8-3 Project 2: Historical Analysis Essay Submission Assignment

Historical Analysis Essay Progress Check 2 Name Institutional Affiliation Course Instructor Date Historical Analysis Essay Progress Check 2 Causes of the Historical Event The removal of the Native American tribes was instigated mainly by the United States' need to expand westward and develop the economy. This was because settlers considered the indigenous lands suitable for farming and growing cash crops such as cotton, which demanded large pieces of fertile land. This imperialist attitude was driven by the concept of Manifest Destiny, which allowed for the removal of Native peoples as a way of advancing a god-given destiny. Additionally, the idea of racism and Native Americans as a barrier to advancement reinforced the government's decision to implement the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Although the act was portrayed as a legal process of treaty-making, the process was usually a forced one with Native leaders signing agreements against their will (Allen & Leonard, 2024). These so-called 'treaties' not only deprived tribes of their historical territories but also offered them an inferior form of compensation or relocation to substandard lands in the West. The pressure to kick out the tribes escalated further with the discovery of gold on Cherokee land in Georgia, an immediate cause that heightened the tension and sped up the process of removal. The state of Georgia also enacted laws to deny Cherokee sovereignty, which only worsened the conflict and forced the federal government to intervene (Allen & Leonard, 2024). Such economic, political, and social pressures made it possible to view the forced displacement of Native Americans not only as necessary but as inevitable. The course of the Historical Event The process of removing Native American tribes from their ancestral lands was a process of force and coercion and led to events such as the Trail of Tears. Following the Indian Removal Act, the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes fought against removal through the courts and in the field. The Cherokee Nation, however, fought the policy in court and won a brief...