Native American Removal Policy and the 'Trail of Tears'

1. Native American Removal Policy and the 'Trail of Tears'

2. The Indian Removal Act (1830) • Passed during Andrew Jackson’s second year in office. • The Indian Removal Act set the stage for his administration’s handling of Native American affairs during his presidency. • Removal of eastern tribes to lands west of the Mississippi. • Became the hallmark of Jacksonian Indian policy including, most notably, the 'Trail of Tears,' (which actually transpired shortly after Jackson had left office.).

3. The Indian Removal Act (1830) • “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished,”

4. Worcester v. Georgia (1832) • The Supreme Court ruled the State of Georgia had no power to pass any law affecting the Cherokee Nation. • Worcester, in principle, guaranteed the sovereign claims of the Cherokee nation and the lands within their boundaries.

5. Worcester v. Georgia (1832) • The decision sparked intense disagreement between the three branches and breakdown due to Jackson’s objection. • Responding to Chief Justice John Marshall’s written decision it was rumored Jackson remarked, “The Chief Justice has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”

6. Worcester v. Georgia (1832) • Unfortunately for the Cherokee Nation, the social principles outlined in Worcester never became a political reality because of later developments.

7. Treaty of New Echota (1835) • After a winding trail of treaties designed to dispossess the Cherokee Nation of of their land, the Treaty of New Echota represented the final blow to traditional Cherokee land rights. • Dripping with paternalism, New Echota ceded all land possessed by the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi to the United States and reaffirmed the seven million acre and perpetual outlet commitments.

8. Treaty of New Echota (1835) • “The United States shall always have the right to make and establish such post and military roads and forts in any part of the Cherokee country, as they may deem proper for the interest and protection of the same and the free use of as much land, timber, fuel and materials of all kinds for the construction and support of the same as may be necessary…”

9. In an impassioned letter to Congress, Chief John Ross exposed the illegitimacy of the Treaty of New Echota and described its consequences on the people of the Cherokee Nation. • His words echoed through the history of treaty negotiations between Native Americans and the government of the United States.

10. The 'Trail of Tears' • In 1838, General Winfield Scott arrived in Georgia with approximately 7,000 men to enforce the provisions of the Treaty of New Echota, which prescribed the relocation of the Cherokees in Georgia to what is now Oklahoma.

11. The 'Trail of Tears' • Somewhere between 3,000-5,000 Cherokees died en route in what became known as the 'Trail of Tears.'