Indians in America

 Since 1600, white settlers had pushed Native Americans westward as they took more and more of their land.  By the 1820s, about 100,000 Native Americans remained east of the Mississippi River.  Andrew Jackson had long supported a policy of moving Native Americans west of the Mississippi River

Indian Removal Act  Jackson believed the government had the right to regulate where Native Americans could live.  Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act This required Native Americans to move west.

Map of Indian Removal Act Mississippi River

Indian Territory  As whites invaded Indian homelands, many Native Americans began signing treaties exchanging their land for land in the West.  Worcester v. Georgia – supreme court decision that forced Indians to move west.  Indian Territory – Parts of Oklahoma Native American Indians were forced to move to by Andrew Jackson and the Supreme Court.

Map of Indian Removal Act Indian Territory

Trail of Tears  Many Cherokees refused to move West. Jackson made soldiers force Cherokees into camps and made them set out on a long, hard journey to Indian Territory. ¼ of the Indians on the journey died.  Trail of Tears – The journey of Cherokee Indians being forced off their homeland to Indian Territory

Trail of Tears

 People with racial hatred in their hearts in power always think Law and Justice is on their side.  President Andrew Jackson did not have the law on his side when he marched 4,000 Cherokee to their deaths on the Trail of Tears.  "JOHN MARSHALL HAS MADE HIS LAW NOW LET HIM ENFORCE IT", Andrew Jackson to the Supreme Court when ordered to leave the Cherokee alone. Was Jackson right?

Jackson and the Indians  Andrew Jackson had the greatest impact on the Indians of all Presidents before and after him