Overview of Indian Removal

Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress 

     On December 6, 1830, in his Second Annual Message to Congress, President Andrew Jackson outlined his policy for the removal of the Indians, which would effectively banish them beyond the white settlements, to unsettled lands west of the Mississippi. Examination of the original Congress-addressed “President’s Message“—digitally stored on The Library of Congress’ website—reveals what President Jackson believed to be the benefits of The Indian Removal Act, citing their forcible removal as a benefit to even the Indians themselves; he examined every angle and ramification of the Act, in order to convince Congress of the virtue of this bill:

The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual states, and to the Indians themselves. The pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the least of it’s recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments, on account of the Indians.

—President Andrew Jackson

(Public Domain image of Andrew Jackson retrieved from Library of Congress Digital Collections)