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Westward Expansion Dbq

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Jackson DBQ - Westward Expansion

The treatment of Indigenous peoples even before Andrew Jackson’s presidency was always terrible. Since the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, Indigenous peoples who occupied the lands were constantly being killed, forced off their land, and involuntarily assimilated into white culture. This unfair treatment of Indigenous peoples got significantly worse after Jackson became president. When Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, it allowed Jackson to relocate any “Indians” living east of the Mississippi River to other parts of America. More than 46,000 Indigenous persons were moved because of the Indian Removal Act. Throughout the 1830s more than 100,000 Indigenous persons were forcefully moved to …show more content…

The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History and Documents shows a map of the middle and eastern parts of America. The map shows the location of New Echota, a large Indigenous territory in the northern part of Georgia. This territory blocked Georgia’s access to the Tennessee River (Document D). The Tennessee River was not only vital for fast transportation to other states via boat, but also very important in interstate commerce and as a source of freshwater. Removing the Cherokees from Northern Georgia would significantly help Georgian farmers and settlers expand north and grow economically. So what? Comparably, President Andrew Jackson’s message to Congress on Indian removal discusses Jackson’s plan to remove Indigenous peoples from inhabited lands. Jackson said that Indigenous peoples were just a few thousand “savages” who were the reason why America was not growing and expanding economically (Document E). By removing those few thousand Indigenous peoples, Jackson promised that the other twelve million Americans would prosper economically, as well as civilly, religiously, and flourish as a nation. So what? Outside sources and extra information. Tie up …show more content…

According to “The Trail of Tears,” American History Illustrated, 97% of Georgians voted for Jackson for president because he supported their expansion into Indigenous lands to the northwest (Document A). This made westward expansion a major policy goal of the Jackson campaign, which was possible only by relocating Indigenous peoples. So what? Moreover, in President Andrew Jackson’s message to Congress on Indian removal on December 6, 1830, Jackson presented the removal of Indigenous “savages” as a positive idea for the growth of the nation (Document E). He presented the building of cities, farms, and industries as natural progress, which the Indigenous peoples were blocking. Thus, he presented their removal as a price worth paying to make the lives of millions of Americans better. So what? Outside sources and extra information. Tie up

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672 Words | 3 Pages

Jackson forced these people from their homes and land with the military, resulting in a quarter of them dying. He didn’t take care of these people, he let them starve and suffer brutal deaths. Andrew Jackson may have expanded the country, but he showed how inhumane he was. Not only did the Native Americans fear him, but white men had the right to fear him because he showed them what he was capable

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689 Words | 3 Pages

During Andrew Jackson’s presidency, he faced tremendous conflict with the Indians. As the United States began to expand, more and more issues began arising between the Americans and their Indian neighbors. Jackson had to decide whether or not to move the Indians out of Georgia and into a section of land in the west that he had specifically set aside for that purpose. Knowing the impact his decision would carry, he weighed the options before coming to a conclusion. Ultimately, he chose to move the Indians west.

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1887 Words | 8 Pages

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.”

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918 Words | 4 Pages

Furthermore, President Andrew Jackson felt so passionately about owning land that he was willing to forcibly remove the indigenous people from their natural land. In his address to congress on The Indian Removal Act he writes, “. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on the north and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites it will incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the adjacent States strong enough to repel future invasions without remote aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power”. This captures the idea that by obtaining land Americans will be doing a greater deed than ridding the country of the “savage” Native Americans.

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1937 Words | 8 Pages

He favored the relocation of all eastern Indian tribes. Jackson only sought the whites to have more power and land he saw the Indians as a problem. Jackson claimed “removing the Indians to territory west of the Mississippi was the only way to save them.” (pg. 285 The American Promise).

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423 Words | 2 Pages

In the Andrew Jackson speech to congress on indian removal, It talks about the reasons why they should be removed. Andrew Jackson's main reason why they should be removed is because of westward expansion and how it's the whites turn to develop the land. He also says how it will benefit both people even though it would actually make the Indians life worse. I thought it was interesting how they thought the Indians were the problem on westward expansion. In their eyes they thought whites and Indians couldn't mix.

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1236 Words | 5 Pages

Around the 1820s, whites worked to increasingly survey and squat tribal lands. Indians often experienced great injustice from whites. Furthermore, in 1830 President Andrew Jackson issued for the Indian Removal Act, which granted him the ability to "exchange public lands in the West for Indian territories in the East" (255). Further evidence, Jackson's excerpt stated that, "It will relieve the whole state of Mississippi and the Western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those states to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power" {Doc E}. With this

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Andrew Jackson’s sentiment towards the Native Americans was certainly not a kind one. Manifest destiny was a popular belief among Americans, including Jackson, and he would go to the extent of forcing Native Americans out of their homes to reach their “ordained goal”. He believed in the expansion of southern slavery which is why he pushed for removing the Indians west of the Mississippi, which makes it the more disgraceful. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 said that it will allow American government to offer in-state territories to the Indian’s for their western land. This wasn’t the case when the U.S. went in and drove the Indians out by force.

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609 Words | 3 Pages

The land the people wanted was occupied and owned by Native American tribes. This prompted Jackson to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This law allowed him to remove Native American tribes from their land and move them to “Indian Territory.” The topic of removal was not new to Jackson. He has been in campaigns against the Creeks and the Seminoles before.

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784 Words | 4 Pages

The government tried to force assimilation on Native Americans as well as an attempt to “kill the indian, save the man.” These ideas and policies are similar to those popular during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson developed a sense of ‘paternalism’ towards indians and believed he was saving them by forcing them to live out west of the Mississippi river away from white culture. The difference was that Jackson did not believe in assimilation of indians into white culture, he believed they should be kept separate. With the help of the Federal government removing indians from land west of the Mississippi, Americans were

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482 Words | 2 Pages

The differences in positions between President Andrew Jackson and US Senator and vice-presidential running mate of Henry Clay, Theodore Frelinghuysen, are largely to due the differences in perception of the value of the Cherokees history in America and the superiority of the white man. Jackson believed that the Natives were savages that did not deserve the vast lands of the country but rather that the whites were entitled to it because they were much more “civilized” and “prosperous” as he claims in his Case for the Removal Act in 1829, rhetorically questioning,“What good man would prefer a country covered with forests and raged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization,

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160 Words | 1 Pages

In 1829, when President Andrew Jackson took office, one of his main goals were to move the Native Americans to the west of the Mississippi River. Jackson's purpose for their movement was to give the white settlers the land that the Native's had resided on and Jackson also had a strong belief that a good Indian was a dead Indian. When the Native Americans were ordered to move, the Cherokees went to the Supreme Court to challenge the removal order. In the case of Worester vs. Georgia, the verdict stated that the Cherokees had the right to keep their land, but Jackson refused to recognize the Court's decision. Jackson's Native American policy resulted in the removal of the Cherokee from their homeland to settlements across the Mississippi River,

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

According to the “Memorial of the Cherokee Nation” it states, “But if we are compelled to leave our country, we see nothing but ruin before us. The country west of the Arkansas territory is unknown to us”. Jackson’s Indian Removal act seemed very friendly to those who wanted to be able to expand west or purchase more land, especially the farmers and miners as there was a lot of fertile land and gold in the land between the Mississippi River and the Appalachian Mountains. However, this describes how Jackson forcefully pushed out the Native Americans with a rigorous manner and was being abusive with his power. For example, the Worcester v Georgia case came to a conclusion where the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for Georgia to kick the Cherokee Tribe from their land.

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933 Words | 4 Pages

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

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1866 Words | 8 Pages

If scholars and historians fail to recognize the true devastation that the removal caused, they undermine the pain Indians endured. People like to think of the removal as a positive thing for Indians; the United States granted them an opportunity for a new life rid of the threats from Georgia. President Jackson himself, when talking about American citizens, remarked “How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace the opportunity of removing to the West on such conditions!” People trusted what Jackson said because of his presidential position. However, people failed and still fail, to recognize that Jackson hoped not only a removal, but an act of genocide against the Cherokee.

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