Hunger For Indian Land In Andrew Jackson's America Summary

This story of the Seminoles’ struggles for identity and sovereignty is a microcosm of the true horrors inflicted on Indian nations by the federal government. The Seminoles remarkably defied federal, state, and local government pressures of removal in the early nineteenth century. They also disputed Creek insistence on tribal consolidation, and other Indian nation claims to their property. Among the federal tactics were the illegal removals, and treaties that meant little to the federal government when land, as part of Manifest Destiny, and wealth the federal government sought entered the equation. The Seminoles also endured the paternalism, coercion tactics, and pressures from Bureau of Indian Affairs agents who made promises to them that were frequently broken.

In the book Andrew Jackson and his America, many topics were discussed. Some of the topics included Jackson’s political career and his military career. He started out as a lawyer’s apprentice in North Carolina. From there he becomes a lawyer and then a judge. Jackson then later became the first senate in the House of Representatives for the new state, Tennessee.

When Andrew Jackson became president in 1829, the Native American condition worsened. Congress allowed the president to solve the "Indian problem" with the Indian Removal Act of 1830 (O’Neill 11). This act gave President Jackson permission to offer tribes land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their tribal lands east of the Mississippi. Politicians of the day considered this a generous offer, (O’Neil 11) but the Native American population would not surrender their homes so easily. So the federal government used some shady tactics in order to get many tribes to accept the agreement.

President Jackson and Congress disagreed on the Indian Removal Policy, but Jackson went forward with it anyway. The Indians had fought with the people since the original colonization, and the U.S citizens were usually the aggrovators. The U.S had only had a couple of good relationship years, the rest of the time, there was a large amount of tension and small “wars” between the people and Natives. The U.S and Natives had been under tension for multiple years when Jackson declared the Indian Removal policy. The authors perspective towards the Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears helped to shape our current understanding by showing how different people can have different views on a topic.

The government of early America was not kind to people of any color besides white. The president at the time, Andrew Jackson, had spent many years in the army campaigning, taking Native American land and passing it on to white farmers. In the year 1830 he signed for the Indian Removal Act. This allowed the government to exchange Native American land east of the Mississippi for land in the west called "The Indian Colonization Zone. "

Throughout the early 19th century, changing politics and an evolving society in America impacted all classes of people, specifically the white working class. Jacksonian Democratic ideals was influenced by the working class, and the white working class benefited from President Jackson’s decisions. During the year of Jackson’s presidential election, the Workies, which consisted of working men, wanted to protect individuals who earned money from arduous labor, but failed to make payments punctually. Jacksonian Democrats realized the Workies language was valuable in the fact that beliefs of the Workies group echoed through Jackson’s party.

While white settlers were pulled to various regions of America, they pushed other racial groups, forcing them out of their homes and land. The westward expansion was one of the crucial events that changed Native American lives for generations to come. Native people had all of this land, and it was not just one tribe of people; there were a variety of indigenous groups that covered America, but since it was the white American’s right to head west, all of that land previously belonging to Native Americans was stolen from them. Document 10 has a map showing western America, and the land Native Americans had lost over the time of 1850 to 1890. They started out with the entire region, but by the end of the 19th century, they had tiny square miles of land, that barely make up an entire state.

The Indian Removal Act is going to be controversial bill that is going to help President Andrew Jackson complete two things which was pay the national debt of with Indian Land Sales and most importantly move the Native American out of East, especially Georgia, to open new land for eager white settlers. In a letter from Alfred Balch to Andrew Jackson on January 8, 1830, Alfred said that about the possibility of the removal act, “The removal of the Indians would be an act of seeming violence. But it will prove in the end an act of enlarged philanthropy.” He went on to write, “…cannot exist in a state of Independence, in the vicinity of the white man.”

The United States gave the Indians time to move west and those that had not done so by choice were forced. The removal of the Indians was a long going issue for The United States, that no one knew just how to deal with. “Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native

Chapter 4, “ Toward ‘The Stony Mountains’”, focused on Andrew Jackson’s unreasoned hatred and removal of Native American. Many times during the chapter, Takaki shows Jackson’s numerous times in removal of the Indigenous. He came to a conclusion of moving the Natives towards the West. He promised the Native American tribes the district of Mississippi, but a lot of tribes were against this treaty. Prior to Jackson’s presidency, Jefferson sent a letter to Jackson to advise the Native Americans to “sell their ‘useless’ forests”.

Rather than forced Native American to leave their land, The president Jackson and the congress could develop some activities to share the outcome of gold with them. They could find and arrangement which could result to leave them on their land and share the outcomes of the exploitations of the gold and others natural resources.

The government tried to force assimilation on Native Americans as well as an attempt to “kill the indian, save the man.” These ideas and policies are similar to those popular during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. Jackson developed a sense of ‘paternalism’ towards indians and believed he was saving them by forcing them to live out west of the Mississippi river away from white culture. The difference was that Jackson did not believe in assimilation of indians into white culture, he believed they should be kept separate. With the help of the Federal government removing indians from land west of the Mississippi, Americans were

The authors of each article tackle the daunting task of representing the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and president Andrew Jacksons approach, appropriately while also including their own personal opinions. They also must back up their points with fact and reason. Each author has a unique opinion compared to the others, and when read all together, provide a better understanding from multiple sides and sources. The question the authors debate is whether Andrew Jackson was justified in his removal of Native Americans by use of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Was he protecting the safety of the Native Americans by moving them, or was he only progressing the agenda of the white man?

The Long, Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians written by Anthony F.C. Wallace is the story of the Native Americans being forced to move west in America in the 19th century. Wallace begins by introducing the desire for Native American land in the U.S. and ends with the aftermath of the Removal Policy and the legacy that still lives today. The book is organized into four chapters; The Changing Worlds of the Native Americans, The Conflict over Federal Indian Policy, The Removal Act, and The Trail of Tears.

The harsh conditions the Indians underwent “encouraged the emigration of rural laborers from Mexico to the southwestern part of the United States” (New York: American Geographical Society, 1923). Diaz intervention in the administration of justice sided with the indians (162). He was aware that a large majority of territory was taken from the indians and so, made negotiations with corrupt companies which profited off of these lands. Part of this plan was to give the Indians sale on easy payment terms, irrigation, and education (Eder, 35). Indians were part of the rural population, they had their land taken from them and therefore were repressed.