Blog 2: Creative Writing

Indian Removal Acts

Extra, extra the U.S. is expanding to the South settlers consider what they face an obstacle. While this happened Andrew Jackson had already been captain and had ordered his troops to invade the creeks territory in 1814 and took over a fraction of the creek territory. In the defeat the creeks lost 22 million acres of land in southern Georgia and central Alabama. By 1818 the U.S. acquired so much land that the by the motivation to punish the Seminoles for their practice of harboring fugitive slaves. Around 1824 Andrew Jackson was an expert in negotiating nine out of eleven treaties, by this time Jackson was already trading land from the east to land from the west, the Indians agreed to this because they wanted to keep at least some of there land but didn’t want to be harassed by the white people, however, only a small number of Creeks, Cherokee and Choctaws actually moved to the new lands. Since some of the tribes people didn’t move and stayed in what was now U.S. land. The white’s got very resentful and wanted to completely get them out, so the Indians learned about this and wanted to keep a little of what was left of there land for future generations. So some stayed and hid in refuges near where the old lands were and kept out for their land were there tribes used to be located and also attempt of removing the white people out of their land were made. One time the Cherokee’s went to the court and wanted some the land in Georgia, meaning the land for the Creeks and the Seminoles, they even waged war to protect their territory. The first Seminole war lasted a year, the Seminole’s actions were powerful and so the planters wanted to kill the Seminole for being in there land. The Cherokee used legal rights and in 1827 the Cherokee adopted a written constitution declaring them to be a sovereign nation. They based this on United States policy; in former treaties, Indian nations had been declared sovereign so they would be legally capable of ceding their lands, the Cherokee took their case to the Supreme Court, which ruled against them. Since they already lost the case against Georgia they appealed the court in 1831. This time they based their appeal on an 1830 Georgia law which prohibited whites from living on Indian Territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state. The state legislature had written this law to justify removing white missionaries who were helping the Indians resist removal. The court this time decided in favor of the Cherokee. The state of Georgia refused the courts decision and President Jackson refused to reinforce that law. In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. The removal was supposed to be voluntary and peaceful, and it was that way for the tribes that agreed to the conditions. But the southeastern nations resisted, and Jackson forced them to leave. The Choctaws were the first to sign the removal treaty in September of 1830, soon the Choctaws that were left sold there land and moved west. But later the entire Indians were taken out of the U.S. and were taken so those lead to the trail of tears. Unfortunatly I couldnt find anything that could realte this to myself or anything that is going on currently.