Removing Native Americans from their Land
President Andrew Jackson offered similar rhetoric
in his first
inaugural address in 1829, when he emphasized his desire to
observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and
liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention
to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits
of our Government and the feelings of our people. Yet, only
fourteen months later, Jackson prompted Congress to pass the Removal
Act, a bill that forced Native Americans to leave the United States
and settle in the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.
Many Cherokee tribes banded together as
an independent nation, and challenged this legislation in U.S.
courts. In 1832, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokees,
but some tribes still signed treaties giving the federal government
the legal authority to "assist" them in their move to
the Indian Territory.
In 1838, as the deadline for removal approached, thousands of
federal soldiers and Georgia volunteers entered the territory
and forcibly relocated the Cherokees. Americans hunted, imprisoned,
raped, and murdered Native Americans. Cherokees surviving the
onslaught were forced on a 1,000-mile march to the established
Indian Territory with few provisions. Approximately 4,000 Cherokees
died on this Trail of Tears.
An audio recording of a Native
American song commemorating this tragedy is available in the
American Memory collection, Florida
Folklife. A description of how some Cherokees settled
in West Virginia can be heard in the audio recording Plateau
Region as Unofficial Refuge for Cherokee from the Tending
the Commons collection.
The expansion of the United States that encroached upon Native
American lands occurred faster than many policymakers had predicted
with events such as the Mexican-American War in 1848 placing new
territories and tribes under federal jurisdiction. A government
The Indians of Southern California in 1852, explained that
many Californians believed destiny had awarded California
to the Americans to develop and that if the Indians interfered
with progress they should be pushed aside.