Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act: Lasting Impact of a Forced Migration - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the 1830s, the President of the United States of America, Andrew Jackson created an Indian Removal policy that forced all the American Indians living in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida to walk many miles to Oklahoma. The policy became formal in May 1830 when the President signed the Indian Removal Act. The trek was sorrowful to the Americans of Indian origin and had a lasting negative impact on culture. Tribal lands and natural resources caused the conflict experienced in the 1820s and 1830s. The conflict between the European settlers and the American Indians and the Indians were removed from the South East of Mississippi River, where they had lived several years to the West.

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Some of the Cherokees signed a treaty with the United States Government, but the agreement did not offer them leadership. They subsequently refused to leave willingly and were therefore relocated to the West of Mississippi River. Approximately 17,000 Cherokees were forced out of the land, which harbored their culture and where they had lived for many years. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees died during the Trail of Tears (Perdue, and Michael). President Jackson's move protected the interest of white settlers, and after the Cherokees left the settlers benefited as they found Gold in the land.

Individuals, including leaders, sometimes use manipulation, fraud as well as deceit to accomplish their goals. The removal of the Indian from South East of Mississipi River was one of the legislative priorities for President Jackson. The majority of the Cherokees did not leave voluntarily and were therefore forced out of their land. The Treaty of New Echota was signed between the Georgia officials and some representatives of Cherokee political faction who comprised a minority of the tribe (Perdue, and Michael). The treaty granted the Cherokees two years to vacate the land voluntarily. Still, the majority of the Cherokees were not a party to the treaty, and the state militias forced them, and through the journey nearly a quarter died as a result of snow, freezing temperatures as well as heavy rains.

The Cherokee political faction deceived the majority by signing the treaty without unanimously agreeing. The Cherokees were divided into two groups, with the majority belonging to the National party lead by John Ross and the Treaty party led by John Ridge. The National Party and the Treaty Party had divergent opinions about their removal. The former advocated for resistance against the removal, while the latter believed that the removal was inevitable; therefore, it was beneficial to negotiate for better terms of removal (Perdue, and Michael). They used manipulative tactics to gather their supporters.

In the removal of Cherokee, the Whites who settled after the Cherokee were removed from their land benefited. The President also saw the Indian Removal Act as beneficial as it would reduce the conflicts between the state governments and the federal governments. The Act allowed the White settlers to occupy the majority of the land in the South and West and thus to protect against invasion from any foreigner (Perdue, and Michael). After occupying the lands, the White settlers benefited through the Gold. People traveled from far to come and mine in the Cherokee Nation in 1830 alone there were approximately 4,000 miners in Yahoola Creek. The White Americans benefited from fertile cheap labor, and the Removal presented a chance for them to expand to the West. While the White settlers benefited from the land, the Cherokee lost significantly as they were forcibly forced their land. They lost not only their native land, their culture, but also their loved ones.

While the Indian Removal Act benefited the White Americans, it increased Indians' distrust of the Federal Government. The removal also created distrust between the White Americans and the Native Americans, and the two groups could no longer make a treaty (Stewart 74). Additionally, the forced removal showed that the prevalence of the political corruption of the White Americans. It also showed their lack of humanity as many Indian Americans died during the journey due to harsh temperatures, anger, and diseases. The Indian Removal made it impossible for them to track their ancestry as the removal made the tribes scatter.

The main reason why conflicts such as that between the Native Americans and the White Americans were common in the 19th Century is because of increased encroachment to their land. Before the seventh and eighteenth-century majority of the Indians lived in the Southern part of the Appalachian Mountains, this constitutes states such as Western Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, as well as Tennessee (Stewart 74). However, from the 17th Europeans started encroaching on the Indians, and by the 19th Century, there were many Europeans in this area, which was initially preoccupied with the Indians Americans.

Treaties created in the 17th and 18th Century such as the Treaty of Hopewell, protected the American Indian tribes. However, in the 19th Century, the whites who lived in the South, as well as other white Americans in other areas, failed to recognize that the Indian Americans had legal rights to own the land (Perdue, and Michael). They felt that the Indians were no equal to the Whites, and therefore their legal rights were inferior. The discrimination and failure to respect the Indians are what spearheaded the conflict between the two groups.

The objectives of those who sought the Indian removal was so that they could take resources like land, which was considered to be a valuable asset at the time. The American president at the time, Andrew Jackson was among the people who wanted India removal by coming up with an act that could be used to make it legal during the Indian removal (Stewart 54). The political class at the time support the removal because they knew they would take the natural resources that were taken by the Indians. The other objective was to end common conflicts between the Indians and the Americans. There was hatred between the two communities; hence the separation was necessary for ending the conflicts. The Indians were angry that other communities were approaching their territory, such as the Europeans.

Jackson used paternalistic and threatening language to threaten the Indians on the consequences that they would face if they refused to move. He urged Cherokee to accept the relocation peacefully to end the conflicts with other communities (Stewart 74). Jackson also promised the Cherokee that they would get his support if they accepted the relocation, and they would have more space and freedom in their new place. Some members of the Cherokee did not want conflicts; hence they agreed to move to Oklahoma.

There were challenges in ending conflicts with other communities, especially the Europeans and American people. The leaders while divided in terms of the decisions to make in ending conflicts between the Cherokee and other communities. There seemed as if there were people with more rights and entitlement at the time; hence even the Cherokee were tired of being discriminated against. The Indians had to surrender their land and other resources to be guaranteed human rights like the rest of the communities living in America.

There was a treaty signed between the state and the leaders from the Cherokee community to guarantee peaceful transition, movement, and even people of the community when they settle in their new land in Oklahoma. However, the agreement was not followed; there were conflicts between the Cherokee and other communities they met on their way, resulting in conflicts (Stewart 86). The movement of the Cherokee disrupted other communities that were living on the path followed by the Cherokee. The disruptions caused wars leading to the death of innocent people. There were better ways to solve the conflicts between the Cherokee and other communities without escalating the conflicts. The interests of the political class were the main factor causing disruption.

Among the factors that contributed to the removal of the Cherokee include lack of trust of the Cherokee, where they were viewed to be allies of the British. The relationship between the Cherokee and the British was not welcomed because America was the former colony of the British, and they no longer wanted a relationship with them again (Stewart 83). The British had occupied the better parts of the US the same case with the Cherokee; hence there were views that the natives needed to get back their land. The history of immigration is that immigrants used to find the best places where they could do farming.

The government was accused of interfering with the affairs of different communities by triggering conflicts between communities. The presidents elected in the 19th century relied on their communities to be elected because there was discrimination in the right to vote. The lack of equality rights triggered conflicts between different communities (Stewart 104). The Cherokee community was among the most affected communities that faced discrimination from other communities and the state. The main challenge to the Cherokee is that they lacked political representation that could advocates for their needs in power. The new place the Cherokee community settled, they had to develop the area because the area was not settled by other communities.

According the treaty between the US and the Indian community, the community was considered to be an inferior community in America based on the principles of colonial rights. The treaty was a weak point on the side of the Cherokee because they did not have any law protecting them from discrimination (Stewart 99). The Cherokee agreed to move to avoid conflicts with other communities, and they were not assured of somewhere to settle if the conflicts escalated. The Cherokee viewed the movement to the new place as the best way to end conflicts because there were agreements between the community and the state in terms of the respect of the rights of the Cherokee in their new area of settlement.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Cherokee community living in the US in the 1830s faced discrimination from other communities living in the US that were considered to have more rights. The discrimination ended up for the Cherokee being displaced to their new home in Oklahoma. The Cherokee suffered financial loss where they had to live all their investment in Georgia and start afresh in Oklahoma. The land was a significant resource that triggered the conflicts between the Cherokee and other communities that believed the land where the Cherokee settled belonged to them, and they deserved to recover it.

Works Cited

Perdue, Theda, and Michael D. Green. The Cherokee nation and the trail of tears. Penguin, 2007.

Stewart, Mark. The Indian removal act: Forced relocation. Capstone, 2007.