Analysis of the Indian Removal Act of 1830
M Whalen
The Indian Removal Act of 1830
With the population of America increasing, white settlers were pushing the government to obtain Native American lands in the lower south which would be ideal for growing cotton. With these newly acquired lands, southern plantation owners could expand their property and increase their revenues. However, tribes like the Cherokee, the Seminoles, and the Chickasaw were perceived as interfering with their plans. Andrew Jackson issued the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act evacuated these Native American tribes out of their home states of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia and moved them to reservations in Oklahoma. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 created a better lifestyle for some Americans but led to the slow and painful demise of the Native American way of life.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 provided better land opportunities for American citizens in the regions which Native Americans were evacuated from. With this act in place states like Georgia, which shared their lands with the Natives, would no longer have to cope with their lifestyle and the regulations which protected them. (doc 1) Moving the Natives west, past the Mississippi made more Americans call the lower south their home. These lands which were formerly occupied by the Natives became the home of new slave owners, free spirits, and convicts escaping from their past. Thomas Hart Benton referred to these southern lands as “desirous, and most justly and naturally so”(doc 5). Due to those qualities many Americans began to settle in the low southern region of the United States. This large population influx yielded more slave owning plantations which grew cotton and improved the economy in the south. The removal of the Natives also made travelers visit states like Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama because there wasn’t the risk of encountering Natives. Andrew Jackson, who was born and raised in Tennessee, believed that this act would make the
The Indian Removal Act of 1830
With the population of America increasing, white settlers were pushing the government to obtain Native American lands in the lower south which would be ideal for growing cotton. With these newly acquired lands, southern plantation owners could expand their property and increase their revenues. However, tribes like the Cherokee, the Seminoles, and the Chickasaw were perceived as interfering with their plans. Andrew Jackson issued the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act evacuated these Native American tribes out of their home states of Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia and moved them to reservations in Oklahoma. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 created a better lifestyle for some Americans but led to the slow and painful demise of the Native American way of life.
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 provided better land opportunities for American citizens in the regions which Native Americans were evacuated from. With this act in place states like Georgia, which shared their lands with the Natives, would no longer have to cope with their lifestyle and the regulations which protected them. (doc 1) Moving the Natives west, past the Mississippi made more Americans call the lower south their home. These lands which were formerly occupied by the Natives became the home of new slave owners, free spirits, and convicts escaping from their past. Thomas Hart Benton referred to these southern lands as “desirous, and most justly and naturally so”(doc 5). Due to those qualities many Americans began to settle in the low southern region of the United States. This large population influx yielded more slave owning plantations which grew cotton and improved the economy in the south. The removal of the Natives also made travelers visit states like Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama because there wasn’t the risk of encountering Natives. Andrew Jackson, who was born and raised in Tennessee, believed that this act would make the