Indian Removal Act of 1830

1. Indian Removal Act of 1830

2. The Question • Based on the living conditions of Americans and Natives, was the Indian Removal Act justified?

3. Background Information President Andrew Jackson fought ferociously against the Indians in many wars before becoming president in 1828. President Jackson was a strong opponent of Indian tribes. On May 28, 1930, President Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act. Congress passed the treaty in order to relocate the Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River to the land in the west. Although, the act did not order the removal of the Indians, it did allow the president to negotiate land by exchanging treaties with tribes living within the boundaries of the states.

4. Current Living Conditions of Natives Jobs: Typically, Tribal and Federal government are the largest employers. Most people depend on welfare. In order to survive, extended families pool their meager resources to try and provide for their basic needs. Housing: The remoteness and limited resources of many reservation communities make it difficult to provide adequate housing. Both homelessness and overcrowding are common problems. Because many families will not turn away any family member who needs a place to stay, it is not uncommon for as many as 25 people to live in a two-bedroom home. Most houses often need repair. Many efforts are made to give Native’s adequate housing. Health: "The average life age for Native Americans as a whole is 55, which is lower than for residents of Bangladesh," (June 2, 2002 Miami News-Record). Lack of public health infrastructure and services contribute to the inadequate health care of many Native Americans living on reservations. The government even pays half as much for Natives as it does for other Americans. The pressure to shift from a traditional way of life to a more Western lifestyle has dramatically changed the health status of the Native people, and created a terrible epidemic of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

5. Current Living Conditions of Americans • Average family incomes of the non-poor are about six times as large as for the poor • Seventy-eight percent of the non-poor live in homes their families own, compared to 41 percent of the poor and 24 percent of those living in poor, single-parent families. • Those living in poor households are twice as likely to be victims of violent crimes as are the non-poor. Those is poor, single-parent families are more than three times as likely. • 13.5 infants out of every 1000 infants born to poor mothers and 14.6 infants out of every 1000 infants born to poor, single mothers die within their first year, compared to 8.3 per 1000 the non-poor. • Twenty-seven percent of the poor live in families that report two or more of the following: eviction in the past year, crowding in rooms, having moderate or severe housing engineering problems, having gas or electricity turned off in the past year, having the phone disconnected in the past year, not having enough food in the past four months, living without a refrigerator, living without a stove, and living without a telephone. Only 3 percent of the non-poor report two or more of these events.

6. Andrew Jackson’s Speech

7. How Americans Felt • Americans were very fond of the Removal of the Indians. They wanted their land and money, and almost all of it as taken away from them. The Natives got all of their traditions and rights taken away from them, and the southerners took all of the land available from the Natives.

8. The Trail of Tears In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee tribe was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area known as present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating and terrifying effects. The migrants faced hunger, disease, and exhaustion on the forced march. Over 4,000 out of 15,000 of the Cherokees died.

9. How it Affected Natives • In 1838 the U.S. army removed the Cherokees from the southern lands and forced them in detention camps. Soon after, 15,000 men, women and children were forced to evacuate westward, mostly on foot, to the land of what is now Oklahoma. Of these 15,000 people, an estimated 4,000 people died on the brutal journey due to starvation, exhaustion, exposure and racism while on the route of what is known as the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee tribe was a model for following removals of other Indian tribes, resulting in similar death tolls. After the Indians had been placed in Indian Country, they were promised to still earn money by the government; however, federal employees in charge of the reservations often pocketed the money giving the Natives little money, causing starvation and disease, contributing to more death among the Natives.

10. Citations • Hudson, Eric, and Diana De La Llata. "Trail Of Tears." Trail of Tears. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. • "Indian Removal." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. • Hodgkinson, Harold. "ERIC - The Current Condition of Native Americans. ERIC Digest., 1992." ERIC - The Current Condition of Native Americans. ERIC Digest., 1992. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. • IRLE. "Publications." Publications. IRLE, University of California, Berkeley, n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.