The natives land was constantly being settled on, their livestock stolen, even their villages burned to the ground by the European American Settlers. By signing with the Indian Removal Act, the indigenous peoples were given an opportunity to get away from the violence and discrimination of the settlers. The Indian Removal Act gave the Native Americans a means of survival, thus benefitting the Native Americans and saving many lives that may have been lost on both the European American and the Native American sides had the Native Americans remained on their homeland. The Native American Tribes were offered land west of the Mississippi River that they would have total sovereignty over. President Andrew Jackson was given the legal right by the Indian Removal Policy to grant the land west of the Mississippi River to the Native Americans for them alone to govern over to the tribes that did agree to give up their ancestral homelands. Most of the European American population believed that America would never expand beyond the Mississippi River, so the Native American Tribes would be safe from the settlers heading west to create their homes on the new …show more content…
To many people, it may seem that the Native Americans got a bum deal when it came to the Indian Removal Policy. The Native Americans actually did fairly well. They ended up avoiding more severe conflict with the European American Settlers as they pressed more and more into the indigenous peoples land. The Native Tribes received a substantial amount of land west of the Mississippi, away from the European Americans, and were given total sovereignty over the land. Even though a portion of the Native Americans died during their relocation, some of it forced relocation, they were still granted protection and aid by the United States government as to keep them from being attacked by the settlers or taken over by another nation. The Native Americans really had only two options in the end; sign the treaty or risk the extinction of their culture. To quote the old saying, “Better bend than