Indian Removal Act

As pioneers stream west, they bypass areas which don't interest them. Consequently, some land remains in Indian hands. Settlers tolerate scattered Indian villages in their vicinity, but never learn to accept the Indians.

Arguing that this situation cannot continue, Southerners ask the federal government to clear the land of all remaining tribes. The Indian Removal Act ushers in a new, darker chapter in the story of Indian management.

The discovery of gold on Indian lands in Georgia triggers the Act, but much of the Indian homeland is also prime cotton-growing country. The cotton gin instantly transforms this land into valuable real estate.

At the same time, the first railroad companies in New England are busy acquiring land for new railroad lines. Locomotives are gradually becoming more reliable, and construction crews set about laying rail at a brisk pace.


	Moving Indians Out Indians are removed from three southern areas, including the mountain region of Georgia where the 'five civilized tribes' live. These tribes have adopted the clothing and customs of the white settlers around them, and relations are stable and peaceful until gold is discovered on Indian land. With former 'Indian Fighter' Andrew Jackson as President, it takes just six months for Congress to order the US Army to round up all the southern tribes, and march them to the Oklahoma Territory, on the far side of the Mississippi River. Many die along the way.



	New Indian Home During the 1830s, most of the southern Indians are marched overland to the new Indian reservation in Oklahoma Territory. 'Territory' is the name for land that hasn't yet been organized as a state. The journey to Oklahoma is called the 'Trail of Tears,' because so many Indians die of exposure and neglect before reaching their new home. They have been forced to abandon a comfortable life, on land with abundant water and game, to arrive in a semi-barren region which offers little of either. Florida Indians get off easier, being transported by boat to New Orleans, and then upriver to the reservation. Oklahoma is supposed to be a permanent solution to the 'Indian problem,' but it's really just a start.


	Last of the Eastern Indians The remaining 4,000 eastern Indians, mostly living in scattered villages centered in Indiana, are removed gradually during the same period. The inset map (top left) shows all the separate pieces of territory that are taken from the Indians by the government over 30 years. Large chunks of land are taken every few years, with the Indians accepting a series of agreements in return for promises of money. As their territory dwindles, remaining Indians move into shrinking pockets of land. In the end, the last 1,000 Indians are forcibly removed to the Kansas Territory by the US Army (lower right). This has been called the Trail of Death, but the death rate is minimal when compared to that of the more notorious Oklahoma Trail of Tears.


	New Cash Crop With the Indians now gone, vast new cotton plantations now sweep across the Deep South, bringing with them the misery of slavery. This is the era of the great plantation houses so handsomely depicted in Gone with the Wind. The cotton boom creates a sudden new wave of wealth, fostering a graciousness of living that has largely died out on older Virginia tobacco plantations. The driving force behind this prosperity is the flood of new textile mills spreading southward from Massachusetts, down into the Carolinas. Everyone, it seems, is investing in spinning equipment and power looms. Cotton is king, and it rains money in the South for 30 years, until the Civil War brings an abrupt end to the entire system of plantation slavery.


	Steam Power on Land By 1840, steamships ae operating on every mile of navigable river and coastline. Steam locomotives arrive a little later, partly because steam engines are still a bit clumsy, suitable mainly for large vessels. Beyond that, they need newly-laid iron rails to operate on land at all. The American iron industry is still in its adolescence, and struggling to keep up with the new demand for rails. Steel is still in the future. Nonetheless, railway companies are being organized all over the East, with the lure of instant wealth to be generated by connecting distant cities with rail service. All the rail lines shown above are in operation by 1840, though most still rely upon wood for fuel. This will soon change, as rail lines begin reaching into Pennsylvania coal fields.


	Railroads, Canals and Roads The GREEN lines indicate railways in operation by 1840. Canals are shown in ORANGE, while faint BROWN lines are major roads. Boston is now linked by rail with the Erie Canal, at Albany, and the new National Road (BROWN-ORANGE) reaches all the way to Illinois. The railroads speed up travel between business centers, being four times faster than stagecoaches. But it quickly becomes apparent that railroads also have a magical effect on land values. Prices go up fast, anywhere near a railroad station (YELLOW dots). Locomotives are still primitive, however, and sometimes explode when pressure in the steam boiler gets too high (lower right).