Indian Removal Policy

As a result of his Indian removal policy, the Choctaws were the first to sign a treaty promising to relocate. Most the Seminoles refused to sign with only a portion agreeing to a removal treaty in 1833, with most refusing to abandon their home land the Second Seminole War of 1833 was fought and subdued in a third war. With other tribes following suite; the Creeks signed a removal treaty in 1832 and the Chickasaws moved in 1837. Although it was the removal of the Cherokee that would forever blemish Jacksons presidency and Americas history. The Cherokees had once fought alongside Jackson and viewed him as an ally, but even a chieftain who had previously been under Jacksons command said, “Ah! My life and the lives of my people were then at stake for you and your country. I then thought Jackson my best friend. But, ah! Jackson no serve me right. Your country no do me justice now.” (Gale) Troops forcefully removed the natives to relocate them, which would infamously become known as the “Trail of Tears.” Many times, Jackson attempted to justify his actions by claiming he had a paternalistic view of the Native Americans, he described them as “children in need of guidance, and believed the removal policy was beneficial to the Indians” (Cave) Although the realistic truth is that the Cherokees were tricked into
A country that was based on equal treatment, tolerance for others, and fought for their own basic human rights, stripped the Native Americans of their own and degraded their culture. The Indian Removal act was genocide. It represented a time when Americans were hypocritical; while they demanded rights, they denied other races the same treatment. The legacy that was left behind from the Indian Removal act was one of destruction, there is nothing that justifies the disdain and selfishness behind the federal government’s approval of the act, or the support it received from the white