Indians Relocation Act

At first glance, the law was compiled quite favorably with the Indians. Resettlement was supposed to be voluntary for those who wish to make a “land exchange”, according to the wording of the law. The US government pledged to permanently secure new lands for the settlers and their descendants. In the event that the Indians left the land on which they made improvements, they were guaranteed monetary compensation for these improvements and value added. Congress allocated appropriations to help displaced people relocate and settle in a new place, allowance in the first year after relocation, and military protection from other hostile tribes.

In fact, the implementation of the law led to numerous casualties on the road of tears, even among those Indian tribes who agreed to be deported in a “voluntary-forced” manner. And the losses of the Cherokee tribe, which the US Army deported by force , amounted to about a quarter of its strength.

For the first time, the idea of ​​relocating the Indians was expressed by President Thomas Jefferson after the Louisiana purchase in 1803. In his opinion, it would solve two issues: Americans of European descent would receive the coveted lands of the eastern states, and indigenous people - the preservation of the traditional way of life and protection from harmful contact with a white person until they want and can not assimilate into the American society.

In the first half of the 19th century, the US Supreme Court determined the so-called Doctrine of Discovery , according to which Europeans obtained the right to own the lands that they “discovered”, and the Native Americans who occupied them retain the right to live on the lands, but not to own them (like tenants). By the mid-1820s, the rapid development of lands east of the Mississippi in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina clearly showed that a white man does not intend to tolerate the neighborhood of even peacefully tribes and put up with Indian claims to the right to own his own original lands.

President Jackson energetically implemented the agrarian policy of the Democratic Party, namely the crowding out of Indians, in which he saw an obstacle to a "civilized society", and easier access to land for white settlers. For the first time, he called for the adoption of the Law on the Relocation of Indians in a speech after the election in 1829 and clearly outlined his Indian policy in the second annual letter to Congress on December 6, 1830, in which he said: “I am pleased to announce to Congress that the government’s generous policy has been relentlessly spent almost thirty years regarding the resettlement of the Indians, is approaching its happy conclusion. "

The law enjoyed great support in the American South, which sought to get the rich lands of five civilized tribes . In particular, Georgia , the largest state of the then United States, led many years of land lawsuits with the Cherokee tribe. Jackson hoped that the relocation would put an end to them.

Proponents of the law stated that relocation would be a humane measure to protect Native American culture and traditional lifestyles. It was convenient for them to consider the Indians as “children of the forest”, incapable of joining the “white” civilization, contact with which is destructive for them. Against the background of these statements, it is noteworthy that the resettlement primarily concerned those tribes that adopted the white man culture more than others.

However, the law caused a lot of controversy. For several years between the proposal and the signing of the law, his opponents - Christian missionaries, Northern Whigs, moderate and federal judges - stated that he was both unfair and illegal, because he violated land agreements long concluded with southern tribes. Concerns were also expressed that in fact it would not mean voluntary resettlement, but the inevitable deportation of most Indians from these states, in which it would be impossible to avoid abuse.

Notable opponents of the law were missionary Jeremiah Evarts, New Jersey Senator Theodor Freelinghoisen, and Congressman Davy Crockett .

John Andrew writes: “He [Evarts] planned to organize a phalanx of like-minded congressmen to oppose the relocation before the House of Representatives and the Senate, hoping to convince Jackson's supporters that immorality of relocation requires them to vote against the bill. At the same time, he wanted to continue to bombard the public with letters, articles and pamphlets on the Indian issue and other information that could create a wave of public protest against resettlement ” ^[1] .

On April 6, 1830, Senator Theodor Freelinghoisen made the concluding part of his six-hour speech against the law, in which he said: “Beware, as if by tyrannical encroachment on the sacred rights of our Indian neighbors we would not bring future torments of conscience” ^[2] .

• Indian Relocation Act and Related Materials at the Library of Congress
• Text of the Law