Act Of Indian Removal

ACT OF INDIAN REMOVAL Jackson had said in his first address to Congress that autonomous Native American tribes operating within states posed a serious threat to state sovereignty. The conditions in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, where the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Cherokee peoples posed barriers to White colonization, were specifically mentioned in this communication. Because these communities spoke English and were Christian, they had largely assimilated into Anglo-American society, earning them the moniker "The Five Civilized Tribes." Some treated slaves the same as White people. In Georgia, white people harbored a particular dislike for the Cherokee, desiring their abundant agricultural areas in the state's north. The discovery of gold on Cherokee territory only served to fuel the desire to drive them off. Ironically, the Cherokee had perhaps assimilated into White society more thoroughly than any other indigenous tribe, despite White people's insistence that they and other Native peoples could never become decent citizens due to their barbaric ways. The Cherokee people's newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, started publishing in both Cherokee and English in 1828. While the Cherokee people farmed and owned land, adopted Christianity, and enslaved people, they also followed the example set by their White neighbors. However, at the time, White people believed that all Native Americans were incapable of becoming full citizens of the United States. The majority of White Americans were moved by Jackson's anti-Native policies, and many of them shared a strong dislike of non-White people, which led Congress to enact the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The legislation stipulated that the Five Civilized Tribes would be relocated from their homeland in the Southeast of the country to the West, specifically to modern-day Oklahoma. It brings me great pleasure to inform to Congress that the government's beneficent policy- which has been persistently maintained for almost thirty years-in respect to the evacuation of Native Americans from areas outside of White settlements is nearing a joyful culmination, as Jackson stated in December 1830. However, the Cherokee chose to challenge the federal law and took their case to the Supreme Court. Two significant tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal during the most recent Congress session, and it is thought that their example will encourage the remaining tribes to also seek the same obvious advantages. Members of Congress who opposed Jackson, including as Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, supported them in court, and they hired former attorney general William Wirt to assist them. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Wirt contended that Georgia legislation intended to eradicate the Cherokee people should be stopped because they formed an independent foreign nation. The Supreme Court determined in 1837 that the Cherokee people did not fit the definition of a foreign country. The nation's top court heard a case concerning the Cherokee people as well. In Worcester v. Georgia, a court case, non-natives argued for their right to occupy Native American territories. In New Echota, the nation's capital, Samuel Worcester served as a government postmaster and a Christian missionary for the Cherokee people. He was a Congregationalist who had moved to Georgia to live among the Cherokee in order to promote Christianity. He was adamantly against the eviction of Native Americans from their land. Worcester had broken a Georgia rule that prohibited White persons from residing in Native American land unless they were federal officials by living among the Cherokee. Worcester was taken into custody, but was later freed since he was allowed to dwell there by his government employment as postmaster. Worcester was then taken into custody again when Jackson's allies managed to remove him from his position. This time, he and nine other individuals were punished by a judge for breaking a state statute in Georgia that forbids White people from residing on Native property. Worcester received a four-year sentence of hard labor. Chief Justice John Marshall decided in favor of Worcester in the 1832 Worcester v. Georgia case, concluding that the Cherokee people were "distinct political communities" with sovereign rights to their own area. It became evident that the Cherokee people would have to relocate, even though the Supreme Court lacked the authority to implement its decision in Worcester v. Georgia. The majority of them remained on their property, but those who realized that relocation was their only alternative went west. The president called upon the U.S. military to remove them. After many forced marches, some 15,000 Cherokee people were eventually moved to Oklahoma. Up to 4,000 Cherokee people lost their lives as a result of this forced relocation, often known as the Trail of Tears (Figure 10:15). The Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek peoples were also forced to leave. A prime illustration of the influence of popular opinion in a democracy is the elimination of the Five Civilized Tribes