Indian Removal Act

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(May 28, 1830) First major legislation that reversed the U.S. policy of respecting the rights of American Indians. The act granted tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their territories within state borders, mainly in the Southeast. Some tribes refused to trade their land, and U.S. troops forced tribes such as the Cherokee to march westward in what became known as the Trail of Tears (1838 – 39). In Florida the Seminoles fought resettlement in the Seminole Wars (1835 – 42).

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A law passed on May 28, 1830, to relocate eastern Indian tribes to land west of the Mississippi. Promoted by President Andrew Jackson in order to acquire land within state borders for white settlement, it guaranteed Indian rights to western land in the Indian Territory, created by Congress in 1834. Many tribes resisted the army-enforced relocation, which resulted in incidents such as the Seminole Wars and the Trail of Tears.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Excerpt from the Indian Removal Act

It shall and may be lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them.... Provided always, That such lands shall revert to the United States, if the Indians become extinct, or abandon the same.

With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, thoughts of Native American removal became a very real possibility for the policy makers of the U.S. government. It appeared that the Purchase had given the government endless amounts of land, more than could ever possibly be put to use. Thomas Jefferson initiated discussion over whether portions of this land could be used to solve what some viewed as the "Indian problem"—Native Americans were occupying land that many European Americans believed could be put to better use. Jefferson proposed that unincorporated land west of the Mississippi River be exchanged for the more sought-after land occupied by Native Americans in the east. Debates over the removal of Native Americans grew more intense as the nineteenth century progressed and culminated in the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act (4 Stat. 411).

In the act Congress authorized President Andrew Jackson to begin the process of removal. Allocated $500,000, Jackson vigorously pursued his plan and in 1835 was able to announce that removal was complete or near completion. The majority of Native Americans had been removed to regions west of the Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act stood at the intersection of numerous debates among European Americans over the fate of American Indians. Questions surrounding the controversy included: Would removal benefit or hinder efforts to civilize Native Americans? Were Native American groups going to be considered sovereign nations? Did Native American groups own the land that they occupied? How was the extinction of Native Americans going to be prevented?

Supporters and Detractors

Supporters of Jackson's removal policy agreed with the arguments Jackson made in his 1830 Second Annual Message. Jackson stated that, "Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country, and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising means to avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth." Jackson and his supporters claimed that the "savage" Native American culture must inevitably give way to the onslaught of civilization. They believed that efforts to civilize Native Americans within European American culture had been entirely unsuccessful. The only hope for Native American survival, according to these supporters, was to be moved outside the reach of civilization. In the West, they argued, missionaries could continue their efforts at Christianizing and civilizing the Native American at a slower pace, away from the vices of more populated areas.

Jackson's approach to the question of sovereignty and land ownership supported his arguments for removal. He declared that Native Americans choosing to remain east of the Mississippi were subject to the laws and jurisdictions of the state and federal governments. Native American sovereignty and land ownership existed only insofar as it could be ceded to the U.S. government.

Opponents of Jackson's policy had quite different claims. Many of them, like Jackson, believed that Native Americans were in the process of becoming extinct. However, the solution in their eyes did not lie in segregation. Instead they insisted that the process of civilization had been successful. They turned to the Cherokee nation as their primary example. The Cherokee farmed, were Christian, had created a written language, supported their own newspaper, and in 1828 had written their own constitution. Jackson's opponents argued that this process would not occur in other groups without the encouragement and example of civilization. These opponents also claimed the U.S. government was obligated to recognize the sovereignty of Native American groups and their right to hold lands their ancestors had occupied.

The debates over whether removal offered the solution to the "Indian problem" continued after the passage of the Indian Removal Act. Although the act was meant to encourage Native Americans voluntarily to give up lands east of the Mississippi, the process of removal was one of misdeeds and corruption. Agents of the treaty-making process forged signatures of Native leaders, dealt with individuals unauthorized to cede land, and falsified records.

These actions led as well to the forced removal of several Native American groups who had not voluntarily ceded their land holdings. Soldiers and government officials forced several of the southern tribes, like the Cherokee, to Oklahoma on the infamous Trail of Tears. On this path many Native Americans faced starvation, freezing cold, and disease. Because of removal deadlines, 15,000 individuals were placed in detention camps where again they faced starvation and the spread of disease. Despite the claim that it would benefit Indians, the removal process hastened further seizure of Native American land and further disregard for Native American culture by the U.S. government.

Bibliography

Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian: Images of the American Indian fromColumbus to the Present. New York: Knopf, 1978.

Prucha, Francis Paul. American Indian Policy in the Formative Years: The IndianTrade and Intercourse Acts, 1790–1834. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964.

Rogin, Michael. Fathers and Children: Andrew Jackson and the Subjugation of theAmerican Indian. New York: Knopf, 1975.

Satz, Ronald. American Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975.

The Indian Removal Act, part of a United States government policy known as Indian removal, was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson (D) on May 26, 1830.^[1]

President Andrew Jackson called for an Indian Removal Act in his 1829 "State of the Union" message.

The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the "Five Civilized Tribes". In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokee nation. President Jackson hoped removal would resolve the Georgia crisis. The Indian Removal Act was also very controversial. While Indian removal was, in theory, supposed to be voluntary, in practice great pressure was put on American Indian leaders to sign removal treaties. Most observers, whether they were in favor of the Indian removal policy or not, realized that the passage of the act meant the inevitable removal of most Indians from the states. Some Native American leaders who had previously resisted removal now began to reconsider their positions, especially after Jackson's landslide re-election in 1832.

Most European Americans favored the passage of the Indian Removal Act, though there was significant opposition. Many Christian missionaries, most notably missionary organizer Jeremiah Evarts, protested against passage of the Act. In Congress, New Jersey Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen and Congressman David Crockett of Tennessee spoke out against the legislation. The Removal Act was passed after bitter debate in Congress.^[2]

The Removal Act paved the way for the reluctant—and often forcible—emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West. The first removal treaty signed after the Removal Act was the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on September 27, 1830, in which Choctaws in Mississippi ceded land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West. Choctaw chief (thought to be Thomas Harkins or Nitikechi) quoted to the Arkansas Gazette that the 1831 Choctaw removal was a "trail of tears and death."^[3][4] The Treaty of New Echota (signed in 1835) resulted in the removal of the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears. The Seminoles did not leave peacefully as did other tribes; along with fugitive slaves they resisted the removal. The Second Seminole War lasted from 1835 to 1842 and resulted in the forced removal of Seminoles, only a small number to remain, and around 3,000 were killed amongst American soldiers and Seminoles.^[5]

In 1823 the Supreme Court handed down a decision (Johnson v. M'Intosh) which stated that Indians could occupy lands within the United States, but could not hold title to those lands.^[6]

Contents 1 See also 2 Bibliography 3 Notes 4 External links

See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Indian Removal Act

• Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
• Worcester v. Georgia
• Treaty of New Echota
• Five Civilized Tribes
• Cherokee Indians
• Creek Indians
• Indian removal
• List of Choctaw Treaties

Bibliography

• Howe, Daniel Walker. What Has God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. (2007) ISBN 978-0-19-507894-7

Notes

1. ^ The U.S. Senate passed the bill on 24 April 1830 (
   -19), the U.S. House passed it on 26 May 1830 (102-97); Francis Paul Prucha, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, Volume I (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), p. 206.
2. ^ Howe pp. 348-352
3. ^ Chris Watson. "The Choctaw Trail of Tears". http://www.thebicyclingguitarist.net/studies/trailoftears.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-29. 
4. ^ Len Green. "Choctaw Removal was really a "Trail of Tears"". Bishinik, mboucher, University of Minnesota. http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/trtears.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-28. 
5. ^ (Eric Foner.Give me liberty.Norton,2006.)
6. ^ "Indial Removal 1814-1858". Public Broadcasting System. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html. Retrieved 2009-08-11. 

External links

• Indian Removal Act and related resources, at the Library of Congress
• Indian Removal Act of 1830 Transcript, at www.civics-online.org
• Text of 1829 State of the Union at The American Presidency Project

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