Andrew Jackson Quotes
It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the states; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the government and through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community …. To save him from this alternative, or perhaps utter annihilation, the general government kindly offers him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his removal and settlement.
Andrew Jackson, 1767-1845, 7th President of the United States (Democrat, TN), Justification for the Indian Removal policies, Speech, December 6, 1830
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The petition was ignored and the Cherokee were “removed” on the infamous Trail of Tears.
In 1830, President Andrew Jackson, institution one of the most unjust, immoral and outrageous policies in all of American history. He ordered that all the Indians of the Southeast, be forcibly evicted from their lands—including those protected by treaties—and at gunpoint marched by the military to the Oklahoma territory, where they were in effect jailed in reservations that were generally far inferior to the lands from which they were forced. No sooner had the ethnic cleasing of the South East been complete, than the whites took the Indian lands without paying the Indian owners at all.
Wayne played so many parts depicting whites in the process of expanding Westward that many people saw him as an expert on the history of the Westward Expansion. He did not comment on the whites who then kept huge ranches “selfishly” for themselves or those who selfishly would not share the mineral rich land that they had taken with anyone including the original Indian owners. So in this view, the Indians should have not been capitalists but they should have been socialists and shared their resources.
Carson was one of the few Indian Agents who spent every penny of his budget on the Indians as opposed to himself. He was married to an Indian woman and was close enough to many Indians that he understood their resentment whenever they came into a town. They were treated terribly and while most of them were literally starving, seeing the white opulence produced resentment.
The White Africaners were attacking the Blacks to force them off their land so the Afrkaners could take over. The country was under British rule and the unarmed Blacks were being slaughtered by the Afrikaners who were British Subjects. Eventually the Boer War set the English against the Afrikaners. See {583902} for a related quotation.
Justification for policy of settling all Indians west of the Mississippi River.
There were a few members of Congress who were distressed at the deception that was very often used in negotiations with Indians. They never were a sufficient majority to pass serious, meaningful legislation.
This law governed the territories outside of the original 13 colonies. The intentions of the founding fathers and the first Congress to the Indians was fair and honorable. However, there was no practical way that the new Federal Government could enforce this principle in the territories. A single greedy land speculator or trader could abuse a group of Indians and start a small war. The vast cultural differences between Indians and whites tended to polarize all violent conflicts regardless of who was at fault. The different perceptions of cruelty and atrocities further pushed the government to defend whites violating national policy and there was sufficient corruption and money to be made on Indian land and trading and things went downhill fast.
Published 100 years after it was written. This is the first known written statement of what became a de facto policy regarding the American Indian.
The Indians did not have the wheel when the whites came, but soon there were wagons, stage coaches and railroads.
The whites had constantly encroached on the Cherokee land which was too large for any reasonable patrolling by the Indians themselves. The Federal government persuaded the Cherokee to sign a treaty by which the Indians would give up their title to the larger part of their land. The most important quid pro quo was that the Federal Government would protect the remainder of the Cherokee land from incursion by whites or even other Indians. However, whites who coveted the land started to encroach and build farms and ranches. The Federal government was reluctant to use American soldiers against American citizens and was looking for a way out. However, the Cherokee chiefs were reminding them of their obligation. The state governments were less concerned about Federal treaties, and Georgia passed a law that said that all the Cherokee land must be governed by State Law contrary to the Treaty which gave the Cherokee total sovereignty. But the Feds were not anxious to have a showdown with the states on this issue. Whites, with the connivance of the state governments and the support of some Federal Officials offered to amend the treaty with the Cherokee. The whites would pay the Indians fair market value for their land in the East. The Federal Government would provide equal amount of land in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma, then a territory. The Feds would assist with the relocation and provide troops to protect the Cherokee from thieves and raiders—whites and Indians, and would guarantee that the Cherokee would be completely sovereign in the new land. The chief’s did not want to renegotiate the old treaty—they just wanted it enforced. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor, but President Jackson, ignored the ruling and forced the Cherokee onto the Trail of Tears for Oklahoma and the whites took over the valuable Cherokee land.
Andrew Jackson was an American lawyer, soldier, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. An expansionist president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union.
