12/20【美国历史上的今天】驱除印第安人

美国历史上的今天

驱除印第安人

每天一篇《美国历史上的今天》，提炼和总结历史在今天发生的重要事件：谁，在哪里，什么时候，做了什么，这件事为什么重要、以及在写关于什么主题的论文的时候可以作为潜在论据引用。

每天半分钟，轻松积累史实

为AP历史拿5分打下坚实基础

When: December 20, 1836

What: President Andrew Jackson submitted Indian Treaty to Congress

Why significant: The treaty, which removed indian tribes from their ancestral homelands to make way for white settlement, epitomized racist presidential policies toward Native Americans in the 19th century. The agreement was just one of nearly 400 treaties – nearly always unequal – that were concluded between various tribes and the U.S. government between 1788 and 1883.

American population growth and exploration of the west in the early to mid-1800s amplified conflicts over territory inhabited by Native American tribes who held different views of land and property ownership from white settlers. Andrew Jackson played a significant part in shaping U.S. policy toward Native Americans during this time. In 1830, as part of his zealous quest to acquire new territory for the nation, President Jackson pushed for the passing of the Indian Removal Act, which lead to the forced removal by the U.S. military of Cherokee from their Georgia homeland to barren land in the Oklahoma territory in 1838. The march at gunpoint – during which 4,000 Cherokee died from starvation, disease and the cold – became known as the Trail of Tears. Jackson’s policies toward Indians reflected the general view among whites of the time that Indians were an inferior race who stood in the way of American economic progress. Largely relegated to reservations by the late 1800s, Native American tribes across the country were obliterated by disease and plunged into poverty.

Tags: Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal Act, Native Americans, The Trail of Tears