To most people in America in 1830 the Indians and their tribes were nothing. They were lower in stature than the black slaves on farms and in houses. But to some, they were regarded as human beings; people just like any other. People with rights. Rights given to them by their individual tribes, and by the country in which they lived, worked, and died. With the assumption that the American Indians were citizens of The United States in 1830 and after, this essay will prove that they were not only citizens of this country, but that their constitutional rights from the Bill of Rights were also violated.

With first, for the sake of argument for the sake of this essay, we are assuming that the Indians were American citizens. And second, that in 1817, before he was president, Adams told then president Monroe, "the Indians are subjects of the United States, inhabiting its territory and acknowledging its sovereignty, then is it not absurd for the sovereign to negotiate by treaty with the subject?" In this statement Adams states that he thinks that the Indians are "subjects of the United States", therefore making them citizens of the United States by progression from hi

So if the Indians were citizens of the United States, a country formed fifty years earlier on the premise, "...that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". Then which, if any of their unalienable rights, from the Bill of Rights, were violated by the actions of the government from the time of 1830 to 1840, primarily during the time leading up to and including the Trail of Tears? When looking at the Bill of Rights we find that only two really apply to this time period. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that the others more or less were also violated on a more individual account.

Even within the Preamble of the Constitution, there were violations taking place. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." The United States as a governing body did not insure domestic tranquility toward the Indians. They failed to provide a common defense, also considering that they were the ones that the Indians needed defense from. Even more so proving the fact that their Constitutional rights, focused on the Bill of Rights, were violated during this time period.

Continuing on with Amen

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Approximate Word count = 1005
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)