Question

1) Describe Jackson's justification and reasoning for Indian removal.
2) Why according to Jackson does removal benefit everyone involved?
3) Describe John Ross' arguments against removal

Answer 1

The US president Andrew Jackson signed the Indian removal act in on May 28, 1830, and made it into law, that authorizes the president to give ancestral land of Native Americans  in the eastern United States to the white settlers, and Native Americans were forced to move to the lands west of the Mississippi River, Few tribes went peacefully but many refused to vacate their land for white settlers. Many of these settlers had come from  Southern states such as Alabama and Mississippi and they had overwhelmingly helped Jackson win the presidential election, this way Jackson wanted to reward the settlers. The displaced Native Americans were to be compensated fairly, but that did not happen, He wanted those land for development purpose, and bringing the tribe into the mainstream of American culture, but it led to more bloodshed as it was a forced removal.

2. The 1830 Indian removal Act gave the president Jackon power to displace the  Indians from their tribal lands, it was done with an intention to spread of European Americans westward across the continent. The US government promised that they will be granted protection and help in relocation, by the end of his presidentship he was able to remove  50,000 eastern Indians to Indian Territory to the  west of the Mississippi River, and granted acres of fertile land to white settlers

3. John Ross who was principal chief of  Cherokee Nation in 1827. As per the Treaty of Hopewell (1785), Cherokee was a sovereign nation independent of the American state and federal governments. as per the treaty, there was a border between the US and Cherokee nation, they are free to allow white setters under Cherokee law. With the discovery of gold in that area, the white wanted to remove the tribes from their fertile ancestral land. Ross fought against the law of Indian removal passed by the US government to resettle the Native Amerian.

When Ross realized that he cannot fight against the US, he signed the treaty with them and supervise the relocation process. new Indian territory was born, Ross establish farms, businesses, schools, and even colleges for them.