Andrew Jackson's Attitude Towards Native Americans

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

Andrew Jackson gave a great speech on a terrible idea that he got passed which lead to the terrible treatment of Native Americans. Michael Rutledge wrote about his native American grandfathers harrowing tale as he endured that treatment on the infamous trail of tears. The two documents are written from opposite sides of the removal of Native Americans from their land and the deadly Trail of Tears they were forced to endure. There are many noticeable differences between the way each document is written. The tone, sentence structure, and opinions of the authors are very different.

During the 19th Century, The Trail of Tears was the greatest crime against the indigenous population, in which the Indian removal Act led to their destruction. President Andrew Jackson removed the Native Americans from their ancestral lands because he believed that they were uncivilized. Jackson had no remorse for the Native Americans, as he and the whites forced them out of their own land, as he abused his power of authority.

Gold was discovered near Cherokee territory in Georgia. As result, Georgia desired to remove the Cherokees and relocate the Cherokees to lands west of the Mississippi river. This struck a major debate. Andrew Jackson was known to support the removal of Native Americans, so the state of Georgia took advantage of the scenario. With little difficulty, the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The Cherokees did not relocate without a civilized fight. They sent several documents to Congress to argue their case. These documents included three arguments to support the sovereignty of the Cherokee nation. These three arguments were Great Britain saw the Cherokees as separated nation from the Colonists, George Washington saw them as an independent nation, and the Cherokees had the same natural rights as the United States.

Jackson had been fighting Native Americans for their land before he became a president. In 1788, Jackson and several white settlers tried to force the Cherokee Indians off their homeland in Georgia.2 The Cherokees fought to keep their land from white settlers and they even brought their case to the Supreme Court. Under the Constitution, the United States government must negotiate with the tribe leaders before seizing their land. Many political figures tried to bribe, threaten, or use military force to make tribe leaders sign the treaty so they would leave, however some of them would not budge so easily. Some political

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,

Imagine you are and a Indian living on your land that the US government gave you. However a couple of years later you are kicked out of your land by the US government who gave you the land to start and had made a treaty with you. You are forced to march west away from the land you had lived on for several years. Well because of a man named Andrew Jackson this was all true. This did not only happen once this was going on around the country due to the expansion of the US population. This is why Andrew Jackson presidency should not be admired because he was inhumane to Indians and he got rid of the national bank. One of the well know way he got rid of the indians was The Trail of Tears

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;

The Cherokee natives wanted to keep the land they knew and have lived on, they don’t want the land Jackson’s providing and strongly disagree. Although the natives owned the land first and did nothing wrong Jackson forced them to move killing thousands. In document 9 from the Memorial of the Cherokee Nation the natives state, “We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation...On the soil which contains the ashes of our beloved men we wish to live- on this soil we wish to die…” Jackson took the natives homeland, the only place most have known without a care showing he is not democratic. Similarly, the map from document 10 shows the minimal amount of land Jackson gave the natives after forcing them off their home land. This map is from the Indian Removal Act in the 1830’s where Jackson did not compromise or try at all to preserve the natives land. Andrew Jackson could have prevented the Trail of Tears but instead refused to listen to their complaints or compromise with them. Finally, Daniel Webster’s Reply to Jackson’s Bank Veto is a message that questions Jackson and his beliefs. Document 5 states Jackson has too much power and because he is unknown he is dangerous and shouldn’t be trusted. He is also turning social classes against each other creating mass issues. “It manifestly

When someone mentions the name "Andrew Jackson", what comes to mind? Is it the infamous Bank War where he attempted to destroy the Second Bank of the United States? Or, is it the term "Jacksonian Democracy" and the creation of the short-lived Whig Party? If you are a Native American, the name "Andrew Jackson" may be a painful reminder of the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears. To the Native American populous, the seventh president of the United States is a figure who brought pain and suffering to their ancestors. He was not the "common man" often portrayed in history books who worked on behalf of all who lived in the United States. This former war hero focused on pleasing American farmers and settlers, not the needs of Native tribes. The unfair actions that Andrew Jackson made during his presidency negatively affected the way Native Americans were treated by the United States government throughout the nineteenth century.

In the 1830’s America was expanding its border and completing manifest destiny. The one thing standing in the way of Americans moving west was the Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson had a dilemma on his hands. Jackson wanted to create a plan that would make everyone happy. But in the end, Jackson had the Native American removed from their land and led to the “Trail of Tears” where many Native Americans would lose their lives. Looking at the articles by F.P Prucha, Mary E. Young and Alfred A. Cave each one says that the Indians needed to be removed from their land for a different reason.

Jackson strongly hated the Native Americans; just seeing what he did to the two Seminole chiefs in Florida defies his hatred towards this group of people. Jackson claimed that they were in America’s way, causing him to move various tribes of the East Coast. One of them was the well-known Cherokee tribe, who strongly opposed the decision, because they already adapted the American culture. Their opposition was taken to the Supreme Court, where it was decided that the Cherokees can stay. Andrew Jackson showed no sympathy and ignored the court’s decision and exterminated them from the East Coast to the West Coast on a winter season; the journey that we call today the Trail of Tears, because of the death of many during the travel.

A summary comparison of views regarding the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Was it an act of humanitarianism intended to help and save the Native American culture from the white settlers, as Robert V. Remini has argued? Or was his intent to destroy the tribal culture and to get rid of the Native Americans, as Anthony F.C Wallace has argued?

"It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily