example of an exercise in human rights abuses in a long history of human rights abuses committed by the…...
President Andrew Jackson had long pursued an aggressive approach to Native Americans before 1838-9, when 4000 Cherokee died during the forcible removal program dubbed later the "Trail of Tears"
Five tribes in the Southeastern United States had been dubbed "civilized" because of their willingness to assimilate: the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole.
The informal and formal agreements between Native Americans and the federal government began to fall apart due to increasing demand for land.
Greed and white supremacist ideology laid the groundwork for the Indian Removal Act of 1830, revealing stark connections between the Trail of Tears and the legacy of slavery in the United States.
Sheer greed prompted much of the Indian removal policies, broken treaties, and ultimately, forced exile.
A. Burgeoning numbers of settlers into the lands now part of Georgia and Alabama pressured the federal government for support in their endeavor to expand cotton plantations.
B. As military resistance proved futile, several…...
Indian Removal
How valuable is history if it is truly written by the victors of war? What remains of the historical account are only tiny fragments of what the true and whole story encapsulated. What we are left with are scraps of stories that are fragmented and skewed to the current power structures that run the institutions. Understanding this skeptical attitude is extremely important when judging an historical account.
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the removal of Native Americans from the region east of the Mississippi in the time of 1830. This essay will examine both sides of the argument and address the ethical, moral, philosophical and legal aspects to this complex and sophisticated subject. This essay will ultimately try to distinguish that the removal of these people's land, while extremely expedient and profitable, was a clear violation of the human ethic and should be remembered as a critical…...
He was viewing them as little children who required guidance. He tended to believe that the policy of removal had great benefits to the Indians. Majority of the white Americans were thinking that United States was not capable of extending past Mississippi. The removal was capable of saving the Indian nationals from the white's depredations Foreman 1932).
The removal could make them to govern themselves peacefully
It was assumed that the removal was to resettle the Indians in a region where they were capable of governing themselves peacefully. However, a number of Americans viewed this as being a mere excuse for a cruel and appalling course of action, and complained against the removal of the Indian nationals. Their complaints however could not prevent the southeastern populations from being removal. The first lot of people to sign the removal treaty was the Choctaws. They did this in September 1830. A number of…...
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(415 pp., 14 ill., 6 maps, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1932.)
Gibson, Arrell M. Oklahoma: A History of Five Centuries. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1981
Lindberg, Kip and Matthews, Matt. "To Play a Bold Game: The Battle of Honey Springs" North and South Magazine December 2002: pgs. 56- 61.
Seminole Indians
The name Seminole is derived from the Spanish word "cimarron" meaning "wild men." Seminoles were originally given this name since they were Indians who had escaped from slavery in the British-controlled northern colonies. hen they arrived in Florida, they were not known as Seminoles as they were in reality Creeks, Indians of Muskogee derivation. The Muskogean tribes made up the Mississippian cultures which were temple-mound builders. "Among the Muskogean tribes were the Creeks, Hitichis and Yamasees of Georgia, the Apalachees of Florida, the Alabamas and Mobiles of Alabama, and the Choctaws, Chickasaws and Houmas of Mississippi" (Murray, n.d.).
It is believed that the Seminole tribe settled in Florida as far back as 10,000 BC. For hundreds of years, the Seminole Indians essentially ruled almost all of Florida. Even when the Europeans arrived, at first they were not concerned in the area of Florida, but displayed more inquisitiveness toward the southern…...
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Works Cited
Murray, D.J. n.d. "The Unconquered Seminoles." Web. 5 February 2012. Available at:
Carlisle Indian School: founded 1879; Indian boarding school; Pennsylvania; forced assimilation of native children; abuse of children
11. Cheyenne Tribe: Plains Indians; a Sioux name for the tribe; currently comprises two tribes; ties with Arapaho; hunters; ghost dance
12. ed Cloud: leader of Ogala Lakota; fierce warrior opposed U.S.; ed Cloud's War 1866-1868; Wyoming, Montana; became leader on reservation
13. Comanche Tribe: Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma; Plains Indians; hunter-gatherers; about 14,000 remain; speak Uto-Aztecan language related to Shoshone
14. Joseph Brant: Thayendanegea; Mohawk; American evolution fought with British to help Indians; became Mason; active political leader for Six Nations
15. Trail of Tears: massive relocation of Native Americans; affected Choctaw, Cherokee and other southern Indians; move to Oklahoma Indian Territory; 1830s; related to Indian emoval Act; represented treaty violations
16. Pontiac's War: 1763; Great Lakes region; Pontiac was Odawa leader; war against British after Seven Years War; British retaliated with smallpox blankets
Often, treaties were signed, and then as more people moved into the area, they were ignored.
By 1834, the BIA was working with warring Indian tribes attempting to keep the peace, and the scope of government involvement in this area continued to grow. Jackson's Indian policies were much more dramatic than any of the others before him. During his presidency, he authorized military campaigns against the Indians, the Indian emoval Act of 1830 allowed the government to remove Indians to lands far west, even further than earlier relocations, and the reservations of warring tribes were often place near each other. In short, the Federal Indian policies throughout this period were all about the government, and had little valid concern for the Natives.
eferences
Editors. 2009. Federal Indian Policy Timeline. Washington State Historical Society. http://stories.washingtonhistory.org/treatytrail/context/policy-timeline-1.htm.
Campbell, John. 2006. The Seminoles, the "Bloodhound War" and Abolitionism, 1796-1865. Journal of Southern History 72, no. 2: 259+.
Indian Welfare Act
There are few things in life as traumatic as losing a child. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon that plagues humanity on a daily basis. Children are lost in many ways. Some die, some are kidnapped. Others are lost through adoption. For some mothers, adoption is an informed decision made on the basis of what the individual believes is right for her child. However, there is also a phenomenon of adoption that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s, in which mothers were more or less coerced in giving up their children for adoption. In many cases, this coercion also occurred without informed consent, where mothers were asked to sign documents without receiving full disclosure regarding the nature of such documents. This occurred disproportionately among Indian children, many of whom were forcibly removed from their parents during the 1960s and 1970s. This resulted in the Indian Child Welfare Act, according…...
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References
"Indian Child Welfare Act -- Termination Of Parental Rights -- Adoptive Couple V. Baby Girl." Harvard Law Review 127.1 (2013): 368-377. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Jacobs, Margaret D. "Remembering The "Forgottern Child": The American Indian Child Welfare crisis Of The 1960S and 1970S. "American Indian Quarterly 37.1/2 (2013): 136-159. Academic Search Premier. Web, 24 Apr. 2014.
American Indian Movement
The poorest people in America are the American Indians and it is also a fact that Indian reservations have unique laws that has made it a nation by itself within the United States. The modern movements focus on the American Indian reservations being empowered by self-determination. This is important for the economic, social and cultural improvement of the American Indians. It was with the Nixon administration that the welfare of the tribes became the focus of the government. The subsequent administrations encouraged the Indians to adapt to a policy of political and economic self-determination. Today many reservations have become economic hubs with tax and regulation havens for investment. Thus as of now the Mescalero and White Mountain Apaches "have become premier private managers of multiple-use forest resource economies." (Legters; Lyden, 1994)
However it must be stated that only during the eagan administration that there were major reports on Indian…...
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References
Bolt, Christine. (1990) "American Indian Policy and American Reform: Case Studies of the Campaign to Assimilate the American Indians" Routledge. Pages: 250, 298
Indian tribes in the Eastern United States. At the time, the nation was expanding westward and there were concerns that the Indians could begin attacking civilized areas. After the end of the Black Hawk War, is when these worries increased exponentially. As a result, different states began to pass laws that restricted and limited the power of Indian tribes. (emini, n.d., pp. 107 -- 119)
Once this occurred, is when the Cherokee became worried about being forced westward. This was problematic, as they had adopted civilized practices including: establishing a functioning democracy, they had their own language, newspaper and Constitution. These areas led many to believe that the Cherokee would remain in the region. As they were not: a threat to society and believed they had the support of the American people. (emini, n.d., pp. 107 -- 119)
Moreover, the Cherokee were able to win two favorable Supreme Court decisions that:…...
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References
Remini, R. (n.d.). Andrew Jackson vs. The Cherokee Nation.
Racial Capitalism and the Indian Removal ActIntroductionAndrew Jacksons Second Annual Message was delivered in 1830 and served as justification, in his eyes, for the removal of the Indians from white settlements in the South.[footnoteRef:2] The idea behind the Indian Removal Act was that it would establish peace by giving the Native Americans their own territory; the problem was that territory was well on the side of the continent. Essentially, it was an act of racial capitalism, in which the US government justified its actions by arguing that it was for the victims own good. The Native Americans were simply in the way of developments that the states and federal government wanted to push throughwhich means they were in the way of capitalistic enterprise. The result of the Indian Removal Act was the Trail of Tears. And while Jackson was responsible for justifying the removal, the idea was not really his…...
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BibliographyART. VI.--Speeches on the Indian Bill; viz.--Of Messrs. The North American Review (1821-1940); Oct 1830; VOL. XXXI., No. LXIX.; American Periodicals Series Online pg. 396Black Hawk, Autobiography, 113. Davy, “On the removal of the Cherokees, 1834,” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-now/spotlight-primary-source/davy-crockett-removal-cherokees-1834Coolidge, Calvin. 1925 speech. https://crackerpilgrim.com/2016/01/11/on-the-chief-business-of-america/ Ehle, John. Trail of tears: The rise and fall of the Cherokee Nation. Anchor, 2011.Jackson, Andrew. “Second Annual Message,” 1830. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h3437t.html Kutsche, Paul. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"The Tsali legend: culture heroes and historiography.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Ethnohistory 10, no. 4 (1963): 329-357. O’Sullivan, John. “Annexation.” United States Magazine and Democratic Review, vol. 17, no. 1 (July-August 1845): 5-10.Perdue, Theda. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Chapter 2 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Both White and Red\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\". Mixed Blood Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South. The University of Georgia Press, 2003. Sevier, John. Letter to the Cherokee. DPLA. https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/cherokee-removal-and-the-trail-of-tears/sources/1500http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com.ezpprod1.hul.harvard.edu/ibio/ibio.result.epages.aspx?code=S10018026D000002.htmCrockett,
Politics makes strange bedfellows, we are told, with the implication that those brought together by the vagaries of politics would be best kept apart. But sometimes this is not true at all. In the case of the Black Seminoles, politics brought slaves and Seminole Indians politics brought together two groups of people who would - had the history of the South been written just a little bit differently - would never have had much in common. But slaves fleeing their masters and Seminoles trying to lay claim to what was left of their traditional lands and ways found each other to be natural allies in Florida and in time in other places as well. This paper examines the origin of this particular American population, describing how the Black Seminoles changed over time and how their culture reflected both African and Seminole elements.
The Black Seminoles began in the early 1800s in…...
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Works Cited
Amos, Alcione M., and Thomas Senter (eds). The Black Seminoles. History of a Freedom-Seeking People. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 1996.
Hancock, I. The Texas Seminoles and Their Language. Austin: African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1980. http://www.nps.gov/foda/Fort_Davis_WEB_PAGE/About_the_Fort/Seminole.htm http://members.aol.com/angelaw859/movement.html
Captain Smith by Pocahontas
Antonio Capellano's sculpture The Preservation of Captain Smith by Pocahontas (1825) is still in the Capitol Rotunda along with other works of the same period such as illiam Penn's Treaty with the Indians and The Landing of the Pilgrims, although they no longer resonate with audiences in the same way as they did in the 19th Century. In the 20th and 21st Centuries, more sophisticated and educated viewers at least would realize that these are all the product of an era of estern expansion and a highly romanticized view of history that is heavily tinged with racism and white nationalism. hen these sculptures were first commissioned by the U.S. government, the early republic was engaged in westward expansion that would result in the destruction, displacement or removal of most Native Americans, a process that most white Americans of the era regarded as necessary and beneficial. All of…...
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WORKS CITED
Fryd, Vivien Green. "Two Sculptures for the Capitol" in Mary Ann Calo (ed). Critical Issues in American Art: A Book of Readings. Perseus Books, 1998: 93-108.
Scheckel, Susan. The Insistence of the Indian: Race and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century American Culture. Princeton University Press, 1998.
Tilton, Robert S. Pocahontas: The Evolution of an American Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux, is an account of the U.S. conflict with the Sioux, which gives a unique insight into the Sioux's version of events.
Main Idea: American authors/historians have only given U.S., side of events.
American historians give one side of history, incomplete picture.
Indians presented as violent primitive barbarians.
Anderson finally gives accurate account.
Main Idea: The Native Americans were treated very badly by U.S.
White settlers had no respect for natives or their customs.
Indian emoval Act 1830: forces all natives to move west of the Mississippi.
Native Americans cannot win.
Anderson's book gives accurate account.
Little Crow used as example, gives Sioux point-of-view.
Little Crow, and the Sioux, are a real people with a real culture and real feelings.
C. Anderson presents the Sioux side by delving into the Sioux's history and culture.
D. This is how to present an accurate portrait of events.
Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux
For the better part of a century, American historians…...
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References
Anderson, G.C. Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux, St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Press. 1986. Print.
"Bingham Hall: Dakota Conflict 1862 New Ulm Minnesota" Bingham Hall: New Ulm Bed and Breakfast Lodging. Web Apr. 1, 2011. www.bingham- hall.com/DakotaConflict1862NewUlmMinnesota.html.
Hoover, Herbert T. "Review of Little Crow: Spokesman for the Sioux" Digital Commons. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1988. Web.
In conclusion, the Cherokee Removal had a profound and lasting impact on the future of Native American tribes. The forced relocation to the Indian Territory significantly disrupted Cherokee society, leading to the loss of land, cultural practices, and traditional ways of life. The removal also set a precedent for the federal government's treatment of Native American tribes, establishing a pattern of coercion, assimilation, and displacement. The legacy of the Cherokee Removal continues to shape the relationship between Native American tribes and the United States, highlighting the complex and often tragic history of Native American rights and sovereignty. It serves as....
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