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Indian Removal Act Dbq

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Critical Thinking Essay (Indian Removal Act)
As the 19th century began, Americans who had their eyes set on new unclaimed land poured into the south and began heading towards present day Alabama. Since the Indian tribes living there seemed to be the main thing prohibiting the expansion, white settlers petitioned the federal government to remove them from the land. In his 1829 State of the Union address, President Jackson called for the removal of Native Americans from their tribal lands. Andrew Jackson wanted to renew a policy of political and military action for the removal of the Indians from these lands and worked towards creating a law for Indian removal. The Indian Removal Act was put in place to give to the southern states access to the land that Indians had formerly settled on (U.S. Department of State). The Indian Removal Act brought many issues to the table. Such as whether it was constitutional, who had the authority to pass what, and could it be done peacefully. In 1823, a case, Johnson v. M’Intosh, which was fighting for Indian’s rights, was brought before the …show more content…
The Act was not executed correctly and it was supposed to be peaceful and voluntary and the Indians were supposed to compensated for their land and the troubles of moving across the nation, but the indian chiefs were put under great pressure to move the tribes. ("History and Text of The Indian Removal Act of 1830”). Under pressure from the United States government, a handful of Native American tribes realized that they would be unable to defeat the Americans in war and that the hunger for new unharvested unowned land would not subside in the stomachs of the settlers. Once this had been realized, the Native Americans attempted to appease the United States by giving up massive parts of their land in hopes that they would be allowed to keep a small portion of it (PBS). However, the appeasements didn’t

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