The Indian Removal Act of 1830

Indian Removal Act
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Rationale Used by President Jackson to Remove Native Americans from the East of Mississippi
President Jackson saw the Indian removal act of 1830 as a great law. He saw it as one that would bring with it plenty of advantages not only to the white settlers but also to the native Americans. Therefore, when he signed the act in 1830, his idea was that the act's advantages would be mutual and no party would lose. In his annual message to the congress, he was pleased to announce that the removal act was achieving some positive milestones. The milestones were due to two of the Indian communities that had agreed to the provision made for their removal from the land west of the Mississippi River. He told the congress that he hoped the rest of the native American communities would follow the great example that had been set by the two communities. During the address, his rationale becomes very clear when he addresses the need for the speedy removal of the Indians. He noted that the removal was not only crucial to the United States but also the Indians themselves. According to Jackson, the removal would help separate Indians from any form of immediate contact with the settlements of the white people.
Further, the removal would help free the Indians from the power and control of the United States. Jackson also noted that the removal would allow Indians to seek for their happiness and prevent them from slowly coming to the point of extinction. The removal did not have its intended impact. There are various reasons for this conclusion. First, the removal was intended to be voluntary, but Indians ended up being forcefully forced from their ancestral land. Secondly, it led to the loss of lives and livelihoods of a great number of the Indian people. These conditions do not in any way depict the envisaged happiness and freedom that Jackson had used as part of the rationale for the removal.
Responsibilities Given to the President Under the Indian Removal Act of 1830
The Indian removal act gave the president the authority to grant Indian communities unsettled land in the west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their land, which was within the state borders (Joy, 2019). The act is viewed as one of the first of a kind of policies to grant native Americans legal and political rights. The Native American had been opposed to the idea of removal for a long time. Things changed when Andrew ...