The Indian Removal Act of 1830

[This was the Jackson-era legislation authorizing the president to transfer Eastern Indian tribes to the western
territories promised (falsely) "in perpetuity". The actual relocation culminated in the 1838 "Trail of Tears" forced
march, one of the most shameful occurrences in the history of federal domestic policy.]

CHAP. CXLVIII.--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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress
assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any
territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized
territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a
suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the
lands where they now reside, and remove there; and to cause each of said districts to be so described by natural
or artificial marks, as to be easily distinguished from every other.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to exchange any or all of such
districts, so to be laid off and described, with any tribe or nation within the limits of any of the states or
territories, and with which the United States have existing treaties, for the whole or any part or portion of the
territory claimed and occupied by such tribe or nation, within the bounds of any one or more of the states or
territories, where the land claimed and occupied by the Indians, is owned by the United States, or the United
States are bound to the state within which it lies to extinguish the Indian claim thereto.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That in the making of any such exchange or exchanges, it shall and may be
lawful for the President solemnly to assure the tribe or nation with which the exchange is made, that the United
States will forever secure and guaranty to them, and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with
them; and if they prefer it, that the United States will cause a patent or grant to be made and executed to them
for the same: Provided always, That such lands shall revert to the United States, if the Indians become extinct, or
abandon the same.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That if, upon any of the lands now occupied by the Indians, and to be
exchanged for, there should be such improvements as add value to the land claimed by any individual or
individuals of such tribes or nations, it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such value to be
ascertained by appraisement or otherwise, and to cause such ascertained value to be paid to the person or
persons rightfully claiming such improvements. And upon the payment of such valuation, the improvements so
valued and paid for, shall pass to the United States, and possession shall not afterwards be permitted to any of
the same tribe.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That upon the making of any such exchange as is contemplated by this act, it
shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such aid and assistance to be furnished to the emigrants as
may be necessary and proper to enable them to remove to, and settle in, the country for which they may have
exchanged; and also, to give them such aid and assistance as may be necessary for their support and subsistence
for the first year after their removal.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to cause such tribe or nation
to be protected, at their new residence, against all interruption or disturbance from any other tribe or nation of
Indians, or from any other person or persons whatever.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to have the same
superintendence and care over any tribe or nation in the country to which they may remove, as contemplated by
this act, that he is now authorized to have over them at their present places of residence.
Passed into law during Jackson's second year as President, this Act set the tone for his administration's
handling of all Indian affairs. In fact, Removal outlasted his tenure: the last of the Cherokee were
infamously forced on the Trail of Tears death march in 1838, two years after Jackson's second--and final--
term ended.

Though all Eastern tribes were eventually relocated West of the Mississippi, the government failed utterly
in its pledge to enact the policy on a strictly voluntary basis (a policy notably not written into the act.)
Nearly all relocation was carried out under duress, whether by military escort, or when no other option
remained after tribal decimation by broken treaties, fraudulent land deals and the wars these often caused.
Here is the Act's preamble:
 CHAP. CXLVIII.--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.

Indian Removal Policy

Developing & Applying the Removal Act
Andrew Jackson Addresses Congress.
In seven of his eight annual messages to Congress, US President Andrew Jackson devotes several
paragraphs to the policy of Indian removal (without ever mentioning the Indian Removal Act of 1830 by
name), along with other oblique references to the perception and treatment of aboriginal Americans. To a
certain extent the Indian issue defines his Presidency; no other policy spans Jackson's entire eight-year
term with such a steady concentration of resources.

Being a British Columbian, living in a Canadian province still struggling with both its Indian affairs
legacy and its present relations with its aboriginal inhabitants, what disturbs me most when reading these
documents is just how little our language for discussing these issues has changed in 170 years, how subtly
and insidiously ingrained the patterns of thought apparent in these messages remain in our present culture.

First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1829

In which Jackson reassures the Indian tribes that their treatment under his administration will be liberal,
just and in accordance with the beliefs of the American people:

"It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a
just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their
wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people." --
Andrew Jackson

First Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1829

In which, in the closing paragraphs of the speech, Jackson lays out his policy for relocating Indians of the
east to territories west of the Mississippi. This policy becomes law as the Indian Removal Act by his next
annual address. An excerpt from the speech:

"Our conduct toward these people is deeply interesting to our national character. Their present
condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies.
Our ancestors found them the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By persuasion and
force they have been made to retire from river to river and from mountain to mountain, until some
of the tribes have become extinct and others have left but remnants to preserve for awhile their
once terrible names. Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which by destroying
the resources of the savage doom him to weakness and decay, the fate of the Mohegan, the
Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That
this fate surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the states does not admit of a doubt.
Humanity and national honor demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a
calamity." -- Andrew Jackson

Second Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1830

Jackson announces Indian Removal nearing consumation; the Chocktaw and Chickasaw peoples agree to
relocation; this development will induce other tribes to follow; states his good-will toward aboriginal
people;

"Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly feeling than myself, or
would go further in attempting to reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a
happy, prosperous people." -- Andrew Jackson

Third Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1831

Funds are appropriated for the removal of eastern tribes; treaty negotiation for actual removal of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw underway; Cherokee registration in Georgia recommences with hopes of up to
two-thirds participation; removal efforts concentrated in Ohio and Indiana where treaties extinguished all
Ohio reservations; philanthropists and missionaries invited to help removed Indians advance "from
barbarism to the habits and enjoyments of civilized life."

"It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial, not only to the States immediately concerned,
but to the harmony of the Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally advantageous
to the Indians. What the native savages become when surrounded by a dense population and by
mixing with the whites may be seen in the miserable remnants of a few Eastern tribes, deprived of
political and civil rights, forbidden to make contracts, and subjected to guardians, dragging out a
wretched existence, without excitement, without hope, and almost without thought." -- Andrew
Jackson

Fourth Annual Message to Congress, December 4, 1832

Substantial deficit reduction despite Indian 'removal and preservation' costs; oblique reference to
economics of converting Indian land first to public land, then selling parcels to settlers at cost; Sac and
Fox uprising put down -- disaffected tribes 'dispersed or destroyed'; the 'wise and humane' Indian removal
policy is steadily pursued and approaching consummation -- Secretary of War reports; Georgian
Cherokees resist removal.

"After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the difficulty of
procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or
destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the
lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be
hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary." -- Andrew Jackson

Fifth Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1833

Survivors of Sac and Fox War of 1832 removed west of Mississippi; 'inferior' Georgian Cherokee
continue to resist 'force of circumstances' and refuse removal; Jackson reiterates removal and 'political
reorganisation' form the best and only option for continued existence of eastern Indians.

"My original convictions upon this subject have been confirmed by the course of events for
several years, and experience is every day adding to their strength. That those tribes can not exist
surrounded by our settlements and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They have
neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are
essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a
superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to control them,
they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear." -- Andrew
Jackson
Sixth Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1834
Military blocks 'inroads' of Western frontier Indians; Creek removal imminent, Seminole next, Cherokee
stubbornly refuse against own best interests; Indian Trade and Intercourse Acto of 1834 made law,
restricting treatied sovereignty of Western Indians.

"I regret that the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have not yet determined as a community to
remove. How long the personal causes which have heretofore retarded that ultimately inevitable
measure will continue to operate I am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will
bring with it accumulated evils which will render their condition more and more unpleasant. The
experience of every year adds to the conviction that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from
destruction the remnant of the tribes yet living amongst us." -- Andrew Jackson

Seventh Annual Message to Congress, December 7, 1835

Inexplicably, Jackson makes no direct reference to Indian removal in this message, though it was in this
year that the Seminole were ordered to leave Florida. In fact, the only reference to native issues is made
obliquely in a paragraph concerning the sale of public lands, much of which were once treatied Indian
territories.

"The extraordinary receipts from the sales of the public lands invite you to consider what
improvements the land system, and particularly the condition of the General Land Office, may
require. At the time this institution was organized, near a quarter century ago, it would probably
have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period such an addition to its business as has
been produced by the vast increase of those sales during the past and present years. It may also be
observed that since the year 1812 the land offices and surveying districts have been greatly
multiplied, and that numerous legislative enactments from year to year since that time have
imposed a great amount of new and additional duties upon that office, while the want of a timely
application of force commensurate with the care and labor required has caused the increasing
embarrassment of accumulated arrears in the different branches of the establishment." -- Andrew
Jackson

Eighth Annual Message to Congress, December 5, 1836

Indian wars force massive mobilisation of troops, militia and volunteers; Seminoles refuse to relocate and
win early upper-hand in Second Seminole War; Urgent need for further appropriations to 'suppress
hostilities;' Creek defeated and relocated West of Mississippi; Cherokee country pacified and secured by
ongoing military vigilance; Mexico authorises expeditions to quell Indians beyond US frontier;
Commissioner of Indian Affairs suggests larger military presence in Indian country to protect Western
frontier from Indians, and the Indians from each other; Jackson prematurely declares Indian Removal to
be consummated--Cherokee forcibly relocated two years later in 1838.

"The national policy, founded alike in interest and in humanity, so long and so steadily pursued by
this Government for the removal of the Indian tribes originally settled on this side of the
Mississippi to the West of that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion of
the late treaty with the Cherokees." -- Andrew Jackson