The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for white settlement of their ancestral lands. The law was signed into law by Andrew Jackson and it was strictly enforced under his and Martin Van Buren's administration, which lasted until 1841.
Native Americans living east of the Mississippi would be moved to the west of Mississippi. Native Americans tribes had a much different view on the land, one example is the Cherokee and they believed that the land should be shared. This eventually led up to the Native Americans taking Thomas Jefferson’s advice, to embrace the white mans way of life or culture. After even taking on the white mans way of life, the Native Americans were still made to move because even though the Supreme Court ruled in the Natives favor that they could stay, Jackson told Georgia to ignore the ruling.
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Signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was an unjust policy that took the lives of many innocent people. This policy allowed the president to give Indian tribes western land in exchange for their territories within state borders.
At first glance, the Indian Removal Act may seem fair enough since both Native American tribes and the US get land. However, this is not the case because thousands of people had to leave their own homes and were forced to go into unknown territory by the US. Although some groups of Native Americans complied with the policy, tribes such as the Seminole, Cherokee, and Creek refused to move away from their homeland. This traumatizing event, including the forceful relocations of native americans, was called ‘The Trail of Tears’, which was a terrible result of the Indian Removal Act. Since many Native Americans were being forced to head down West, they had to undergo a harrowing journey that they never chose for themselves. This is exactly why the journey is referred to as ‘The Trail of Tears’.
In my opinion, the United States had no right to push these tribes out of their own homes. The Native Americans settled on this land first, and deserved to stay on their own in peace. Even though the US might have been trying to improve the lives of their own people through expansion, there are no reasons that can justify the cruelty that the Native Americans went through. About four thousand lives were lost on ‘The Trail of Tears’ due to our country’s arrogance towards the native tribes. In conclusion, the Indian Removal Act was a huge mistake made by the United States that caused thousands of people to go through the traumatizing event called 'The Trail of Tears'.
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