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.
Indian Removal Act, 1830 map

  Moving Indians Out
Relations are stable and peaceful until gold is discovered on Indian land. It takes just six months for Congress to order the US Army to march Indians from southern states, including some that have adopted the clothing and customs of Whites, off to the Oklahoma Territory. This is on the far side of the Mississippi River, and many die along the way.

Cotton plantations and slavery, 1840 map

  New Cash Crop
With the Indians 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. 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.


Railroads, Canals and Roads, 1840 map

  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. The new National Road (deep ORANGE) reaches all the way to Illinois. The railroads are built to connect major business centers. But it quickly becomes apparent that every railway station along the way (YELLOW dots) has a magical effect on land values. Prices go up fast, anywhere near a station. Locomotives still sometimes explode when boiler pressure gets too high.