Indian Removal Act By: Cameron Elizabeth Schulze

My research questions …  Why did Jackson want to remove the Indians?  Was it to be cruel or was it for their own good?

Who and what? The Five Civilized Tribes, consisting of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee-Creek, and Seminole. Was proposed by George Washington, he was well underway among the Cherokee and Choctaw. Thomas Jefferson policy had been to respect the Native Americans' rights to their homelands, and the natives soon went on with their life's on the east side of the Mississippi river, but there was just one problem, a new president came along, Andrew Jackson, he made a speech, witch made have changed a whole lot of different things.

When, where? During the Presidency of Andrew Jackson on May 28, , he made a speech declaring to renew this policy of political and military action for the removal of the Native Americans from these lands and spoke of a law for Indian removal. This all took place in Georgia starting with Cherokee Indians.

Why? Andrew Jackson held a cold shoulder attitude towards Native Americans ever since the Creek Wars, the War of , between: Red Sticks, Creeks Cherokee Choctaw. Conflicts with the Seminoles during Jackson’s presidency enraged him even more, so it was not for their own good, the Indian Removal act was originally passed to concentrate the Indians so more American settlers could get into those spaces. Very racist and ignorant, but at the time it was considered a respectable move. As some of the tribes moved to different parts to resettle, many Native Americans went and settled in reservations, still today there is Indian reservations around the united states.

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Couse: The United States Government passed the Indian Removal Act in By doing so, they forced the removal of the Cherokee people to Indian Territory. This happened because the majority of the American people at that time viewed Native Americans as uncivilized and savage individuals.

Effect: The Indian Removal Act had many long lasting effects. First, to enforce the Indian Removal Act, Andrew Jackson would have to diobey a direct order from the Supreme Court. Andrew Jackson went through with it anyway and forced the Native Americans to leave their home. I think that had a long lasting effect on the Supreme Court. When people saw that Jackson, the president, didn't care about what the Supreme Court issued then they wouldn't either. The Supreme Court must have been powerless for a long time because of Jackson. Also it was very unfair to the Native Americans. People forget that the land belonged to the natives long before the settlers showed up. To make the many native people move from their homeland isn't right. Still, they had to walk the trail of tears where thousands of natives died from starvation, diesease, and other factors. When people saw how the Native Americans were being forced away the might have decided that the Native Americans were savage. They became afraid of the Native Americans and pressured the federal government to bother the natives more.

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