Indian Removal Act

Categories: Social Science

  • The Indian Removal Act, was a law which called for the removal of Indians from lands east of the Mississippi River. The act received a lot of support from the southern states, who desired the lands inhabited by Native American tribes. In Georgia, territorial disputes between white land owners and the Cherokee put immense pressure on Jackson to find a solution. Despite intense debates in congress, and opposition from Christian missionary Jeremiah Evarts, Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen, and Congressman David Crockett President Andrew Jackson, a former Indian fighter, signed the act into law on May 28, 1830. The act was a precursor to the infamous Trail of Tears.

  • Fast Facts:

    1. Most were moved to Indian Territory, in Oklahoma and Kansas
    2. Trail of Tears: Native American name for the removal of the Cherokee Tribe
    3. 4,000 Cherokees died on the forced march
    4. Davy Crockett, among others, was against the Act

  • The Trail of Tears

    Following the passage of the Indian Removal Act, many Native American tribes were forcibly coerced into signing treaties to concede their lands. In 1835 a small group of Cherokee signed the Treaty of New Echota, which exchanged established Cherokee lands, for largely unknown territory in Oklahoma. In 1938, the U.S. Army forced the Cherokee off of their lands at gun point, and began the 2,000 mile march to Oklahoma. The Death march resulted in the death of over 4,000 men, women, and children.

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