NEED IN 15 HOURS OR BEFORE
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Can an argument be made that Jackson’s intentions with the Indian Removal Act were to preserve the tribes marched into the Oklahoma Territory, even if not their culture? (100 Words)
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President Jackson met with the Cherokee to try and convince them to move out of Georgia. Here is part of what he said:
“You are now placed in the midst of a white population …. You are now subject to the same laws which govern the citizens of Georgia and Alabama. You are liable to prosecutions for offenses, and to civil actions for a breach of any of your contracts. Most of your people are uneducated, and are liable to be brought into collision at all times with your white neighbors. Your young men are acquiring habits of intoxication. With strong passions . . . they are frequently driven to excesses which must eventually terminate in their ruin. The game has disappeared among you, and you must depend upon agriculture and the mechanic arts for support. And yet, a large portion of your people have acquired little or no property in the soil itself …. How, under these circumstances, can you live in the country you now occupy? Your condition must become worse and worse, and you will ultimately disappear, as so many tribes have done before you.’ You have not listened to me, he scolded. You went to the courts for relief. You turned away from your Great Father. And what happened? After years of litigation you received little satisfaction from the Supreme Court and succeeded in earning the enmity of many whites. ‘I have no motive, Brothers, to deceive you,’ he said. ‘I am sincerely desirous to promote your welfare. Listen to me, therefore, while I tell you that you cannot remain where you are now …. It [is] impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You have but one remedy within your reach. And that is to remove to the West and join your countrymen, who are already established there.’ The choice is yours. ‘May the great spirit teach you how to choose”
Is this not good advice? Was Jackson not looking out for their survival? He appealed to the great-spirit didn’t he? If they would have listened, there would have been no Trail of Tears, would there? (100 Words)
