“Indian Removal Act, (May 28, 1830), first major legislative departure from the U.S. policy of officially respecting the legal and political rights of the American Indians. The act authorized the president to grant Indian tribes unsettled western prairie land in exchange for their desirable territories within state borders (especially in the Southeast), from which the tribes would be removed”. (Britannica)
HISTORIC TRAUMA AND UNRESOLVED GRIEF
The Indian Removal Act of 1830
“The Indian Removal Act of 1830 specifically authorized the president to negotiate with Native Americans for their removal to lands west of the Mississippi River. The treaties would then open up existing native lands to white settlement”. (HistoryinCharts)
This chart demonstrats how many senate votes supported the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Source: HistoryinCharts
"That it shall… 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 … to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for 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."
-Indian Removal Act
Conflicting views over removal sparked massive debate in Congress that fell along geographical and partisan lines. Despite opposition, the Indian Removal Act passed the Senate 28-19 and narrowly passed the House 102-97.