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During the Jacksonian Era and the Age of Reform, Native American affairs and treatment were critical issues. Despite having a strong financial foothold and increased power, the country was in a precarious and divided state during this period, which later led to the civil war. Sectionalism was very high, which ultimately affected how the Native Americans were treated. Although Native American people had always been oppressed before the Jacksonian Era, during the Jacksonian Era, they started to be treated even worse. With newfound power, the US invalidated treaties , Native rights were taken away from, and they were classified as a domestic dependent nation, thus taking away their legal rights and allowing states to exploit their treaties further. The Indian Removal Act had one of the most significant effects on Native Americans’ treatment; it still affects Native Americans today. Forcibly relocating the Native American people away from their land that they had a sacred connection to. Thousands of Native Americans died in the trail of tears. The new land they were transferred to was very infertile and not very usable. Many Native Americans attempted to resist this oppression, but had very little success. Most took peaceful and legal approaches but they mainly ignored. Westward expansion was the main drive for the removal of Native Americans, especially as the land used by the Native Americans was very fertile. Some New Englanders were against the mistreatment of the Native American people, as they did not turn a blind eye to the injustice the Native Americans faced. Unlike many westerns and Southerners, New Englanders did not benefit from westward expansions, they lost political power. Throughout this time period, Andrew Jackson and supporters of westward expansion were some of the main leaders leading the movement against the Native American people. They attempted to reinforce stereotypes of Native American people as savages and uncivilized, even though by the European idea of civilized they were more civilized than most of the settlers. Overall, as we go further in depth about the claims raised here, you will start to understand how the Jacksonian Era had effects on the Native American population that are still very relevant today.

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The movement's impact on the Native American people was highly significant. Especially the Indian Removal Act, which ultimately led to the horrific trail of tears. The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by Andrew Jackson in 1830. The impacts were devastating. The land that the Native American people had spiritual connections to and lived on was forcibly taken away from them. Native Americans were convinced that if they would assimilate to the European ways, they would be respected and allowed to live in peace. Even though many of them assimilated and were more civilized by European definition, they were still described as uncivilized, children of the forest, and savages. The dehumanization of Native Americans had a profound impact, reinforcing stereotypes that many Americans had about native americans. Thus, fewer people were worried about the effects on the Native American people, allowing harsher treatment. The Native American Removal Act forced tens of thousands of Native Americans from their homes. Their homes were pillaged and stolen by white settlers. First-hand accounts remember seeing "helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades" (Private John G. Burnett). Native American people were being put into stockades, the same enclosures animals are held in. They had nothing left except for each other, but unfortunately, even that didn't last too long. The Trail of Tears was the long journey the Native Americans were forced to take to move from their previous land to their newly allocated land. It was a very harsh journey with a very significant death toll. Tens of thousands of Native Americans were forced to walk even though they may have been sick or injured. The conditions were horrible on the trail, with many Native Americans becoming very ill. This forcible relaction left irreversible impacts on the Native American population. The effects of the Indian Removal Act still have huge effects on the socioeconomic status of Native Americans. Although Native Americans were impacted the most by these changes, so were the North and the South. The South was interested in westward expansion especially in a lot of the land that the Native Americans were living on. Some of the land that the Native Americans had contained precious resources like gold and very fertile land. The South wanted to expand their power and the spread of slavery. On the other hand, the North did not want to lose political power and did not benefit from westward expansion. Native American treatment not only increased the political power of the South and spread slavery, and decreased the North's politcal power, but it also divided the country by promoting sectionalism.

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Although Andrew Jackson and many Georgian farmers were eager for Indian removal, ultimately the Native Americans and majority of the Whig party were against the idea. In Andrew Jackson's message to Congress regarding the Indian Removal Act, he described the natives as "savages" and argued that the US government is doing the Native Americans a favor by forcibly relocating them west of the Mississippi. He believes that any other government would have annihilated them, but the US is giving them a chance to have new land for free. Jackson believed that their land would be more useful for traditional European uses and that the land was being wasted on Native Americans which is viewing the natives as a lesser entity compared to the white Americans. Many farmers in the Southwest agree with Jackson and use racism as an excuse for their actions by playing it off as their desire to accumulate new land for their crops and uncover the gold that was recently discovered. In Jackson's speech he attempted to compare Native American removal to Europeans moving from Europe to America, saying, “Doubtless it will be painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but what do they do more than our ancestors did or than our children are now doing?” This is extremely insensitive and a completely inaccurate comparison to the current situation. This is because the American settlers were not forced to leave their homes, they could have easily chosen to stay. The Natives have no choice or decision in this relocation and therefore it is not an acceptable idea. Many people in the north disagreed with Jackson's perspective because they did not benefit from the native removal, as acquiring new land for farming was not a priority for the industrialized and manufacturing based economy of the north east. Therefore it was a lot easier for those to point out how inhumane and unacceptable Indian removal was. New Jersey politician Theodore Frelinghuysen made a speech to Congress in 1830 in support of the natives and against their removal. Stemming from his Christian roots, Theodore forced Congress to consider that Natives held a claim to their land by placing the congressmen in the Native’s shoes which forced them to think about how imperceptive their actions were towards the Native Americans. In doing so he asks them to remember a fledgling US, one which would have wholeheartedly supported the idea of feeble nations rebelling, and says that now, “we…become the oppressors”.  The Native American tribe of the Cherokee also agrees with this perspective as is shown in their appeal to the United States where they explain their upset regarding the congress’s actions. They point out how what is happening to them can apply to the entire US because when all of the treaties and promises made with the Native Americans are not fulfilled, it brings up the question of trust and reliability in regards to the federal government. The Cherokee, commonly regarded as one of the five "civilized tribes" had been trying to assimilate to Christian and white culture in order to share their space with the Americans. In their appeal they remind the United States of their past of living peacefully together for nearly 40 years, and regard their encounters with their Chief Magistrate, Secretary of War, and US agent as a far more just way of negotiating with them. They are full of sorrow to hear they have no choice in regards to the act of Indian removal. They plead for the federal government's protection and ask that their deals still hold true. Being they were not even consulted about their relocation to an unknown and infertile land, it will not even provide the Natives with their basic necessities. They do not want to endure being deprived of their national and individual rights, and be subjected to a process of intolerable oppression as they write, "We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to claim this, without interruption or molestation. The treaties with us, and laws of the United States made in pursuance of treaties, guaranty our residence, and our privileges, and secure us against intruders. Our only request is, that these treaties may be fulfilled, and these laws executed. But if we are compelled to leave our country, we see nothing but ruin before us".

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The actions of a past government, and various stereotypes and stigmas still detriment the Natives today. During the Age of Reform in the United States from 1830-1870, Natives were met with challenge after challenge, reforms which worked against them, and an inhospitable federal government. Unfortunately, Natives continue to struggle against numerous factors today which affect their quality of life and freedoms as domestic dependent nations. It is common to believe that reforms affect the minority party in a beneficial way, such as improving workers rights, or allowing for universal suffrage In the case of the Indians, however, reforms like the Indian Removal Act and various court cases such as Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) worked directly against their previous standing as the true inhabitants and owners of the land which the United States is built upon. The deaths and hardships that took place along the trail of tears as the Indian Removal Act was carried out only scratches the surface of the true effects of the Bill signed into law by President Jackson. In removing the natives from their prosperous, fertile lands, Jackson’s bill placed them into unknown, rural, and oftentimes inhospitable plots of land within the United States. At first, tribes like the Cherokee built their community back up and thrived despite the injustices done to them. In today’s digital age, however, the Natives are struggling to adapt and overcome as they once did. This is directly related to the areas in which the natives were removed to. According to The Red Road, a non-profit organization aimed at improving Native conditions across the country, the reservations which exist today are oftentimes far from urban areas (The Red Road). Thus, the opportunities afforded to Natives, namely those of employment, are limited as compared to the rest of the population. Despite natives no longer being confined to their reservations by law, according to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), 20% still do live on reservations and native lands (The Indigenous World…) because of factors which prevent them from leaving such as their economic means or historical attachment to tribal lands. Even though the federal government provides welfare assistance to those living in poverty on reservations, many natives find themselves relying solely on such assistance which allows them to survive, but prevents them from moving as they do not have the capital to do so. Not only does a decades-old bill still detriment Natives today, but so does a legacy of a prejudiced and biased court which oftentimes can prevent tribes from making serious legal progress towards equality. In 1831 the rights of Native tribes to sue in court were revoked, and in 2023, the Supreme Court presided over the case Arizona v. Navajo Nation which resulted in only a partial victory for the Navajo Nation. The case settled a dispute over water usage and security in the Navajo nation. The Supreme Court ruled that the Navajo tribe should have access to any water that they should need from the Colorado River basin, that was also desired by three other U.S. states. This should have been a given, the land and water were clearly theirs to use as they pleased as was stated by old land treaties. The Supreme Court failed, however, to side with the Navajo nation on compelling the U.S. Government to aid the Navajo Nation in actually securing the water from the basin (United States, U.S. Supreme Court (U.S.)). Despite diminishing their lands more and more as the nation grew, the United States couldn’t go so far as to help provide for the Navajo a necessary component of human life, pure water. The fact that the United States would not even provide a service as simple and necessary as this demonstrates clearly the path of injustice that the US has followed and continues to follow in their relationship with the various Native tribes.

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The Trail of Tears, oil on canvas by Robert Lindneux, 1942.

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Harper's Magazine from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain); adapted in Canva

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A depiction of Chief Weatherford in Andrew Jackson's tent after the Creek War

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A depiction of Chief Weatherford in Andrew Jackson's tent after the Creek War

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1886, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

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Historical Caricature of the Cherokee Nation

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Historical Caricature of the Cherokee Nation

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How the Brutal Trail of Tears Got Its Name