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What Was the Indian Removal Act?

Mary McMahon
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Updated: May 17, 2024
Views: 45,867
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The Indian Removal Act was a law passed by the United States Congress in 1830, and signed into law by President Andrew Jackson. Under the terms of the act, Native Americans in the southeastern United States were encouraged to trade their lands for land in the West, thereby freeing up land in the Southeast for settlement. The act included terms of compensation for improvements made on tribal land, such as homes, with the government being directed to pay compensation to Native Americans who relocated.

While the terms of the act may sound relatively benign on the surface, it was part of a larger government policy known informally as Indian Removal, which was designed to push Native Americans off their tribal lands. Indian Removal catered to the demands of white settlers who wanted to take over desirable tribal lands, including the fertile farmlands controlled by Native American nations in the American Southeast. While the act was theoretically voluntary, many Native Americans were coerced, forced, and manipulated into giving up their land.

President Jackson was a proponent of Indian Removal long before his presidency, and he used the power of the White House to support the policy even further. The primary target of the law were the so-called “five civilized tribes” — the Cherokee, Muscogee, Choctaw, Seminole, and Chicasaw — who controlled huge swaths of land in areas like Florida and Georgia. These tribes had tried a variety of tactics to hold on to their land, including assimilating and adopting European habits, which is why they were known as “civilized.”

Some tribes did voluntary give up their lands under the Indian Removal Act, only to find that when they relocated to the West, the land they received in exchange was of poor quality and was not comparable to the rich, fertile land they had been living on for centuries. Other tribes were subjected to coercion and manipulation by government officials who forced them to give up their land. Tens of thousands of Native Americans, most notably members of the Cherokee Nation, were forcibly removed and marched to regions like Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears in the 1830s, and many died along the way.

Under this and similar laws, many Native American nations were stripped of their land, heritage, and culture. In the 20th century, the government recognized that considerable harm had occurred as a result of policies like Indian Removal, and some attempts were made to protect Native American nations and their history, although it would have been impossible to repair the damage done in previous centuries.

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Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGeek researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

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Discussion Comments
By anon992777 — On Oct 01, 2015

Actually, they are Indigenous Americans, not "Indians." Technically, the English and Spanish settlers invaded the Indigenous American lands and killed the majority of them.

By anon359558 — On Dec 18, 2013

Indians are not Indians. Actually they were thinking that there was no more land in between England and India but when they found America they thought they were Indians at first so they were called Indians who are now Native Americans saying they were home.

By anon305463 — On Nov 26, 2012

@anon248710: The United states wanted them to leave because of the tariff. Indians had very fertile lands, and white men wanted it for more production, although Jackson thought that Indians should belong to white men but "because indians should have been in india" is just wrong.

By anon248710 — On Feb 18, 2012

Indians are indians. They shouldn't have been in southeastern states at the times. They should have been in India. That is why the U.S. wanted them to leave,

to be in their homeland.

By googlefanz — On Oct 08, 2010

Was there an act specific to the relocation of Cherokee Indian tribes, or did they just get relocated with everybody else?

For instance, was there anything like a "Cherokee Indian Removal Act", or was it just the general Indian Removal Act?

By musicshaman — On Oct 08, 2010

Part of the impetus behind the Indian (Native American) Removal Act was the idea of the Manifest Destiny.

Although the actual terminology "Manifest Destiny" came about later than Jackson, the attitude was still there even in the Jacksonian era.

The whole idea of manifest destiny is essentially that white Americans were fated to expand all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and this was used as the justification for a lot of atrocities and wars.

Many people actually felt that the manifest destiny was like the "white man's burden" in the UK, in that it was the responsibility of the "superior" white man to educate the other races.

Of course I'm sure not every person felt like that, but apparently enough of them did to pass the Indian (Native American) Removal Act.

By EarlyForest — On Oct 08, 2010

Thank you for this article. I've been assigned an essay topic entitled "How did the Indian Removal Act affect Native Americans," and this was truly the most informative article I could find.

Thank you so much!

By anon80947 — On Apr 29, 2010

Were they allowed to continue their traditional way of life?

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

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