Indian Removal
Jackson’s Goal?
1830  Indian Removal Act
Cherokee Nation v. GA (1831)
* “domestic dependent nation”
Worcester v. GA (1832)
Jackson:
John Marshall has made his
decision, now let him enforce
it!
Indian Removal Act of 1830
The motivation behind the law was greed for the vast
Native American lands.
An Indian-hating mentality by certain groups of
frontiersmen also contributed to the passage of the
act.
Mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes
east of the Mississippi River to lands in the west.
President Jackson outlined his Indian removal policy
to Congress on December 6, 1830: "It gives me
pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent
policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly
thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians
beyond the white settlements is approaching to a
happy consummation. Two important tribes have
accepted the provision made for their removal at the
last session of Congress, and it is believed that their
example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek
the same obvious advantages."
Jackson’s Professed
“Love” for
Native Americans
1830  Indian Removal Act
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Many American thought that the Great Plans were a
wasteland. They thought that they should move the
Native Americans there.
Many Native Americans were given money to relocate,
and they did. Most moved, but not the Cherokee of
Georgia.
Many Cherokee had adopted white culture. They hired
lawyers to sue the State of Georgia.
Worcester v. GA (1832)
Cherokee of Georgia
"Trail of Tears"
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In 1838 and 1839, as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian
removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give
up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate
to an area in present-day Oklahoma.
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 16,000 of the
Cherokees and other Native American Tribes died.
Worcester v. GA (1832)
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Eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice John Marshall said for Georgia to honor the Cherokee
property rights.
Jackson said “Fine then, now let John Marshall enforce it!”
Until 1838 the Cherokee Indians refused to take land out west, and
whites in Georgia were still mad.
Martin Van Buren, the President after A. Jackson, would eventually
send an Army to Georgia to remove the Cherokee. These Cherokee
were forced to march to what is now Oklahoma.
Over 4,000 Native Americans died during this migration.
Trail of Tears (1838-1839)
Trail of Tears
In 1838, the army forcibly removed
more than 16,000 Cherokee Indians from
their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama,
North Carolina, and Georgia, and sent them
to Indian Territory (today known as
Oklahoma).
One in four died along the journey, and
thousands more perished later from the
consequences of relocation.
John Ross, veteran
of various wars in
which he fought
with Jackson, served
as president of the
Cherokee nation
from 1839 until his
death in 1866.
Although he
opposed relocation,
the tribe was forced
to move.
Trail of Tears (1838-1839)
, The Trail of Tears,
was painted by
Robert Lindneux in 1942. It commemorates the suffering of the
Cherokee people under forced removal. If any depictions of the "Trail
of Tears" were created at the time of the march, they have not
survived.
This picture
Trail of tears today
Trail of Tears (1838-1839)
The term "Trail of Tears"
refers to the ten years in
which over 70,000 Indians
were forced to give up
their homes and move to
areas assigned to tribes
within Oklahoma.
The tribes were given a
right to all of Oklahoma
except the Panhandle.
The government
promised this land to them
"as long as grass shall
grow and rivers run."
This lasted until about
1906 when they were
forced to move to other
reservations.
The Cherokee Nation After
1820
Indian Removal
Trail of Tears (1838-1839)