The Indian Removal Act of 1830 - Essay Example

However, the Indian Removal Act 1830 evidently violated the US constitution as the Indians were removed from their land by force. Overview To illustrate, “the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was the culmination of a decades-long struggle between white and Native Americans over who would control vast tracts of territory that had been Native American lands for many centuries” (Tucker, 2011, p.381). As per the provisions of the Act, tens of thousands of the Native Americans were forcibly removed from the east of the Mississippi River.

This Act made the prior treaties between the US government and the Native American groups void and the government tried to form new treaties that would better serve the interests of whites. The Act directly affected the Five Civilized Tribes including Choctaws, Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles as they were the main inhabitants of the east Mississippi river. This agricultural land was extremely fruitful for crops like cotton, and many southerners including some wealthy planters strongly desired the ownership of the land.

Although the US Supreme Court had ruled that Native American tribes were sovereign nations and hence State law would not apply to them, President Jackson ignored the court decision and executed forceful removal of Native Americans from their land. Although the Indian Removal Act 1830 was an inhumane course of action that hurt the constitutional rights of people lived at the east Mississippi, it had also some positive effects on American Indian group. The Act and thereby forceful removal of Indians from their territory assisted them to escape from the depredations of whites to some extent.

In addition, this change benefited the American Indians to resettle in a region where they could administer themselves without any external pressure. At the same time, the forceful removal adversely affected the economy as well as the social interest of the American Indian group. The American Indians had possessed fruitful agricultural fields until the time of the Act and therefore the forceful removal caused them to experience huge economic losses. In addition to the land loss, they were also forced to leave their homes and livestock behind and this situation caused them to lose what they had built over thousands of years.

Historians reveal that this group was relocated to an area which no one needed that time. From an economic point of view, the nation lost several million dollars as part of this law enforcement. Furthermore, this arbitrary law amendment questioned the constitutional rights of American Indian group in the United States. Undoubtedly, the Indian Removal Act 1830 curtailed the fundamental human rights and constitutional rights of the American Indians. Out of the seven principles of the constitution, the seventh principle has specifically defined individual rights.