What does the Indian Removal Act actually say?
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.
What are the 5 native tribes listed in the Indian Removal Act?
The problem lay in the Southeast, where members of what were known as the Five Civilized Tribes (Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, and Creek) refused to trade their cultivated farms for the promise of strange land in the Indian Territory with a so-called permanent title to that land.
What did the Indian Removal Act violate?
Jackson warned the tribes that if they failed to move, they would lose their independence and fall under state laws. Jackson backed an Indian removal bill in Congress. Members of Congress like Davy Crockett argued that Jackson violated the Constitution by refusing to enforce treaties that guaranteed Indian land rights.
Why did Jackson support the Indian Removal Act?
Jackson declared that removal would “incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier.” Clearing Alabama and Mississippi of their Indian populations, he said, would “enable those states to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power.”
Why is it called the Trail of Tears?
The Cherokee people called this journey the “Trail of Tears,” because of its devastating effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died. It commemorates the suffering of the Cherokee people under forced removal.
Why did Andrew Jackson do the Trail of Tears?
Jackson, both as a military leader and as President, pursued a policy of removing Indian tribes from their ancestral lands. This relocation would make room for settlers and often for speculators who made large profits from the purchase and sale of land.
Why did Jackson support Indian Removal?
According to Jackson, moving the Indians would separate them from immediate contact with settlements of whites, free them from the power of the States, enable them to pursue happiness in their own way, and would stop their slow extinction.