How Did Andrew Jackson Disregarded A Key Section Of The Indian Removal Act

Andrew Jackson was President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Some call his term a triumph and some a tragedy. A big part of his tragedy was the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Jackson wanted to remove the native tribes from lands in the eastern and southern United States (Stock). Jackson referred to the Native Americans as savages and supported Georgia’s efforts to seize Cherokee land and nullify the tribe’s laws (Foner). The main goal of Jacksons was to move the Native Americans out of their land to have that land and move them to western territories. He was forcing them out of their territory and stripping them of their legal rights (Stock). The removal of the tribes led to an event called the Trail of Tears. According to Foner, Federal

Cave adds, “He failed to honor promises made in his name in order to win congressional support of the removal, and he broke a number of federal treaty commitments to Indians, including some that he had personally negotiated” (Cave). Jackson broke promises he made for his own personal benefit and disregarded the people involved. As mentioned earlier, the Supreme Court acknowledged and ruled in favor of the Cherokee stating that Indian tribes were domestic dependent nations. The Supreme Court also noted how they could conduct their own political processes and that they were afforded the protection of the federal government (McNeill). Everything was against what Jackson was trying to do to the tribes and not just morally, but they were supposed to be protected by the government. Jackson ultimately ended up disregarding the decision of the Supreme Court and continued to push Georgia’s efforts to make the Indians leave. Andrew Jackson was viewed as the “people’s president” because he welcomed all citizens into the political process and respected and wanted to address what the common people wanted (McNeill). If this was the case, why did he allow such a tragedy to happen, and disregard the history that was in place? He wasn’t listening to what the tribes wanted and how it would affect