Free Argumentative Essays: The Indian Removal Act

Improved Essays
On May 28th of the year 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed off on a law named the Indian Removal Policy. This granted the United States Government the right to negotiate with the Native American tribes about relocating the Natives from their current home to land west of the Mississippi River. This law was beneficial to the Native Americans on several accounts. The law ended immediate conflict between the Native Americans and the European American Settlers harassing them, it gave them new land to settle instead of just leaving them with no place to go, and even though some relocations were forced instead of voluntary, the law stated that the Native Americans would be provided with protection and aid during and after their relocation.  The …show more content…
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

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Indian Removal Act Dbq

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In the Indian Removal the Indians were pushed out of their territory and pushed to new territory. The policy made the Indians live longer making them rich and wealthy with new and extensive territory. The Indian Removal act did its purpose and didn’t end with annihilation from war. The United States benefited the Indians, “The United States will play to send the natives to a land where they may live longer and possibly survive as a people”(Doc A). The act was a benefit to both sides.…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During 1838 and 1839 the Trail of Tears was one of the most devastating events in American history. The Trail of Tears was a forced movement of the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Seminole tribes to the west of the Mississippi river. The Indian Removal Act and the Treaty of New Echota are the major causes of the Trail of Tears, which resulted a major decrease in the Indian population due to the massive amount of deaths. The Indian Removal Act was passed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Indian Removal Act In 1828 Andrew Jackson had own presidency and had succeed by changing things with the government. One of many was him having a special relationship with the common people. He removed about 10 percent of workers and replaced with loyal friends and followers. In the 1800’s Native Americans had been living next to white neighbors, taking on their culture.…

    • 435 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Indian Removal

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Constitution empowers Congress to regulate commerce with forging nations, and several States, and Indians tribes. In the negotiation between the Indians and the government, the Indians acknowledge themselves sovereign nation.as under the protection of the United States government and no other Jackson recommended Congress to adopt the Removal Act of 1830. That act gave the President the authority to give up land in west Mississippi River to Indians that would give up their land to the government. The Law allowed the Indians material and financial assistance to get to their new location. Jackson's government succeeded in general terms.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Removal Act of 1830 was signed by seventh President of the U.S., Andrew Jackson. This act allowed the President to explore unsettled lands pushing the Indians west. The act was not in specific removal of Indian tribes, but in order to acquire their land with treaties. Andrew Jackson professed the Indian Removal Act would be best for the tribes to get away from the whites and it gave them their chance to escape U.S. power. In Jackson's eyes, removing the Indians will also grant them a happiness that they find on their journey.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Indian Removal Act Dbq

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Sacred land was illegally and unconstitutionally being taken from the Cherokee. Lastly, the government had basically tricked the Indians into giving away their land, and made promises they didn’t keep. The first reason why the Indian Removal Act was not justified was because innocent Indians were forced to go on this treacherous journey while not getting enough food, water, and shelter. They started migrating towards present day Oklahoma during the winter of 1838.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antiremoval Subject

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Indian Removal Act was first declared in a speech by U.S. President Andrew Jackson in 1829. Before that, Native Americans have settled in southern states, much to the displeasure of Southerners who wanted to preserve the land to themselves. Jackson was very clear on his stance on Native American rights and he openly supported establishing U.S. sovereignty. Jackson gained tremendous support…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Indian Removal

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A significant and catastrophic event in history was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, initiated and enacted by Andrew Jackson. Standing in the way of white settlers and their path to greater prosperity were the sizable number of Native Americans. The so-called Five Civilized Tribes, which included the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles occupied the land, especially in the South, which threatened the expansion of the land-hungry Americans. President Andrew Jackson promised to resolve this issue with the Indian Removal Act, by the volunteer exchange of Indian lands and their removal east of the Mississippi for land west of the Mississippi (Boyer et al, 255). The result of his policy was anything but humane and devastating…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Most everyone has heard or learned about the Indian removal act and probably wondered how that was made and why it wasn 't vetoed or ruled unconstitutional. The Indian removal act was a law that was passed that allowed the president to make treaties with the native americans and try to offer them money and land somewhere else for there land. Andrew jackson got a lot of the tribes to sign the treaties but the ones that did not were pushed out by force anyway. This led to the Trail of tears which was when Andrew Jackson pushed out all of the Cherokee Nation with force and caused over 4000 native americans to lose their lives. The checks and balances system did not work as planned during this time the government was controlled by one party and…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Indian Removal Act, which was passed by Congress in 1830, completely changed the path for the future in multiple aspects. In determining what impact this event still has on our country today, one must start by analyzing the relationships between Native Americans, the United States government, and the common white settler. Additionally, one must analyze how the removal of these tribes affected not only them, but the white settlers. Socially, Native Americans were viewed as no more than objects in the way of what the Americans viewed as rightfully theirs.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It forced the Native Indians to surrender millions of acres of land and to move to west. Throughout the removal many Indians suffered through sickness and death. The Indian Removal Act not only removed the Indians from their rightful lands forcefully but also is responsible for over 4000 deaths of the Native Americans, that today is known as the ‘Trail of Tears’. Bibliography Calloway, Colin G. Kill the Indian and Save the Man 1870s-1920s. (In Bedford/St. Martin’s (Ed.), First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History, 4th ed., 2012) 412-483.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was said that President Andrew Jackson was looking in the best interest of U.S. citizens and moved the indians to help keep from conflicts that could possibly lead to war from arising yet again between the United States and the Native Americans or that some Native tribes were just too violent and were seen as a threat by U.S. citizens. It seemed like Americans and Native Americans could not blend and live together peacefully and that is also a said reason why the Trail of Tears…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Many people were caught up on the Indian Removal Act, mainly the Trail of Tears. In Feller’s article, he does mention it and says it actually happened during Martin Van Buren’s presidency even though Jackson’s law led to it (Feller). The Indian Removal Act allowed the president to negotiate with the southern tribes, asking for their land in exchange for them to move west of the Mississippi River (Wikipedia). Supposedly, it was voluntary; although, in a roundabout way, the Indians would want to if they wanted to survive.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Robert V Remini Summary

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Remini says Jackson felt that the only solution for both the Unites States and the Native tribes was that they had to be removed. This attitude towards the Indians followed him into the White house when he was elected President in 1828. Of all the things Jackson accomplished during his presidency, his Indian Removal Act was most important. Jackson finally accomplished his long thought solution to the Indian problem. Today’s historians see this a cruel act against his seemingly long term enemy.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. The law authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate with Indians for their removal to federal land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. Andrew Jackson was able to convince the American people that Indians could not coexist peacefully with them. He argued that the Indians were uncivilized and needed to be guarded from their own savage ways. As a result of his actions, thousands of Indians were forcibly ripped from their homes and onto a journey to a unknown territory, that was not as fertile as their home grounds.…

    • 2378 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays