Jackson And The Native Indians Essay

Andrew Jackson was a General in The United States army, and the 7th president, throughout his presidency he experienced many struggles with the Native Americans like wars and land disputes. In the 1830s he wanted to end these conflicts so he put in place the Indian Removal Act of 1830. I believe Andrew Jackson rightly and correctly removed the Indians. Even though many Indians died along the way Jackson had a reason behind what he did and should not be to blamed for their deaths.

In Jackson’s mind, he expected the Indians to thrive as they did in their current home, except there would be no white men. Three chiefs, each one from the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Ottawa tribes, came forward to the White House and told about their suffering. They said they were promised land as fertile as Illinois, but received land that a snake couldn’t live on. They could not live in the prairie when they were from the woods. Thousands of Indian people suffered because Jackson heard what they said

Cave’s idea that Jackson overstepped his legislative power and violated the Indian Removal Act as written is that of Robert V. Remini. Remini argues that Jackson did care for the well being of the Native Americans and their customs and therefore did everything in his power to protect them from the white settlers. While some aspects of this argument can be proven, there is far more evidence to support Cave’s proposal. Remini argues that, “the Indian Removal Act did not order the removal of Indians” and that it was “the President’s noble desire to give the Indians a free choice between staying and removing”. He blames the fraud and deception on the state officials that harassed Indians who refused to leave. But, what Remini fails to mention is that jackson regarded state harassment Indians as a useful means of encouraging removal. Jackson continuously warned and threatened the hesitant tribes to sign the removal treaties, “starvation and destruction await them if they remain much longer..”. There were many witness to fraud, coercion, and corruption were used by Jackson’s supporters to negotiate the removal treaties, accordingly, on many accounts, jackson’s agents resorted to extensive bribery of tribal leaders and frequently threatened leaders opposed to relocation. Another point in Remini’s essay was that Jackson truly showed “genuine feelings of concern for their welfare, particularly the poor among them”, but this argument is completely

Andrew Jackson was like no other president before him. The previous presidents had one thing in common, they were all part of the founding fathers or in John Quincy Adam’s case was the son of a founding father. However Jackson was a plantation owner from the west who had no connections with the government. He also had different views from other presidents that made his presidency unique. Two things that separated Andrew Jackson’s presidency from previous presidencies were he reached out to the common people and he was disapproving of the Bank of United States.

In 1835, President Andrew Jackson proclaimed that the Native Americans were to be removed from their homeland. Jackson claimed that the Native Americans were “savage hunters” among the “civilized population.” Also, during this time Jackson was preparing for his second term where he refused to help the Native Americans for then he would be conflicting against the whites.

The essential question of the Jacksonian period in American history should not be focused on slavery, nor on western migration of native tribes (as important, relevant, and controversial as these topics are). It is true that his administration did try to hide and dismiss slavery, and it is also true that in the manner of its execution the policy of Indian removal was a horror. However, the fundamental question surrounding his presidency revolves around how the doctrines of democracy replaced the doctrines of republicanism. Indeed, Jackson had a powerful contribution to American political history. The Jacksonian Era actually changed the goal of the Founding Fathers to put more power into the presidency rather than in congress. His commitment to the federal structure, states’ rights, and a severely limited central government, all accounted for in his policy of Indian removal are Jackson’s greatest contributions and resulted in the development of modern democracy in the United States.

In the early 19th Century, the Manifest Destiny led many White Americans to conquer new territories and force Native Americans out of their homeland. The growing population caused the need for people to move to have more space for farms and crops. The religious groups were also wanting to sweep God’s word across the nation by going west. The Native Americans were unwilling to give up their land and fought to keep it. Outmatched by the U.S. Military, the Indians were forced to leave and settle in a territory that was not claimed by Whites. Andrew Jackson, the 8th President of the United States, participated in some of the battles with the Natives Americans and the removal of 5 different tribes from their homeland into what is now Oklahoma.1 This research paper is to study about Andrew Jackson, his battles with the Natives, and what led to the Trail of Tears.

When Americans expanded their country west, they interfered with many American Indian Tribes. In a letter he wrote to congress, he explained “This emigration should be voluntary… (but) if they remain within the limits of the states they must be subject to their laws” (Andrew Jackson’s Message to Congress December 7, 1829). Andrew Jackson offered to let the American Indians stay if they followed their laws. But in 1831, Jackson forced the Native Americans out of their homelands starting the Indian Removal. According to a reprinted in Niles Weekly Register, the Cherokee’s said “We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation”. Jackson lied to the American Indians about allowing them to stay. Jackson did not act democratically because he did not allow the American Indians to stay and forced them to move west. Jackson was fair to his supporters, but not to

Before the Eastern World knew that the America’s were there, natives to the American lands were already here and thriving. As the land was discovered, more and more people from the European side of the Hemisphere traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to stake a claim for land in this newfound world. Throughout these Europeans settling in, and making new homes and lives for themselves these natives stayed to their own ways, and were slowly pushed westward. The problems between the Indians and now Americans were brought to the forefront as the population of the states grew, and there was a need for expansion. When the Louisiana Purchase was struck between the United States and France, the land previously inhabited by the natives were now under the control of the United States government. As the population continued to climb in numbers, individuals along with the United States government decided to take actions for the removal of these natives. Throughout the book, The Long, Bitter Trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians by: Anthony F.C. Wallace, the events leading up to, during, and the effects of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Individuals such as Andrew Jackson along with the government used different methods to remove these Indians from the southeastern lands of the United States. Starting in the beginning of the 1800’s,

     The generalization that, “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790s than a change in that policy,” is valid. Ever since the American people arrived at the New World they have continually driven the Native Americans out of their native lands. Many people wanted to contribute to this removal of the Cherokees and their society. Knox proposed a “civilization” of the Indians. President Monroe continued Knox’s plan by developing ways to rid of the Indians, claiming it would be beneficial to all. Andrew

The Indian Removal Act, inspired by Andrew Jackson; the 7th president of the US and the enhanced ambition for American settlers to find more land in the southwestern regions of North America. The Indian Removal Act enabled Jackson the power of negotiating removal treaties with Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. Among these tribes were: Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaws and Seminoles. Very few authenticated traits were signed. The Choctaws were the only tribe to agree without any issues. All other attempts resulted in War and blood shed for both white settlers and Indians. The conflict with the U.S. and Indians lasted up until 1837. In 1838 & 1839 Jackson forced the relocation of the remaining Cherokee Indians;

When we look back into history, we are now able to fully comprehend the atrocities the Indians faced at the hands of the historic general and President, Andrew Jackson. It can be seen as one of the most shameful and unjust series of political actions taken by an American government. However, as an American living almost 200 years later, it is crucial to look at the motives possessed by Andrew Jackson, and ask whether he fully comprehended the repercussions of his actions or if is was simply ignorant to what he was subjection the natives to. We must also consider weather he truly had the countries best interest in mind, or his own.

What could be argued as the most infamous line from the Declaration of Independence – “all men are created equal” – immediately comes to mind when perceiving the actions of President Jackson and his Democratic supporters in regard to Native and African Americans. Asserting to be guardians of the Constitution and, subsequently, personal liberties, Jackson exposed the hypocrisy of his creed in both his previous ownership of a plantation full of slaves and his passing of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Partly fueled by Jackson’s hatred of independent Indian nations and partly fueled by his abhorrence of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave Jackson the power to exchange Native American land in the East with smaller Indian territories in the West. As can be seen in Document G, Native Americans faced indescribable emotional grief, not to mention physical pain, in their experiences on the Trail of Tears. President Jackson, though, did not trouble himself with such trivial matters seeing that the Removal Act satisfied his personal goal of acquiring more

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is considered a 'black mark' upon American history. Whenever America attempts to take a moral high road and criticize another nation's human rights record, the Trail of Tears is invoked, as well as the removal of the Creeks and the Lower Creeks from their indigenous lands. What is so extraordinary about the event in retrospect is the degree to which President Andrew Jackson's actions were considered abhorrent at the time, even to other American politicians. The U.S. Supreme Court in Cherokee v. Georgia declared the tribe a separate nation, over which the federal government had no authority to remove (195-196). But while Jackson had happily invoked the sanctity of American law during the Nullification Crisis, in this instance he simply ignored the Supreme Court decision. Jackson had a vested political interest in allowing the West to be settled. As the candidate of the so-called 'common man,' he wished to be responsive to the demands of the land-poor for settlement areas.

Through the years 1816-1840 Native American nations signed more than 40 different treaties that gave up more and more of the Natives homeland. When President Andrew Jackson came into power starting in 1829, Jackson made it his policy to remove the Eastern Native American tribes beyond the white settlements. Then in 1830 U.S. Congress endorsed Jackson’s policy and in return passed the Indian Removal Act, forcing the indians to move west of the Mississippi. Between the years 1830 and 1850, around 100,000 Native Americans living between the Mississippi River and the United States were brutally treated and forced to move West. Davy Crockett who respected and was a scout under Andrew Jackson during the Creek War, was a congressman from Tennessee during Jackson’s term and called the Indian Removal Act “unjust.” Jackson’s Indian Removal policy would set the stage for Trail of Tears and the forceful removal of the Cherokee Nation.