Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed int o law on May 28, 1830, by Unit ed St at es President Andrew
Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands wit h t he Nat ive
Americans residing in any of t he st at es or t errit ories, and for t heir removal west of t he river
Mississippi." [a][2][3] During t he presidency of Jackson (1829–1837) and his successor Mart in Van
Buren (1837–1841) more t han 60,000 Nat ive Americans[4] from at least 18 t ribes[5] were forced t o
move west of t he Mississippi River where t hey were allocat ed new lands as part of an et hnic
cleansing.[6][7][8][9][10] The sout hern t ribes were reset t led most ly in Indian Territ ory (Oklahoma). The
nort hern t ribes were reset t led init ially in Kansas. Wit h a few except ions, t he Unit ed St at es east of
t he Mississippi and sout h of t he Great Lakes was empt ied of it s Nat ive American populat ion. The
movement west ward of t he Nat ive American t ribes was charact erized by a large number of deat hs
occasioned by t he hardships of t he journey.[11]
Indian Removal Act
Long title
An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with
the Indians residing in any of the states or
territories, and for their removal west of the river
Mississippi.
Enacted by
the 21st United States Congress
Citations
Public law
Pub. L. 21–148 (https://uslaw.link/citation/us-law/
public/21/148)
Statutes at Large
4 Stat. 411 (http://legislink.org/us/stat-4-411)
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 102
Passed the Senate on April 24, 1830 (28–19 (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/21-1/s10
4) )
Passed the House on May 26, 1830 (101–97 (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/21-1/h14
9) )
Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830
The U.S. Congress approved t he Act by a narrow majorit y in t he House of Represent at ives. The
Indian Removal Act was support ed by President Jackson, sout hern and whit e set t lers, and several
st at e government s, especially t hat of Georgia. Nat ive American t ribes and t he Whig Part y opposed
t he bill, as did ot her groups wit hin whit e American societ y (e.g. some Christ ian missionaries and
clergy). Legal effort s t o allow Indian t ribes t o remain on t heir land in t he east ern U.S. failed. Most
famously, t he Cherokee (excluding t he Treat y Part y) challenged t heir relocat ion, but were
unsuccessful in t he court s; t hey were forcibly removed by t he Unit ed St at es government in a march
t o t he west t hat lat er became known as t he Trail of Tears. Since t he 21st cent ury, scholars have
cit ed t he act and subsequent removals as an early example of st at e sanct ioned et hnic cleansing.
Background
President Andrew Jackson
called for an American Indian
Removal Act in his first (1829)
State of the Union address.
History of European cultural assimilation in the United States
Many Europeans t hought Nat ive Americans t o be a savage people. However, euro-nat ive relat ions
varied, part icularly bet ween t he French and English colonies.[12] New France, which was est ablished
in t he Great Lakes region, generally pursued a cooperat ive relat ionship wit h t he Nat ive t ribes, wit h
t he exist ence of cert ain t radit ions such as marriage à la façon du pays, a marriage bet ween
t radesmen (coureur des bois ) and Nat ive women. This t radit ion was seen as a fundament al social
and polit ical inst it ut ion t hat helped maint ain relat ions and bond t he t wo cult ures. Many of t he
missionaries were also known t o t each t he t ribes how t o use iron t ools, build European-st yle homes,
and improve farming t echniques; t eachings t he Wyandot , who maint ained a cent ury long friendship
wit h French Canadians, would spread on t o ot her t ribes as t hey relocat ed t o t he Maumee Valley.[13]
Throughout t he 17t h and 18t h cent ury during t he Beaver and French and Indian Wars, t he great est
number of and most powerful t ribes t ended t o side wit h t he French, t hough ot her t ribes such as t he
Iroquois support ed t he English for various st rat egic reasons. For st rat egic economic and milit ary
purposes, t he French also had a pract ice of building fort s and t rading post s wit hin Nat ive villages,
such as t hat of Fort Miami in Indiana wit hin t he Miami village of Kekionga. However, t he belief in
European cult ural and racial superiorit y was generally widespread among high ranking colonial officials
and clergymen in t his period.
During American colonial t imes, many colonialist s and part icularly t he English felt t heir civilizat ion t o
be superior: t hey were Christ ians, and t hey believed t heir not ions of privat e propert y t o be a superior
syst em of land t enure. Colonial and front ier encroachers inflict ed a pract ice of cult ural assimilat ion,
meaning t hat t ribes such as t he Cherokee were forced t o adopt aspect s of whit e civilizat ion. This
accult urat ion was originally proposed by George Washingt on and was well underway among t he
Cherokee and t he Choct aw by t he beginning of t he 19t h cent ury.[14] Nat ive peoples were
encouraged t o adopt European cust oms. First , t hey were forced t o convert t o Christ ianit y and
abandon t radit ional religious pract ices. They were also required t o learn t o speak and read English,
alt hough t here was int erest in creat ing a writ ing and print ing syst em for a few Nat ive languages,
especially Cherokee, exemplified by Sequoyah's Cherokee syllabary. The Nat ive Americans also had
t o adopt set t ler values, such as monogamous marriage and abandon non-marit al sex. Finally, t hey had
t o accept t he concept of individual ownership of land and ot her propert y (including, in some
inst ances, African people as slaves). Many Cherokee people adopt ed all, or some, of t hese
pract ices, including Cherokee chief John Ross, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot , as represent ed by t he
newspaper he edit ed, The Cherokee Phoenix.[15]
The perceived failure of the policy
Despit e t he adopt ion of whit e cult ural values by many Indians and t ribes, t he Unit ed St at es
government began a syst emat ic effort t o remove Nat ive peoples from t he Sout heast .[16] The
Chickasaw, Choct aw, Muscogee-Creek, Seminole, and original Cherokee nat ions[b] had been
est ablished as aut onomous nat ions in t he sout heast ern Unit ed St at es.
Andrew Jackson sought t o renew a policy of polit ical and milit ary act ion for t he removal of t he
Nat ives from t hese lands and worked t oward enact ing a law for "Indian removal".[17][18][15][19][20] In his
1829 St at e of t he Union address, Jackson called for Indian removal.[21]
The Indian Removal Act was put in place t o annex Nat ive land and t hen t ransfer t hat ownership t o
Sout hern st at es, especially Georgia. The Act was passed in 1830, alt hough dialogue had been
ongoing since 1802 bet ween Georgia and t he federal government concerning t he possibilit y of such
an act . Et han Davis st at es t hat "t he federal government had promised Georgia t hat it would
ext inguish Indian t it le wit hin t he st at e's borders by purchase 'as soon as t he such purchase could be
made upon reasonable t erms'".[22] As t ime passed, Sout hern st at es began t o speed up t he
expulsions by claiming t hat t he deal bet ween Georgia and t he federal government was invalid and
t hat Sout hern st at es could pass laws ext inguishing Indian t it le t hemselves. In response, t he federal
government passed t he Indian Removal Act on May 28, 1830, in which President Jackson agreed t o
divide t he Unit ed St at es t errit ory west of t he Mississippi River int o dist rict s for t ribes t o replace
t he land from which t hey were removed.
In t he 1823 case of Johnson v. McIntosh, t he Unit ed St at es Supreme Court handed down a
decision st at ing t hat Indians could occupy and cont rol lands wit hin t he Unit ed St at es but could not
hold t it le t o t hose lands.[23] Jackson viewed t he union as a federat ion of highly est eemed st at es, as
was common before t he American Civil War. He opposed Washingt on's policy of est ablishing t reat ies
wit h Indian t ribes as if t hey were sovereign foreign nat ions. Thus, t he creat ion of Indian jurisdict ions
was a violat ion of st at e sovereignt y under Art icle IV, Sect ion 3 of t he Const it ut ion. As Jackson saw
it , eit her Indians comprised sovereign st at es (which violat ed t he Const it ut ion) or were subject t o t he
laws of exist ing st at es of t he Union. Jackson urged Indians t o assimilat e and obey st at e laws.
Furt her, he believed he could only accommodat e t he desire for Nat ive self-rule in federal t errit ories,
which required reset t lement on Federal lands west of t he Mississippi River.[24][25]
Support and opposition
Congressional debates
concerning the Indian
Removal Act, April 1830
The Removal Act was st rongly support ed in t he Sout h, especially in Georgia, which was t he largest
st at e in 1802 and was involved in a jurisdict ional disput e wit h t he Cherokee. President Jackson
hoped t hat removal would resolve t he Georgia crisis.[26] Besides t he Five Civilized Tribes, addit ional
people affect ed included t he Wyandot , t he Kickapoo, t he Pot owat omi, t he Shawnee, and t he
Lenape.[27]
The Indian Removal Act was cont roversial. Many Americans during t his t ime favored it s passage, but
t here was also significant opposit ion. Many Christ ian missionaries prot est ed against it , most not ably
missionary organizer Jeremiah Evart s. In Congress, New Jersey Senat or Theodore Frelinghuysen,
Kent ucky Senat or Henry Clay, and Tennessee Congressman Davy Crocket t spoke out against t he
legislat ion. The Removal Act passed only aft er a bit t er debat e in Congress.[28][29] Clay ext ensively
campaigned against it on t he Nat ional Republican Part y t icket in t he 1832 Unit ed St at es president ial
elect ion.[29]
Jackson viewed t he demise of Nat ive nat ions as inevit able, point ing t o t he st eady expansion of
European-based lifest yles and t he decimat ion of Nat ive nat ions in t he U.S.'s nort heast region. He
called his Nort hern crit ics hypocrit es, given t he Nort h's hist ory regarding Nat ives nat ions wit hin t heir
claimed t errit ory. Jackson st at ed t hat "progress requires moving forward."[30]
Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this country
and philanthropy has long been busily employed in devising means to
avert it, but its progress never has for a moment been arrested, and one
by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from the earth... But true
philanthropy reconciles the mind to these vicissitudes as it does to the
extinction of one generation to make room for another... In the
monuments and fortresses of an unknown people, spread over the
extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a once
powerful race, which was exterminated or has disappeared to make room
for the existing savage tribes… Philanthropy could not wish to see this
continent restored to the condition in which it was found by our
forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered with forests
and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive Republic, studded
with cities, towns, and prosperous farms, embellished with all the
improvements which art can devise or industry execute, occupied by
more than 12,000,000 happy people, and filled with all the blessings of
liberty, civilization, and religion?[31][32][33]
According t o hist orian H. W. Brands, Jackson sincerely believed t hat his populat ion t ransfer was a
"wise and humane policy" t hat would save t he Nat ive Americans from "ut t er annihilat ion". Jackson
port rayed t he removal as a generous act of mercy.[34]
According t o Robert M. Keet on, proponent s of t he bill used biblical narrat ives t o just ify t he forced
reset t lement of Nat ive Americans.[35]
Vote
On April 24, 1830, t he Senat e passed t he Indian Removal Act by a vot e of 28 t o 19.[36] On May 26,
1830, t he House of Represent at ives passed t he Act by a vot e of 101 t o 97.[37] On May 28, 1830,
t he Indian Removal Act was signed int o law by President Andrew Jackson.
Implementation
The Removal Act paved t he way for t he forced expulsion of t ens of t housands of American Indians
from t heir land int o t he West in an event widely known as t he "Trail of Tears," a forced reset t lement
of t he Indian populat ion.[38][39][40][41] The first removal t reat y signed was t he Treat y of Dancing
Rabbit Creek on Sept ember 27, 1830, in which Choct aws in Mississippi ceded land east of t he river in
exchange for payment and land in t he West . The Treat y of New Echot a was signed in 1835 and
result ed in t he removal of t he Cherokee on t he Trail of Tears.
The Seminoles and ot her t ribes did not leave peacefully, as t hey resist ed t he removal along wit h
fugit ive slaves. The Second Seminole War last ed from 1835 t o 1842 and result ed in t he government
allowing t hem t o remain in sout h Florida swampland. Only a small number remained, and around 3,000
were removed in t he war.[42]
Historical legacy
Twent y-first -cent ury scholars have described t he Indian Removal Act as an act of et hnic
cleansing.[43][44] Hist orian Richard Whit e wrot e t hat because of "claimed parallels bet ween et hnic
cleansing and Indian removal, any examinat ion of Indian removal will inevit ably involve discussions of
et hnic cleansing."[43] Ot her scholarship has focused on t he hist orical comparisons bet ween t he
Unit ed St at es concept of manifest dest iny and Nazi Germany's concept of Lebensraum and how
American removal policy served as a model for racial policy during t he German occupat ion of
Europe.[45]
See also
Worcester v. Georgia
Pot awat omi Trail of Deat h
Notes
a. The U.S. Senate passed the bill on April 24, 1830 (28–19), and the U.S. House passed it on May 26,
1830 (102–97).[1]
b. These distinct ethnic and political groups were referred to in the United States as the "Five Civilized
Tribes".
References
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External links
Indian Removal Act and relat ed resources (ht t ps://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Indian.ht
ml) , at t he Library of Congress
1830 State of the Union on Indian Removal (ht t ps://www.ourdocument s.gov/doc.php?flash=t rue&
doc=25&page=t ranscript ) ; Text at 100 Milest one Document s
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
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