During his two term tenure, President Andrew Jackson worked strenuously and vigorously to implement the vision of political opportunity that he had for all white men in the United States. President Jackson was particularly passionate about relocating all the eastern Indian tribes in order to open land for white settlement. Nothing defined Jackson’s presidency more than the “Indian problem”.[i] At the beginning of the 1830s, there were nearly 125,000 Native Americans spread across southeastern United States in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida, by the end of the decade there were few Natives left in this part of the country.[ii] Jackson claimed to want to protect the Indians, however, this seemingly noble theme did not …show more content…
translate to how the government dealt with the thousands of Indians. The Native Americans were forced to leave their homelands and walk thousands of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” along the Mississippi River under the uncompromising leadership of Andrew Jackson.[iii] In his first message to Congress in 1829, Jackson stated that moving the Indians to a territory west of the Mississippi was the best way to ensure that they would be saved since white civilization would destroy Indian resources.[iv] President Andrew Jackson claimed: “That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the states does not admit of a doubt.
Humanity and national honor demand that every effort should be made to avert so great a calamity.” [v] Andrew Jackson, unlike his predecessors, saw the Indians as subjects of the United States who needed to be moved across to “Indian territory” to ensure their survival.[vi] Prior administrations had tried to civilize the Indians by converting them to Christianity and have them adapt to white agricultural practices. The administrations prior to Jackson had also tried to make treaties with the Indians as a foreign nation, but Jackson had other ideas.[vii] Congress conceded and passed the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which would direct the mandatory relocation of eastern tribes to the territory west of the Mississippi [viii] Although Jackson claimed to want to keep the Indians safe, it was apparent that perhaps Jackson was more concerned about Indians disturbing the white settlement and expansion he had …show more content…
envisioned. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 stirred up a widespread controversy. Many citizens, especially in the Northern part of the country, felt that this expulsion act was an injustice crime on top of the shamefulness of slavery. In fact, thousands of northern white women protested the act by signing an anti-removal petition. Between 1830-1832 women's petition flooded Washington, yet Jackson was not to be moved. Not all the tribes went away peaceably despite Jackson’s defiance. Sauk and Fox Indians resisted removal and after many skirmishes, the black hawk war, and an Indian with volunteer militias, some 400 Indians were dead. The larger southern tribes (the Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, and Cherokee) were even more difficult for Jackson to remove. In 1831 when Georgia threatened to seize all Cherokee property, the Cherokee tribal leader pleaded their case in their courts. In Worcester v. Georgia (1832), the Court upheld that the laws of Georgia could have no force over the distinct community that occupied its own territory. An irate Andrew Jackson ignored the courts and threatened that if the Cherokees didn’t move west that whatever evil thing happened to them was their own fault and he had done his duty trying to protect them. However, it can be pointed out that Jackson never really intended to help the Indians, but rather get them out of his way and isolate them away from America so he could carry on with the plans he had.. It seemed clear from the very beginning that the point of removal was so that there would be land for white settlers to buy and expand. The Cherokees refused to move, so on May 1838, after the deadline for voluntary removal had arrived on May 1838, federal troops arrived to forcefully and physically remove them.
Under armed guard, the Cherokees commenced their 1,200 mile journey west, this later became known as the Trail of Tears. Around ¼ of the Cherokees passed away during the long journey from the hardship of the brutal and unkind journey. The remaining survivors joined the other Indian tribes (fifteen thousand Creek, twelve thousand Choctaw, five thousand Chickasaw, and several thousand Seminole) and were forced to relocate to Indian Territory (which later would become the state of Oklahoma in 1907) The great irony is that in trying to save the Indians, as Jackson claimed was his purpose, more harm was caused to them than good. Another irony is that although Jackson claimed to want limited government, the obvious exception was military use. In a country that prided itself on freedom and liberty, this freedom and liberty were reserved for a select few, mainly white
males. In conclusion the Trail of Tears was an unfortunate blemish on the American History resume, many Indians died and many more were forced to leave their homeland and get out of the way. Simply put, the land that they inhabited was valuable and was largely coveted by white settlers who were not concerned if their Indian neighbors were civilized, but were more interested in making a fortune and going to great means to get what they wanted. Even the states participated in trying to drive the Native Americans away by passing laws that limited the Indians rights and encroached on their land. Although the Indian Removal Act required the government to negotiate treaties fairly and to not coerce the Native Americans to give up their land, Jackson and his government were not too concerned with these aspects and frequently ignored them. The Native Americans were still forced to leave the lands they had lived on for generations before the Americans began to encroach on their land despite the facet of the act that forbid the government from those actions. Not only were the Indians forced to leave home, they also had to endure much pain and suffering while being exiled as the government did not provide any food or supplies; thousands died on account of this tragedy and to this very day Andrew Jackson is infamously associated with the Trail of Tears.
In the essay, “The Trail of Tears” by author Dee Brown explains that the Cherokees isn’t Native Americans that evaporate effectively from their tribal land, but the enormous measure of sympathy supported on their side that was abnormal. The Cherokees process towards culture also the treachery of both states and incorporated governments of the declaration and promises that contrived to the Cherokee nation. Dee Brown wraps up that the Cherokees had lost Kentucky and Tennessee, but a man who once consider their buddy named Andrew Jackson had begged the Cherokees to move to Mississippi but the bad part is the Indians and white settlers never get along together even if the government wanted to take care of them from harassment it shall be incapable to do that. The Cherokee families moved to the West, but the tribes were together and denied to give up more land but Jackson was running for President if the Georgians elects him as President he agreed that he should give his own support to open up the Cherokee lands for establishment.
Throughout Jackson's two terms as President, Jackson used his power unjustly. As a man from the Frontier State of Tennessee and a leader in the Indian wars, Jackson loathed the Native Americans. Keeping with consistency, Jackson found a way to use his power incorrectly to eliminate the Native Americans. In May 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act. This act required all tribes east of the Mississippi River to leave their lands and travel to reservations in the Oklahoma Territory on the Great Plains. This was done because of the pressure of white settlers who wanted to take over the lands on which the Indians had lived. The white settlers were already emigrating to the Union, or America. The East Coast was burdened with new settlers and becoming vastly populated. President Andrew Jackson and the government had to find a way to move people to the West to make room. In 1830, a new state law said that the Cherokees would be under the jurisdiction of state rather than federal law. This meant that the Indians now had little, if any, protection against the white settlers that desired their land. However, when the Cherokees brought their case to the Supreme Court, they were told that they could not sue on the basis that they were not a foreign nation. In 1832, though, on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation," and therefore, eligible to receive federal protection against the state. However, Jackson essentially overruled the decision. By this, Jackson implied that he had more power than anyone else did and he could enforce the bill himself. This is yet another way in which Jackson abused his presidential power in order to produce a favorable result that complied with his own beliefs. The Indian Removal Act forced all Indians tribes be moved west of the Mississippi River. The Choctaw was the first tribe to leave from the southeast.
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress in order to allow the growth of the United States to continue without the interference of the Native Americans. Jackson believed that the Native Americans were inferior to white settlers and wanted to force them west of the Mississippi. He believed that the United States would not expand past that boundary, so the Native Americans could govern themselves. Jackson evicted thousands of Native Americans from their homes in Georgia and the Carolinas and even disregarded the Supreme Court’s authority and initiated his plan of forcing the Natives’ on the trail of tears. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Indians, however Jackson ignored the ruling and continued with his plan. The result of the Indian Removal Act was that many tribes were tricked or forced off their lands, if they refused to go willingly, resulting in many deaths from skirmishes with soldiers as well as from starvation and disease. The Cherokee in particular were forced to undergo a forced march that became known as the Trail of
... the unwilling tribes west of the Mississippi. In Jackson’s letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, he explained that the Cherokees were still in Georgia, and that they ought to leave for their own benefit because destruction will come upon them if they stay. By 1835, most eastern tribes had unwillingly complied and moved west. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was created in 1836 to help out the resettled tribes. Most Cherokees rejected the settlement of 1835, which provided land in the Indian territory. It was not until 1838, after Jackson had left office, that the U.S. Army forced 15,000 Cherokees to leave Georgia. The hardships on the “trail of tears” were so great that over 4,000 Cherokees died on their heartbreaking westward journey. In conclusion, the above statement is valid and true. The decision the Jackson administration made to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River was a reformulation of the national policy. Jackson, along with past Presidents George Washington, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson, tried to rid the south of Indians This process of removing the native people was continuous as the years went on.
Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of America who had a very unique time in office. Jackson advertised as being for the people of the United States but then his actions proved otherwise at later times. While Jackson did things for the people, he was as much of an autocrat as he was a democrat based upon the documents that were formed during his time in office.
Andrew Jackson was a man that people see that he is a good person and others say he is a terrible person. Andrew Jackson can be bad person and a good person it depends what type of person is Andrew Jackson is he going to help out the world or is he going to mess up the world? Democracy is a form of government were the people have a right to assist in the law making process. If Jackson didn’t support the people and wasn’t in the government the bank and the people would be in a huge mess. Andrew Jackson was very democratic and there are political , economic and geographic ways to prove it.
One reason why Andrew Jackson was not democratic was because of his mistreatment of the Native American. Today, the population of Native Americans are significantly less than when Jackson served as the leader of the free world. From the early 1830’s until 1840, Jackson forced 5 separate Indian tribes onto a small piece of land (Doc L). A likely reason for this sudden move
Unfortunately, this great relationship that was built between the natives and the colonists of mutual respect and gain was coming to a screeching halt. In the start of the 1830s, the United States government began to realize it’s newfound strength and stability. It was decided that the nation had new and growing needs and aspirations, one of these being the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. Its continuous growth in population began to require much more resources and ultimately, land. The government started off as simply bargaining and persuading the Indian tribes to push west from their homeland. The Indians began to disagree and peacefully object and fight back. The United States government then felt they had no other option but to use force. In Indian Removal Act was signed by Andrew Jackson on May 18, 1830. This ultimately resulted in the relocation of the Eastern tribes out west, even as far as to the edge of the Great Plains. A copy of this act is laid out for you in the book, Th...
To understand Jackson’s book and why it was written, however, one must first fully comprehend the context of the time period it was published in and understand what was being done to and about Native Americans in the 19th century. From the Native American point of view, the frontier, which settlers viewed as an economic opportunity, was nothin...
In the year of 1824, tempers were flaring and insults were being exchanged as politicians argued over who would be the sixth president of the United States. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were the two major candidates in the election. However, this would be an election that would be remembered in history for its unique result. Despite being the more popular candidate, Andrew Jackson would not become the president. The presidential election of 1824 is remembered as one of the most controversial elections to have ever occurred in the history of the United States.
In May 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which forced Native American tribes to move west. Some Indians left swiftly, while others were forced to to leave by the United States Army. Some were even taken away in chains. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, strongly reinforced this act. In the Second State of the Union Address, Jackson advocated his Indian Policy. There was controversy as to whether the removal of the Native Americans was justified under the administration of President Andrew Jackson. In my personal opinion, as a Native American, the removal of the tribes was not in any way justified.
To some people Andrew Jackson is remembered as the, metaphorically speaking, “People’s King” and is accused of dictator-like political moves. However, Andrew Jackson was quite the contrary, he was exalted amongst the people for being the new era of democracy: instilling a political revolution, the protection of the American people, and social equality among the masses. Therefore, Andrew Jackson was a precedent of democratic rule in the United States.
An extraordinarily ordinary man, a “democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint” Andrew Jackson provided the means for Americans to better understand themselves (Parton PBS). Over time the perception of Jackson and his demeanor has been changed. As one historian stated, “at one time, [when they looked at Jackson] they saw the frontiersmen, the poor boy made good, the classic self-made man” (Feller PBS). In modern times, Jackson has become a more unsavoury figure; namely due to his reputation for displacing Native American tribes and repurposing their land for American settlements and communities. Still, the debate over who Andrew Jackson was, or perhaps is, can be described as a contemporary one. Nonetheless, his actions, and vociferous reactions, make Jackson a very divisive figure in American politics. Cogently stated by historian “He is an inescapable American, but of what kind?” (Feller PBS).
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act. This let him negotiate with the Native Americans for their lands. Although the si...