Westward Expansion and Indian Removal

America is often considered one of the most wealthy and powerful countries in the world. The United States is associated with global reverence and respect; however, could a nation so great preserve indigenous societies continuously impeding the country’s potential growth without giving up on aspirations of success and expansion? Would our country exist as the power symbol it is today without certain actions that removed the barriers preventing American expansion and growth? Although the aboriginal people of America had claimed their land before the settlement of white colonists, the Native Americans proved an impediment towards the ultimate growth in America’s economic and commercial power. However harsh the treatment of Native Americans in the past was, the relocation and removal of the Natives was a necessary action, allowing the United States with the global status it possesses today. The relocation movements of Native Americans during the period of Western Expansion, though at times inhumane and cruel, were crucial for the ultimate growth and development of America.
Even preceding the major acts of Indian removal enforced during the American Expansion movement, the United States had recognized the economic and commercial potential in the possession of Western territory. Since the arrival of the first colonists to America, petty disputes existed between the natives and settlers over territorial boundaries. Over the decades, American settlers had gradually pushed Native Americans deeper into the West, forcing them to relocate and reside further westward. However, even prior to the major Western Expansionist campaign and its subsequent Native American relocation movements, Americans had acknowledged the great economic potential in the acquirement of Western lands. President Thomas Jefferson expressed the ubiquitous American curiosity towards the land residing past the Mississippi river, which at the time marked the western boundary of the United States, by