Indian Removal

“I was here first!” is something that many children have shouted when trying to keep their spot in a line or at a crowded activity. However, sometimes this is more than a petty argument amongst kids. The Indian Removal Act was pushed through Congress by President Andrew Jackson, giving President Jackson the power to negotiate treaties with Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River (“Indian Removal”). Originally, the relocations were supposed to be voluntary: the Indians could either relocate to the West of the Mississippi River, or they could stay where they were and begin to abide by the laws of the state in which they resided. However, this began to go awry when Indians were vocal about their disagreements to this new policy.
President Andrew Jackson’s reactions to the disagreements are inexcusable, especially considering the Indians did not have a say in the passage of the Indian Removal Act. Because of the lack of compromise and the inhumane actions committed against the Five Civil Tribes, the Indian Removal Act is unethical.
President Andrew Jackson has a trail left behind him of anti-Indian sentiments, however, that isn’t the only trail he’s created.
The Indian Removal Act forced the Cherokee Indians to give up any land east of the Mississippi River. This mass migration of about 15,000 Cherokee Indians is now referred to by the Cherokee Nation as The Trail of Tears, due to the adverse impact it had on the Cherokee. Nearly 4,000 Native Americans died during this mass migration, due to the plethora of obstacles they faced, including starvation and exhaustion (“The Trail of Tears”). Another one of the Five Civil Tribes, the Creeks, lost about 3,500 members when they were forced from their lands in Alabama (“Stories”). However, it was not only the long distances Indians had to travel away from their homelands that troubled
them.
The Cherokee Indians decided to put up a fight: a legal fight. This Native American Tribe took the state of Georgia to court, with a case that was brought to the Supreme Court. The Chief Supreme Court Justice at the time, John Marshall, ruled in favor of the Cherokee. This victory was supposed to allow the Cherokee to stay on their homelands. Despite this court ruling, President Jackson continued with his plan to remove the Indians from the east of the Mississippi River saying, “[Supreme Court Justice John Marshall] made his ruling, now let him enforce it” (“Controversial Decisions Video”). This is just one example of President Jackson and his administration blatantly ignoring the law in order to get the valuable Indian lands. The law at the time required removal treaties to be negotiated “fairly, voluntarily, and peacefully” (“Trail of Tears”). However, that was ignored too.
The first Indian tribe to be completely removed from its land altogether as a result of the Indian Removal Act was the Choctaw. The Choctaw were threatened to be invaded by the United States Army if they did not comply with the Indian Removal Act. This journey to the territory President Jackson set aside for the Indians was brutal, and done without any help from the U.S. government. Some of the Indians who were obligated to embark on this voyage were bound to chains, and thousands of Native Americans died on this journey (“Trail of Tears”). This account of Indians being removed from their land is a far cry from what was permitted by law.
It is evident that President Jackson overstepped his boundaries in the implementation of the Indian Removal Act.
He forced several Native American tribes to leave their lands by threatening them with powers larger than themselves and by obligating them to agree to treaties, unless they wanted to suffer even further. Moreover, President Jackson purposely defied a Supreme Court ruling to act on his beliefs regarding Indians. President Jackson also failed to assist Indian tribes as they trekked to the land hundreds of miles away from their homelands, making him responsible for thousands of Native American deaths. Clearly, the Indian Removal Act and the events that occurred as a result of it were unethical and an abuse of power by President Andrew
Jackson.