Law authorizing the removal of Native Americans from US states
Not to be confused with Indian Relocation Act of 1956.
Indian Removal Act
Long title
An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi.
Enacted by
the 21st United States Congress
Citations
Public law
Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 21–148
Statutes at Large
4 Stat. 411
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 102
Passed the Senate on April 24, 1830 (28–19)
Passed the House on May 26, 1830 (101–97)
Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830
This article is part of a series about
Andrew Jackson
Early life
Revolutionary War service
Early career
Personal life
Military career
Creek War
Battle of New Orleans
First Seminole War
1824 election
Corrupt bargain
7th President of the United States
Presidency
First term
1828 campaign
election
1st inauguration
Jacksonian democracy
Spoils system
Petticoat affair
Maysville veto
Indian Removal
Trail of Tears
Nat Turner's rebellion
Bank War
Nullification crisis
Foreign affairs
Second term
1832 election
2nd inauguration
Senate censure
Payment of national debt
Specie Circular
Assassination attempts
Reaction to anti-slavery tracts
Texas Revolution
Exploring expedition
Panic of 1837
Judicial appointments
Post-presidency
Later life and death
Legacy
Legacy
Memorials
Manifest destiny
The Hermitage
Second Party System
Bibliography
v
t
e
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi".[a][2][3] During the presidency of Jackson (1829–1837) and his successor Martin Van Buren (1837–1841) more than 60,000 Native Americans[4] from at least 18 tribes[5] were forced to move west of the Mississippi River where they were allocated new lands. The southern tribes were resettled mostly in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The northern tribes were resettled initially in Kansas. With a few exceptions, the United States east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes was emptied of its Native American population. The movement westward of indigenous tribes was characterized by a large number of deaths occasioned by the hardships of the journey.[6]
The U.S. Congress approved the Act by a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. The Indian Removal Act was supported by President Jackson, southern and white settlers, and several state governments, especially that of Georgia. Indigenous tribes and the Whig Party opposed the bill, as did other groups within white American society (e.g., some Christian missionaries and clergy). Legal efforts to allow Indian tribes to remain on their land in the eastern U.S. failed. Most famously, the Cherokee (excluding the Treaty Party) challenged their relocation, but were unsuccessful in the courts; they were forcibly removed by the United States government in a march to the west that later became known as the Trail of Tears. Since the 21st century, scholars have cited the act and subsequent removals as an early example of state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing or genocide or settler colonialism or some view it as all three.[7][8][9]
^Prucha, Francis Paul, The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians, Volume I, Lincoln: the University of Nebraska Press, 1984, p. 206.
^The Congressional Record; May 26, 1830; House vote No. 149; Government Tracker online; retrieved October 2015
^"Indian Removal Act: Primary Documents of Americas History". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
^"Andrew Jackson was called 'Indian Killer'". Washington Post, November 23, 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
^Native American Removal. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History. 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-974336-0. Retrieved 10 November 2022. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
^Lewey, Guenter (September 1, 2004). "Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?". Commentary. Archived from the original on August 15, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2017. Also available in reprint from the History News Network.
^Hixson, Walter L. (2016). "Policing the Past: Indian Removal and Genocide Studies". Western Historical Quarterly. 47 (4): 439–443. doi:10.1093/whq/whw092. ISSN 0043-3810. JSTOR 26782722.
^Anderson, Gary Clayton (2016). "The Native Peoples of the American West: Genocide or Ethnic Cleansing?". Western Historical Quarterly. 47 (4): 407–433. doi:10.1093/whq/whw126. ISSN 0043-3810. JSTOR 26782720.
^Perdue, Theda (2012). "The Legacy of Indian Removal". The Journal of Southern History. 78 (1): 3–36. ISSN 0022-4642. JSTOR 23247455.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
and 28 Related for: Indian Removal Act information
The IndianRemovalAct of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided...
to a designated Indian Territory (roughly, present-day Oklahoma), which many scholars have labeled a genocide. The IndianRemovalAct of 1830, the key...
newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River after the passage of the IndianRemovalAct in 1830. The Cherokee removal in 1838 was the...
1828, defeating Adams in a landslide. In 1830, he signed the IndianRemovalAct. This act, which has been described as ethnic cleansing, displaced tens...
under pressure by settlers in many regions to expel Indians from their areas. The IndianRemovalAct of 1830 stated the "authorizing of the President to...
for Indians in the territory of the present United States." The United States put forward another act when "Congress passed the IndianRemovalAct in 1830"...
19th-century policy of Indianremoval. After the American Civil War (1861–1865), the policy of the U.S. government was one of assimilation. Indian Territory later...
after the Indianremovals of most members of the Five Civilized Tribes. In the 1830s, President Andrew Jackson signed the IndianRemovalAct of 1830, a...
justified the violent expansion westward, leading to the passage of the IndianRemovalAct of 1830 and armed clashes. The dehumanization and demonization of...
and activist for the rights of American Indians in the United States, and a leading opponent of the Indianremoval policy of the United States government...
Indianremovals in Indiana followed a series of the land cession treaties made between 1795 and 1846 that led to the removal of most of the native tribes...
prior to Indianremoval. They are related to the Cherokee who were later forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the IndianRemovalAct. The Eastern...
the U.S. federal government forcibly removed them under the 1830 IndianRemovalAct to areas west of the Mississippi River; these lands would eventually...
military, under the IndianRemovalAct, moved the other 15,000 Cherokees to west of the Mississippi River in the late 1830s, to Indian Territory. Those Cherokees...
Jackson signed the legislation into law June 30, 1830. Following the IndianRemovalAct, in 1832 the Creek National Council signed the Treaty of Cusseta,...
represented the Indians during treaty negotiations did not represent all of the bands living in Florida at that time. Following the IndianRemovalAct of 1830...
newly designated Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River after the passage of the IndianRemovalAct in 1830. The Cherokee removal in 1838 (the last...
Arkansas to Indian Territory. The removal led to a war between the Osage Nation and Cherokee Old Settlers in Indian Territory. The IndianRemovalAct was passed...
The Cherokee removal (May 25, 1838 – 1839), part of the Indianremoval, refers to the removal of an estimated 15,500 Cherokees and 1,500 African-American...
determined to pave the way for American settlers. In 1830, he signed the IndianRemovalAct, by which he offered Native Americans land in unsettled areas west...
Alabama despite the IndianRemovalAct of 1830, by which the majority of the tribe ceded their land and were forcibly moved to Indian Territory, west of...
accelerated its westward expansion, internal political pressure grew for "Indianremoval", but the pace of treaty-making grew regardless. The Civil War forged...
Andrew Jackson is often credited with initiating IndianRemoval, because Congress passed the IndianRemovalAct in 1831, during his presidency, and also because...
the Office of Indian Affairs, which coordinated Indianremoval and other policies related to Native Americans. By signing the Judiciary Act of 1837, Jackson...
forcibly relocated there in the 1830s under the IndianRemovalAct. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is on the Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina...
development. President Andrew Jackson gained congressional passage of the IndianRemovalAct in 1830 to accomplish this and extinguish Native American land claims...
American Indian tribe and the United States Government. This treaty was the first removal treaty which was carried into effect under the IndianRemovalAct. The...
Global Information
