Andrew Jackson's Case

Andrew Jackson's decision to have the Indians removed from the land caused more harm than good for the five Indian tribes that were affected by the Indian Removal Act. President Jackson argued that it would be better for the Indians if they relocated to the land west of the Mississippi despite widespread opposition from the American Indians.

In the process of removing American Indians' communities from the southern states, Andrew Jackson caused more damage than good for the Indians in many ways. It was demanding ambition of the white colonists for lands engaged by Indian people that without a doubt led to the establishment of a general act of abolishing the unwanted natives. Although most white settlers and humanitarians supported Jackson's proposal to relocate the Indians westward, there were strong objections by critics who thought that forcing the Indians to relocate would be staining the honor of the nation. Furthermore, many of the Indians had begun adapting to some of the ways of white society. For example, some Cherokees owned African American slaves. Some Native Americans mimicked European style homes along with farms and fields. They even created a written language, developed a newspaper and formed a constitution. But along the way they found that they were not assured equal security under the white men's law and they could not counteract them from stealing their lands. (1) However, the removal of the Indians in the southeast proved to be a more challenging task than Jackson had hoped for when highly educated tribe leaders, such as John Ross of the Cherokee tribe, petitioned to the Supreme Court. Although the courts declared that Indian tribes are exclusively a federal responsibility, and therefore are protected Jackson refused to enforce the Court's will.

During the relocation, eastern Indians suffered through many hardships and lost thousands of tribal members who set out on the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears was an 800 mile stretch from present day Georgia to Oklahoma. Cursed by the cruelty and neglect of soldiers and private contractors, over 4,000 out of 17,000 Cherokee's died due to extreme weather conditions, physical hardship and disease. The reservations that were once intended to be temporary "way stations", they became a little more than prisons for the Indians. On the reservations, they suffered from malnutrition and demoralization which led to poverty of the mind for the very spiritual people. Presently known as the Eastern Band of Cherokees, these Indians were able to tuck themselves away in the mountains to hide out from soldiers. Thus doing so, they established title to federal land in North Carolina. Many other tribes remained scrambled throughout the Southeast. Only 8,000 of the expelled survived the deadly journey to Oklahoma.

Had the Indians stayed in the east, where they originally settled, they would have had little to no problems maintaining their survival. The biggest problem and worry about Indian survival was when it came to the hostility of the white settlers and the disagreements they had about the land they were settled on. According to Thomas Jefferson, when Indians were versed with arithmetic, Christianity and English they could eventually be brought into the Republic. Thomas Jefferson believed that the Indians should be refined. To him this meant transforming them to Christianity and teaching them the ways of the land. Other white settlers agreed and many missionaries were assigned to specific tribes. However, when converting the Indians did not proceed rapidly enough,