Indian Removal Act

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.6: Indigenous Writing and Culture of North America - United States.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Sarah Henzi (Simon Fraser University), Padraig Kirwan (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Domains

Colonialism and colonisation

Dates

Date of occurrence 1830-05-28

Places

United States (Location)

Cultural Identities

First Nations/Indigenous US-American

This Act of Congress, promoted by President Andrew Jackson, sought to solve the problem created by the incursion of the whites into Indian lands east of the Mississippi. The Act was ostensibly designed to enable the complusory purchase of Indian lands and the relocation of tribes to the west of the Mississippi. The five civilised tribes (the Cherokee, Chicksaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole) had adopted Western culture, including agricultural practices, trade skills, a written constitution, and Christianity. Cherokke resistance to removal was countered by the army under General Winfield Scott who forced them to move into internment camps. In 1838-39 they would be forcibly relocated to Oklahoma (see the "Trail of Tears"). The Seminole …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

122 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Indian Removal Act". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4667, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Save this article