Indian Removal Act Essay

In 1830, the US had recently purchased land that had originally belonged to the Native Americans. The Native Americans were not happy about having to give up their land, and settlers were coming in day and night and taking over what was before their territory. There were always conflicts between the two nations, even at one point coming to terms of a battle. Over time, the US had successfully claimed all of the land except for a part of Georgia. To claim this part of Georgia, President Andrew Jackson issued the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act forced almost all of the Indians to relocate to Oklahoma on a 1,000-mile trek by foot. Many of their people died of starvation, exposure, and illness. These multiple sources to be cited help

The video states, “Think about the fact that of the 14,000 Cherokee people who were on the Trail of Tears, heading from the Southeast to Oklahoma, that 2 to 4,000 of those people died along the way...I know Cherokee people who don’t like $20 bills just because they see President Jackson on them...But the removal and the indifference of the public created a dark precedent that was doomed to be repeated...After Pearl Harbor, there was very little outcry against the decision to relocate the Japanese and Japanese-Americans, and Roosevelt could look at previous presidents who had taken similar actions.”. The speakers mentioned how many people died, and that the relocation of the Japanese-Americans after the Pearl Harbor bombing didn’t spark too much outcry from the public. In fact, Roosevelt felt absolutely no shame, because he saw that Jackson had taken similar actions in the past. Also, the speaker mentioned that he knows some Cherokee people who don’t like $20 bills just because they have Andrew Jackson’s picture on it. This just goes to show how the Indian Removal Act negatively impacted people’s actions and views of certain things from that point