Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act ( Act of displacement of the Indians ) is a law of the the United States dating from the May 26th 1830 and suggested by Andrew Jackson, and ordering to the Déportation Indians of America living in the territories ranging between the thirteen States founders and the the Mississippi, towards a territory located beyond this river. It related to 60 000 Indian of America.

The American policy with regard to the Indians

This law represents a rupture in the attitude officially adopted by the American colonists with regard to the first occupants of the ground. Officially, the United States tolerates until 1830 the Indians, in so far as they adopt a civilized lifestyle, i.e. the abandonment of the nomadism, the practice of agriculture, the abandonment of the collective ownership of the grounds and the adoption of the democracy. These conditions and the pressure exerted as much by the colonists as by the states, pushed tens of tribes to emigrate towards the West. In 1830, the five tribes still living in the East of the the Mississippi lived all according to the civilized principles states-uniens, and were indicated collectively by the name of the Five civilized tribes : Cherokee, Séminoles, Choctaw, Creek and Chickasaw. The displacement of these tribes of the grounds which they occupied is one of the major topics of the presidential campaign of 1828, which carries Andrew Jackson to the capacity. It thus makes vote the law in 1830. One of the rare opponents was the trapper Davy Crockett.

The application of the law

The Supreme court of the United States invalidated this law, but president Jackson did not hold any account of this prohibition ( Marshall judge made a decision, that it makes it apply ).

The government carried out initially negotiations, but only a weak part of the people concerned was ready to leave to hundreds kilometers to be established in a reserve. It is the American army which finally carried out true a Déportation Indians, with preliminary gatherings in forts, concentration in vast camps and convoying.

This deportation, particularly brutal, was carried out with forced marches. Thousands of Indians died throughout the course, in particular in the tribe of the Indians Cherokee S, and this track is called since the Piste of the Tears .

See too

Indian Wars
the text of the law, in English, on Wikisource

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