Isabella Carter
Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 was a law that authorized the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands in the Southeast to make way for white settlers. The Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, and it led to the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Native Americans, including the Cherokee tribe, in an event widely known as the Trail of Tears. Despite the resistance from some tribes and a Supreme Court ruling affirming the sovereignty of Indian tribes, Jackson's administration negotiated and signed nearly 70 removal treaties, resulting in the death of over 4,000 Native Americans during the journey west. This raises the question: Was Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Policy constitutional?
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date of the Indian Removal Act | May 28, 1830 |
| Who signed it into law | President Andrew Jackson |
| What it authorized | The President to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River |
| What it provided | "For an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi" |
| Who it affected | Native American tribes, including the Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw |
| How many were affected | More than 60,000 Native Americans from at least 18 tribes |
| Where they were moved to | West of the Mississippi River, primarily in what is now Oklahoma |
| Why it was done | To make way for westward expansion and white settlement |
| How it was justified | As a "wise and humane policy" that would save the Native Americans from "utter annihilation" |
| Legal challenges | The 1832 United States Supreme Court case Worcester v. Georgia, which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Native Americans, but President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling |
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What You'll Learn
The Indian Removal Act of 1830
The goal was to remove all American Indians living in existing states and territories and relocate them to unsettled land in the west. This was done through a combination of persuasion, bribery, and threats to convince tribes to sign removal treaties and leave their ancestral lands. The Act provided financial and material assistance to Indians to help them travel to their new locations and start new lives, and it guaranteed that they would live under the protection of the United States Government forever.
During Jackson's presidency (1829-1837) and that of his successor, Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), more than 60,000 Native Americans from at least 18 tribes were forced to move west of the Mississippi River, where they were allocated new lands. The southern tribes were mostly resettled in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), while the northern tribes were initially resettled in Kansas. This mass migration resulted in more than 4,000 deaths and became known as the Trail of Tears.
The Indian Removal Act was a continuation of the government's policy of relocating American Indians, which had been ongoing for nearly thirty years. It was also a response to the increasing pressure from white settlers pouring into the backcountry of the coastal South and moving westward, who saw the Indian tribes as an obstacle to their expansion. Jackson himself viewed the Indian tribes as either sovereign states (which violated the Constitution) or subject to the laws of existing states of the Union. He urged Indians to assimilate and obey state laws, believing that he could only accommodate their desire for self-rule in federal territories, which required resettlement.
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Jackson's view of Native Americans as 'sovereign states'
Andrew Jackson's view of Native Americans as sovereign states was complex and informed by his interpretation of the US Constitution. In the 1823 case of Johnson v. McIntosh, the US Supreme Court ruled that Indians could occupy and control lands within the US but could not hold title to those lands. Jackson disagreed with the idea of treating Indian tribes as sovereign foreign nations, believing that it violated state sovereignty under Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution. He saw two options: either Indians were subject to the laws of existing states of the Union, or they were sovereign states themselves, which would violate the Constitution.
Jackson urged Indians to assimilate and obey state laws, believing that he could only accommodate their desire for self-rule in federal territories west of the Mississippi River. This belief led to his support for and enactment of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which authorized the President to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River. Jackson saw this as a wise and humane policy that would save Native Americans from "utter annihilation" and provide them with new lands in the West.
Jackson's view of Native Americans as potentially sovereign states was not universally accepted. In the 1831 case of Cherokee Nation v. the State of Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall affirmed that Indian tribes were "domestic dependent nations" within the US but immune from state laws. Despite this ruling, Jackson refused to enforce it and continued to pursue the removal of Native Americans. By the end of his presidency, Jackson had signed nearly seventy removal treaties, resulting in the relocation of nearly 50,000 Native Americans and the opening of millions of acres of land for white settlers.
The Indian Removal Act and Jackson's policies towards Native Americans have been widely criticized and condemned in retrospect. Scholars have cited the Act as an early example of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing, genocide, or settler colonialism. The forced relocation of Native Americans, including the Cherokee Nation, has been specifically referred to as the "Trail of Tears," highlighting the tragic consequences of Jackson's interpretation of the Constitution and his view of Native Americans as sovereign states.
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The Trail of Tears
The Indian Removal Act was put in place to remove all American Indians living in existing states and territories and send them to unsettled land in the west. The Southern tribes were resettled mostly in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and the Northern tribes were initially resettled in Kansas. The Indian tribes affected by the Trail of Tears included the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. The Cherokee removal in 1838 was the last forced removal east of the Mississippi and was brought on by the discovery of gold in Dahlonega, Georgia, in 1828, which resulted in the Georgia Gold Rush.
The roots of forced relocation lay in greed. As the 19th century began, land-hungry Americans moved into what would later become the states of Alabama and Mississippi. Since Indian tribes living there appeared to be the main obstacle to westward expansion, white settlers petitioned the federal government to remove them. Although Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe argued that the Indian tribes in the Southeast should exchange their land for lands west of the Mississippi River, they did not take steps to make this happen.
The negotiation of the Treaty of New Echota was largely encouraged by Jackson, and it was signed by a minority Cherokee political faction, the Treaty Party, led by Cherokee leader Elias Boudinot. However, the treaty was opposed by most of the Cherokee people, as it was not approved by the Cherokee National Council and was not signed by Principal Chief John Ross. The Cherokee National Council submitted a petition, signed by thousands of Cherokee citizens, urging Congress to void the agreement in February 1836. Despite this opposition, the Senate ratified the treaty in March 1836, and the treaty thus became the legal basis for the Trail of Tears.
The relocated peoples suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their newly designated Indian reserve. Thousands died from disease before reaching their destinations or shortly after. A variety of scholars have classified the Trail of Tears as an example of the genocide of Native Americans; others categorize it as ethnic cleansing. In 1987, the US Congress designated the Trail of Tears as a National Historic Trail in memory of those who had suffered and died during removal.
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Jackson's refusal to enforce Supreme Court rulings
Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by the United States President. The Act authorized the President to negotiate removal treaties with Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River, with the goal of removing all Native Americans living in existing states and territories and sending them to unsettled land in the west.
In another instance, the Supreme Court ruled in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) that the Cherokee Nation was a "domestic dependent nation" with no rights binding on a state. However, the following year, the Court reversed its decision, ruling that Indian tribes were sovereign and immune from Georgia laws. Despite this ruling, Jackson again refused to comply and obtained the signature of a Cherokee chief agreeing to relocation in the Treaty of New Echota, which Congress ratified in 1835.
Jackson's refusal to enforce these Supreme Court rulings had significant consequences for the Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokees. By the end of his presidency, Jackson had signed into law nearly seventy removal treaties, resulting in the forced removal of nearly 50,000 Native Americans from their ancestral lands to territories west of the Mississippi River. This relocation process was marked by hardships and a large number of deaths, demonstrating the devastating impact of Jackson's refusal to uphold the rights of Native American tribes as affirmed by the Supreme Court.
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Jackson's use of persuasion, bribery, and threats
Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, and it authorized the President to negotiate removal treaties with Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River. The Act provided for an exchange of lands, with Native Americans receiving financial and material assistance to relocate to the west of the Mississippi River, where they would be under the perpetual protection of the US government.
In his role as President, Jackson continued to use persuasion, bribery, and threats to achieve his goal of Indian removal. He encouraged Congress to adopt the Removal Act, which provided him with the legal framework to carry out his agenda. Jackson offered Native American tribes a stark choice: submit to state authority or emigrate beyond the Mississippi River. The former option was presented as a generous offer of aid, while the latter was framed as a threat of subjugation. This strategy of persuasion and intimidation proved successful with some tribes, such as the Chickasaws and Choctaws, who agreed to relocation.
Jackson also used threats and intimidation to coerce the Cherokee Nation into signing the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, despite their initial resistance and legal victories in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Worcester v. Georgia (1832). He cultivated a minority faction within the tribe and tacitly encouraged Georgia to ignore the Supreme Court's rulings, ultimately forcing the Cherokees to capitulate.
In addition to these tactics, Jackson also employed biblical stories and portrayed the removal as a paternalistic act of mercy to justify his policies from a righteous standpoint. He believed that his population transfer was a "wise and humane policy" that would save the Native Americans from destruction in the face of white expansion.
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Frequently asked questions
The Indian Removal Act was a law passed in 1830 that authorised the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands in exchange for lands in the west, beyond the Mississippi River.
The Act led to the forced relocation of tens of thousands of Native Americans, with many dying on the journey west. This event is known as the "Trail of Tears". By 1840, nearly all Native American tribes had been driven west, and millions of acres of land were opened up for white settlers.
The Indian Removal Act was a controversial policy that has been characterised as a genocide. While the US Constitution empowered Congress to "regulate commerce with... Indian tribes", the Supreme Court ruled in 1832 that states did not have the right to impose regulations on Native American land. Despite this, President Jackson refused to enforce the ruling and continued to negotiate removal treaties with Native American tribes.
