Andrew_Jackson

Andrew Jackson Jackson's harsh treatment of Indians needed backing from the Constitution, or else he would seem like a tyrant. Jackson thought progress was inevitable and the Indian land was needed to bring civilization to those areas. Twelve million whites were more important than a few thousand savages. The main Indians being persecuted were the Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, and the Chickasaws. They lived in the south. Defenders of these tribes said that the policy of white farmers having the right to take the land of the savage was okay as long as they were savage, but these tribes were not savage. They were skilled in the art of white civilization. Many had intermarried with white wives, lived in white man's houses, and had adopted the white man's dress. The Cherokee Nation had built roads, schools, and churches, they had even invented their own written language. Some even owned slaves. They thought that they were protected by rights given to them by treaties with the United States. The state of Georgia refused to recognize any special quality about the Cherokees except that they were red men and the fact that they owned land which the white men wanted. 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. Three years later the Chickasaw joined them. The Creeks were forced off their land in 1836. In the spring of 1838, the Cherokee became the last of the great southeastern nations to leave their eastern lands. While Jackson had accomplished a great goal by reducing the national debt, the people and the progress of Americans suffered too greatly. Money means nothing if it is not put to proper use. More than once did Jackson step over his boundaries when it came to his presidency. There is a difference between Jefferson going behind Congress’ back with the purchase of Louisiana and defying the supreme government as well as the natural rights granted to man. The Cherokee appealed to the Supreme Court, in the case Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled against Georgia, and in the favor of the Native Americans. Jackson ignored the ruling, and did what he wanted to; kick the Native Americans off their land to make room for true, white “Americans”. The Native Americans like the Cherokee lost more than just their land. They lost their homeland, culture, and family. Jackson’s Native American policy is a stain on the nation’s honor. American’s pride themselves on being free and equal, but yet no matter how hard the Cherokee, tried to be white, we could not accept them. If Jackson had accepted the tribal lands, then as the leader of the nation he would have been an example not only of character but also of American pride. Bibliography: