The Indian Removal Act

Jackson’s DecisionsDecember 6, 1830 President Andrew Jackson

called for the relocation of eastern Native American tribes to land west of the Mississippi River, in order to open new land for settlement by citizens of the United States

In 1814-1824 he made treaties with 9 out of the 11 tribes in America

In 1827 the Jackson administration told native American tribes that they had 2 years to voluntary move out of there houses onto new land

In 1831 Jackson forcibly moved 46,000 Native Americans

Cherokee The US government sent 7,000 troops to force the Cherokees

of the land even after they had adapted their lifestyle 20,000 Cherokees were marched westward at gunpoint on

the infamous Trail of Tears¼ died on the way and the rest struggled to surviveThe first groups walked over the 800 miles to what became

eastern Oklahomavideo of trail of tears walk through http://

www.pbs.org/indiancountry/history/interactive_map.html The average trip took six monthsMany other tribes were forced later on their own Trail of

Tears, but the Cherokee was one of the worsteventually they got pushed into an Indian reservation

Cherokees continued Act passed in 1830 and forced native

Americans west of the Mississippi RiverThe removal of the tribe was supposed to be

peaceful but after the tribe resisted Jackson showed force

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/trail-of-tears.htm

Current living conditions Americans Native Americans 15.1 percent of

Americans live in poverty

14.5 percent of U.S. struggle to put food on the table

Some native Americans today are doctors, lawyers, teachers, and other professions

Largest amount of native Americans live in rural places in Oklahoma and Louisiana

80 percent are unemployed

50.9 percent are below the federal poverty line

Based on the current living conditions of Americans and natives was the removal act justified ?

Throughout all the research we did we think that the Indian Removal Act was not justified. Even though we probably wouldn't be here today without it. We could have gone about it a different way. We discovered that after congress passed the act it could be considered unconstitutional. It practically took the tribes rights away by taking the land they rightfully owned. Also they still got pushed out even after they adapted to the American lifestyle and became civilized people. Some native Americans have good lifestyles but still many live in poverty and don’t get the opportunities they deserve. Most white Americans have good lifestyles but very few struggle. After all the sites and sources we looked at we concluded our research by discovering that the Indian Removal Act was not justified.

BibliographyHuff Post. (2013, October 18). Huffington Post. Retrieved October 18, 2013, from Huff Post Business : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/13/us-poverty-rate-2011_n_959936.html

Sabo III, George2001 Paths of Our Children: Historic Indians of Arkansas. Fayetteville, Arkansas Archeological Survey Popular Series No. 3.

Trail of Tears. (2006, September). Retrieved from Indian Country Diaries: http://www.pbs.org/indiancountry/history/trail.htmlDarren Kamp, A. (n.d.). The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears: Cause, Effect and Justification. Retrieved October 16, 2013, from History Matters: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/7402TCI. (2011). history alive Americas past. Madison: TCI.ushistory.org. (2013). The Trail of Tears — The Indian Removals. Retrieved October 17, 2013, from U.S. History Online Textbook: http://www.ushistory.org/us/24f.asp

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/trail-of-tears.htm