The Jacksonian ERA After losing the election of 1824 to president John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson returned in the next election of 1828. Jackson defeated Adams and became the seventh president of the United States. Andrew Jackson gained popularity from his role in the war of 1812. He quickly became a leader in the new Democratic Party. During his presidency he supported slavery and states’ rights. He fought against the National Bank and opposed the form of currency currently in place. However, what is remembered most for was his part in relocating the Native Americans in what was named the “Indian Removal Act”. Andrew Jackson served in office only two terms and did not seek a third. Vice president Martin Van Buren became the eight president …show more content…
This was because most of his family had been lost in the War of 1812, where Natives were allies with Brittan. The Washington government in the 1790’s, policy in the United States was mainly used to give Indians their rights, this was violated by Jackson soon after he was elected president. Andrew Jackson, who was in favor of Western expansion, forced Indians to move from their homeland. From the beginning of the United States’ government, Indian tribes were given rights to be treated as nations, and their rights had to be respected by the Constitution. For example, Henry Knox, Secretary of War in 1789, wrote to President George Washington that, “The Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest in case of a just war” (Document B). Which means that the Native Americans were protected of their rights of staying on American land, since they were the first to be on the land, and they could only be removed if they agreed or lost by war. However, the US government would trick Native American Tribes to agree to unfair treaties and this would be major mistakes that were being made, because it was still unfair to them, but was constitutional since they were willing to agree to these treaties. Soon after Andrew Jackson, achieved his political goals of expanding into the west. In his First Annual Message to Congress on 1829, Andrew Jackson agreed that “It has long been the policy of Government to introduce among them the arts of civilization” (Document O). He also hinted the forced removal of Indians by saying that the US government “at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase their lands and thrust them farther into the wilderness” (Document O). By the end of the Message, he showed his determination of expansion by forcing the Indians to move west of the Mississippi river, and into the
Jackson presidency was marked as a new era in Indian-Anglo American relations by imitating a policy of Indian removal. Before the removal, he made about 70 treaties with Native American tribes both in the South and the Northwest. His First Annual Message to Congress and some others begins in December of 1829, which contained remarks on the present and future state of American Indians in the United States. He argued that it was for the Indians own well, that they should be resettled on the vacant lands west of the Mississippi River. During the time in Congress, debates on a bill didn’t begin until late February 1830.
Jackson’s plans of removal were favored by many Americans as he convinced them that it was practical and for the better good of Native Americans. Jackson stated that he had given them many incentives to leave. Native Americans would be provided with ample supplies and supported for a year after their move to western lands. Jackson believed that this was a practical resolution to the issues developing between the two nations. Jackson acknowledged that the intrusion of Americans onto western land was occurring, but he did not believe that it was a genuine problem.
He believed it would benefit the Indians greatly. The Indians asked him for help considering the treaties they had made. In Document 2, President Andrew Jackson addressed the concerns,” I informed the Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt would not be [accepted] by me, and advised them to emigrate beyond the MIssissippi River. . . .” Jackson
Although this treaty explicitly stated the Indians’ rights to land, history- and even the Act itself- proved that Americans followed it very loosely, if at all. The Trade and Intercourse Act seemed to dampen the consequences of violating Indian land rights since it included the phrase, “not exceeding,” when referring to the jail- time and fees that any invasive Americans had to pay. 3. Andrew Jackson proposed moving the Indians because he wanted to end the tensions between the Federal and State Governments concerning Natives, to condense the Indian population in a single expanse of land, to open the area between Tennessee and Louisiana to the whites, and to prevent Indian and American conflicts. In the second paragraph of his Message to Congress in1829, Jackson said that the United States should move the Indians because it would put “an end to all possible danger of collisions between the authorities of the General and State Governments on account of the Indians.”
This is undemocratic because they had the right as a sovereign nation to their own property Before the Trail of Tears, the Native Americans were “[taken] to enormous stockades built for [them] out in the open, which were growing very cold as November arrived. [The Native Americans] had only the clothes on [their] backs when captured, and the prison camps offered no barrier to the biting elements other than their perimeter walls and [their] own bodies (13 Dwyer). They were treated as vermin, given very little and no care shown as to whether or not they would die. Jackson is shown to be very undemocratic because he did not take into account that these are living people. He instead, acted as though they were nothing but a problem to be dealt with in his eyes.
Him getting the Indian Removal Act of 1830 passed through congress was a major historical event especially in Native Americans books. Andrew Jackson was faced with tough decisions through all the ashes and dust he made some great decisions also some bad ones he was in my book a Hall of Fame president.
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. "
When Andrew Jackson stated that the the manifest destiny was a right to the citizens of America he created the national thought on whether or not to take the land that rightfully belonged to the indians. Even when he was talking about the manifest destiny, he called the indians uncivilized and savages. That sentence was untrue, The Indian wanted peace not war. One of their strategies were to adopt american
Is Andrew Jackson a hero or a villain? Throughout history Jackson has been viewed as both. Some see him as a war hero and the people’s president. Others see him as a racist and a political tyrant. To me, Andrew Jackson is more of a hero.
And In 1830 he signed off on the Indian Removal Act. Which was the act to exchange Native American Land for Land out west. But this act was only stating that they would negotiate with the Native Americans. They could not move them by force or persuasion. But Andrew Jackson and his government did not listen to these rules and frequently bypassed the law by forcing Native Americans to move from the land the Native Americans had lived on long before the Americans.
Andrew Jackson during his time was considered a very patriotic politician he hated the rich, he hated the Indian, and loved the idea of slavery. It has been said that he grew up not educated and had a bad up bring but still managed to get to a high political suture. Jackson at one point was general and had a very decorated portfolio, which made sense he would become president, Andrew was most well know for “The Battle of New Orleans” where Andrew Jackson, prevented the British Army and General Edward Pakenham, from seizing New Orleans nearing the end of that war.
No living human is either entirely virtuous or wholeheartedly evil. Sometimes it can seem that way, but that’s because most of the time individuals hear want to hear what they want to hear. This concept is entirely true in regard to Andrew Jackson, who people can see as a heroic American war hero who came from nothing and stood by his beliefs or the complete opposite. People could also perceive him as an evil, tyrannical leader who forced thousands of Native Americans out of their homes. I believe Andrew Jackson was not a hero but a villain because of the way he treated Native Americans, the actions he took during his presidency, and the fact he was a slave-owner.
Andrew Jackson has been remembered as a ground breaking president, even being put on the $20. President Jackson was a controversial figure, doing many popular and unpopular things in his time. Although he is remembered as a hero from the war of 1812, he also caused the Trail of Tears and tried to destroy the National Bank. As a result, Jackson should not be put on the $20 bill. His actions have caused many misfortune showing that villains do exist.
Jackson planned on moving Native Americans west of the Mississippi River, to maintain the land many Native Americans called home. At first, Jackson proposed treaties to the Native Americans hoping for them to sign so he could deviously take their land. One of Jackson’s known tactics is lying, which he happened to do in this case, where he promised Native Americans that by moving west the were insuring a safe future. Conclusively, the Native Americans refused to sign the treaty as stated in Andrew Jackson and the Constitution, “Ultimately, he forcibly removed a number of tribes, most notoriously the Cherokee, from their homes.” (gilderlehrman.org) Numerous amounts of Native Americans were killed from their removal, this incident was known as the Trail of Tears.
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