Native Americans In The Late 1800s

The neglect of Native American rights traces all the way back to 1830 and stems from the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act enabled the federal government to exchange Native lands east of the mississippi for land in the west. This land was called the “Indian colonization zone,” which is located in present-day Oklahoma. Being a big advocate and supporter of what he called “Indian Removal,” Andrew Jackson signed off on Act. The act explicitly said that the removal treaty negotiations had to be fair, peaceful, and that the president could not try to persuade Native nations into giving up their land. Despite this, President Jackson and his government forced Native Americans to vacate their lands for their own benefit. Furthermore, in 1831
The Indian Removal did not relent, and in 1836 the federal government drove the Creek people off their land and into Oklahoma. There were many fatalities along the way and 3,500 of the 15,000 Creek could not live through the trip. The journey was harsh, painful, and the Native Americans were not given the resources to help them live through the conditions. When the Cherokee made the long resisted journey in 1838-1839, they had 1,200 miles to march and were dealing with whooping cough, typhus, dysentery, cholera, and starvation. Historians estimate more than 5,000 Cherokee died as a result of the unbearable conditions brutal treatment. By 1840, tens of thousands of Native Americans had been forced into “Indian Territory” against their will. Jackson and his government overlooked the rights, opinions, and culture of Native Americans and didn't think twice about stripping them of their homes to help
Relating directly to this issue, recently there have been many protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The DAPL is an underground oil pipeline project in the United States that is 1,172 miles long and runs from Stanley, North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. This is a very controversial issue because the pipeline is planned to run under native and private lands. This threatens water sources, and it will disrupt native burial grounds. The most prominent protests have been from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe located in North Dakota and their supporters in the United States. Despite these protests, Donald Trump and his administration have not backed down and insist on the construction of the pipeline to benefit America in terms of safe oil transport, jobs, and money. In another case of bigotry and insensitivity, lawmakers in Utah are asking Trump to get rid of the Bears Ears National Monument Obama made recently because they believe the land could be used for better things like commercial use. The land is considered sacred to many Native American Tribes, and by making it a national monument the land was protected and preserved. One of the monuments biggest critics Rob Bishop, who is also a Utah representative, has urged Donald Trump to make the monument smaller or get rid of it altogether. This is yet another display of insensitivity towards