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Cherokees Response To The Indian Removal Act Of 1830

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This essay considers how Cherokees responded to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This Act, promoted by the seventh President of the United States Andrew Jackson, enabled the United States government to relocate the “Five Civilized Tribes” to reservations west of the Mississippi River. The majority of Americans supported removing Southeastern Amerindians. American settlers were eager to gain access to Cherokee lands in Georgia. The Indian Removal Act resulted in the mass transplantation of Indian tribes known as the “Trail of Tears.” The Cherokee Nation and Chief John Ross responded to this Act in two ways: Challenging the Act in the Supreme Court, and disseminating petitions against the Act after the Treaty of New Echota. Their response to this …show more content…

The Removal Act was responsible for the expulsion of numerous Native Indians from their ancestral homelands in the east to the West. As a consequence, the Cherokees were divided into two groups: those who chose to surrender and depart for the West, and those who wanted to continue to resist. The former ones are called the ‘Treaty Party.’ It is consisted of pro-removal Cherokee leaders, who eventually signed the Treaty of New Echota that agreed to give up their tribal land. In the Treaty of New Echota, it is stated: “the Cherokee nation herby cede relinquish and convey to the United States all the lands owned claimed or possessed by them east of the Mississippi river, … in consideration of the sum of five millions of dollars …” (Treaty of New Echota, Article 1). Furthermore, the Cherokee and the United States agreed upon the protection and perpetual peace. “The United States agree to protect the Cherokee nation from domestic strife and foreign enemies and against intestine wars between the several tribes …” (Treaty of New Echota, Article 6). However, it was noticeable that Principal Chief John Ross or the Cherokee government did not ratify the treaty. In his letter, he argues: “A spurious Delegation, in violation of a special injunction of the general council of the nation … By the stipulations of this instrument, we are despoiled of our private possessions, the indefeasible property of

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In 1835 the federal government convinced a tiny group of Cherokee— around 500 of them—to sign the Treaty of New Echota. In this treaty, the group decided to give up all Cherokee land around 1838. Cherokee Chief John Ross sent protests to the U.S. Senate refusing the treaty. Ross explained that the tiny amount of Cherokee Indians that signed the treaty did not speak for all the thousands of Native Americans in the region. Many white Americans, including senators Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, also disapproved the treaty saying it seems cruel.

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The Indian Removal Act, passed by congress, provided for the resettlement of all Native Americans occupying the east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma.

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Indians had lived in the same areas for many years and had become much more accustomed to being civilized and had even started schools, making laws and becoming farmers. But all of that didn’t matter, there was increasing pressure to open up the area the Indians inhabited so the white men could settle there. The Indian Removal Act stated that all Indians must move to lands west of the Mississippi River, Jackson said the Indians would receive money for the land they lost and that all expenses would be paid for. The act was supposed to be voluntary but they were pressured to go and the tribes that did not go peacefully were forced. While most tribes did go peacefully the Cherokee Indians wanted to fight the Removal Act and took it to the Supreme

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The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a time where there were lots of contradictions. Meanwhile It was a period of land hungry Americans who wanted to expand land democratic institutions which unfolded the limitations of democracy. The states put an end to property restrictions and due to the Louisiana purchase of1812 the American's saw more opportunities to start expanding and settling in towards the west, but was all destroyed for the native Americans who lived that way. No one knew the way the democracy worked at this age better than the Cherokees, who embraced their lifestyle and culture only to be mistreated and misunderstood when sent to be moved forcibly against their will from their home land and move to the east. In this document I will

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The Act led to an array of legal and moral arguments for and against the need to relocate the Indians westward from the agriculturally productive lands of the Mississippi in Georgia and parts of Alabama. This paper compares and contrasts the major arguments for and against the

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The authors of each article tackle the daunting task of representing the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and president Andrew Jacksons approach, appropriately while also including their own personal opinions. They also must back up their points with fact and reason. Each author has a unique opinion compared to the others, and when read all together, provide a better understanding from multiple sides and sources. The question the authors debate is whether Andrew Jackson was justified in his removal of Native Americans by use of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Was he protecting the safety of the Native Americans by moving them, or was he only progressing the agenda of the white man?

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Furthermore, Natives occupied only a small portion of the territory as evident by the concentration of migrants in the southern most area (Doc 7). Naturally, this transition wasn’t seamless as some tribes refused to leave their sacred homeland. The Cherokees were a prominent opposer, having been forcibly removed and subjected to the infamous Trail of Tears in 1838. Despite being known as the tribe most assimilated to American society, the Cherokees were still forced to leave their ancestral home. Jackson and other politicians reasoned that the removal was for the Native Americans’ own safety and the preservation of their culture, but the removal only tore tribes away from the origins of their culture and

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The leaders signed the Treaty of New Echota, which says, “The Cherokee nation hereby cede relinquish and convey to the United States all the lands owned claimed or possessed by them east of the Mississippi river, and hereby release all their claims upon the United States for spoliations of every kind for and in consideration of the sum of five millions of dollars to be expended paid and invested in the manner stipulated and agreed upon in the following articles”. This basically means that the Cherokee have to give all previously-owned land to the U.S. and move further west to receive five million dollars for their troubles. One argument against this may be that “The Cherokee lived there over a hundred years beforehand, so you have no right”, but that’s how the world works; exploration and invasion. That’s how it has worked, and how it will always work. Get used to

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A Shameful Part of American History The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was America’s first attempt to legally remove Native Americans from their land. This primary source was created by the Senate and House of Representatives, and it was backed by President Andrew Jackson. Passed on May 28th, the act allowed the for the relocation of Natives west of the Mississippi River. This order was a result of Manifest Destiny which was the belief that it was the United State’s God-given right to expand westward.

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Many Americans believed that the Indian Removal Act would be a series of treaty making with the Native Americans, to form alliances and give them the land that the Americans didn’t believe the US would ever extend to, and the original Supreme Court ruling in 1831 also invalidated Cherokee sovereignty over their land. However, the Indian Removal Act quickly became an excuse for Jackson’s tantrum over the Supreme Court’s second ruling in 1832, which confirmed Cherokee sovereignty in 1832. Though the US believed that they had owned the land, the Cherokee had been there for much longer and held the rights to the land. The US also did not have the legal right to the land though they had the treaty because the treaty had been signed by renegade Cherokee who believed in relocation, not by the actual government of the Cherokee Nation. Chief John Ross argued that it had been made illegally, but it was ratified by a single vote and signed by Jackson.

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The Cherokee are a Native American tribe that originated in the Southeastern portion of the United States. This area includes the states of North and South Carolina, as well as Georgia. Following the signing of the Indian Removal Act by Congress in 1830, some twenty-thousand Cherokee were forcibly removed from their lands and forced to march to Oklahoma along the infamous Trail of Tears. Despite the government’s efforts, some Cherokee managed to avoid this horrific fate and create hidden settlements in portions of western North Carolina and northern Georgia. The descendants of these settlers later became the Eastern Band of Cherokee.

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Indian Removal Act(1814-1858)- http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties Was a law passed on May 28, 1830 by the president of the United States(Andrew Jackson) that gave the authorization for him to grant the uncolonized lands west the the Mississippi river in exchange for the Indian lands within the already existing state borders. A small number of tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. Andrew Jackson was a potent advocate of the Indian Removal. In the very first year of the Removal, he commanded the U.S. military forces that defeated a faction of the Creek Nation. In their insuccess, they lost 22 million acres of land.

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In 1828, Georgia passed a string of laws that violated the rights of the Cherokee people. One of the law passed by the state of Georgia also allowed the removal of the Cherokee from their own land After the settlers that were after the natives land had been burn and destroying houses and towns, and trespassing among other things, with the support of the state government the Cherokee’s brought a case to the supreme court. The treaties negotiated between Georgia and the Cherokee were negotiated as the Cherokee as an Independent Nation, this guaranteed the independence of both the land and the people of the Cherokee Nations. Cherokee tried negotiating with congress and Andrew Jackson, both of which failed. The Cherokee Nation, represented by John Ross who was the principal chief of the Cherokee’s, then filed for an Injunction at the Supreme Court against Georgia repeal the unfair laws.

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The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is unjust because it violates the Cherokees’ right to their lands and nation, can only bring them harm, and the grounds upon which the law was formed and justified are invalid. Andrew Jackson argues that the Indian

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Although the Indian Removal Act was derived off of getting rid of all Indians from the land they were currently at, the main reason was to create settlements for the white men to live in to make sure that the young population could grow and reach the highest of powers without anything or anyone coming in their way. The land of the Indian’s contained power, and the white men needed it all. President Jackson even used the needs of the white men to support the Indian Removal Act. He stated in the act, “Our forefathers” and “Our children.” This called out to the white men.

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