In the document of 1835, Jackson maintained that it was through the “... knowledge... gained" of the Indians "...character and habits"(pg.215 VII.) that removal was the best course of action. But it can be argued that this "knowledge" was extremely limited and mainly concerned with violence committed by Indians who resented the white Americans encroachment on their lands. The constant clashes between the two cultures led Jackson to believe that the Indians could "...not live in contact with a civilised society". (pg.214: VII). That the two cultures differed dramatically and the white Americans were blinded by their own intolerance is perhaps epitomised by Lewis Cass, Jackson's Secretary of War who described the Indians as “... less industrious in acquiring and exhibited spectacles as disgusting as they are degrading." (pg.26. XII). There is evidence that the Indians were not uncivilised "savages" as depicted by the white Americans. One British visitor described them as "... a better sort of people than commonly represented; they are hospitable, civil and friendly to an immense degree" (pg.24. I). The different tribes, such as the Sioux, Iroquois, Creeks and Choctaw lived in well adjusted societies, each one as different in language and culture as the European nations. Life among many of these tribes was based on the family, farming or hunting and a spiritual reverence for nature and the beauty of the Earth. As in all societies, perhaps some of the more aggressive tribes would not be able to live peaceably alongside or among the relative newcomers. The Cherokees however demonstrated that if necessary, they could adapt to the ways of the dominant white society, as exemplified by the initiation of Indian schools, crop growing and their own newspaper.(pg.83: VI).
Jackson's claim in the document that the lands "...were ceded to us,”
(pg.214: VII) does not sufficiently explain how the lands were obtained. Violence, intimidation and trickery were employed to procure them and if these methods were not sufficient, President Jackson, interceded personally in order to secure removal.(pg.319: VIII) The Indians realised quickly that if they did not move to the lands determined by the United States Government, they would be annihilated. According to President Jackson, the land provided for the Indians would be "...highly favourable" in terms of "... climate, fertility and capacity to support an Indian population.” One of these areas designated for re-population by the Indians, was explored in 1820 by Major Stephen. H. Long, who described Oklahoma "...as wholly unfit for cultivation and uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture for their subsistence... with a scarcity of wood and water"(pg37: XII)
At the time of Andrew Jackson's removal plan, the White Americans considered themselves extremely generous to the Indians. They did not believe that the area beyond the Mississippi river would ever be populated as it was widely held that the land was untenable for the agricultural based settlements so favoured in the west.(pg.52: XII) Much of the prime agricultural land in the settled west had already been taken by 1835 and the white settlers following the migratory patterns of their forefathers needed to cross Indian lands in order to reach Oregon and California. By crossing the Indian lands, the white settlers and eventually the hunters contributed to the demise of the buffalo and also brought with them transmittable diseases that the Indians had no immunity against. This ultimately led to renewed conflict between the Indians and the whites and Jackson's statement that these lands "...shall be forever secured and guaranteed to" the Indians (pg.215:VII) was just another of many broken promises.
Many Indians were unable to settle in the new lands to the west of the Mississippi river. They longed for their original homelands, to which they eventually returned, only to be punished and sent back to their reservations. Jackson, in his document on Indian Removal seems unable or unwilling to recognise that most of the Indian tribes were linguistically and culturally different. Problems arose with this massive conglomeration of Indian tribes. Many were bitter enemies, whilst others were resentful of the influx of other Indian tribes onto their lands, which were becoming increasingly tenuous as 100,000 new arrivals, drastically altered the already dwindling amount of game that was available. (pg.95: VI). The social unity and coherence that had been a strong feature of the Indian tribes was breaking down. Rival factions within the tribe sought supremacy over others, thus causing even more strain to add to that of the enforced migration and the constant pressures to find non-existent food, whilst fighting off powerful attackers such as the Cheyenne and Sioux.
In the document, President Jackson promises the Indians, goods and services "...furnished gratuitously" (pg.214: VII) that would help them in their new land. The goods promised by Jackson that would supposedly enable the Indians to eventually be admitted to the white man's civilisation, such as farming equipment, spinning wheels, salt and domestic animals were of a very poor quality and slow in forthcoming. They were often stolen by the agents and carriers and together with the annuities received by the Indians for relinquishing their tribal lands were also used as payment for alcohol, which "...ravaged tribe after tribe until the drunken, reprobate Indian became a fixture of American folklore." (pg.55: XII).
President Jackson's policies on Indian Removal as outlined in the document, could not be considered as humanitarian. Jackson typified the era into which he was born and saw the Indian peoples as an obstacle to white American expansionism and the settlement of the west. He saw it as imperative that this obstacle was eliminated. In his last communication to Congress, Jackson "...complimented the states on the removal of "the evil" that had retarded their development." (pg.322; VIII). His policies without doubt contributed to the wealth of the United States of America and transformed the country into a powerful, industrialised nation. But it is the effects that Jacksonian policy-making had on the native American peoples that must surely be subject to closer scrutiny. Without doubt the American Indians suffered almost total annihilation and those that survived were subject to severe depredations. It is little wonder that W.T. Hagan describes such acts "...as approaching the horrors created by the Nazi handling of subject peoples." (pg.87: VI).
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WRITE A COMMENTARY / ANALYSIS ON ANDREW JACKSON'S 1835 DOCUMENT ON INDIAN REMOVAL.
SUBJECT; HISTORY
PT HUMANITIES. YEAR 3.
PATRICK HAGOPIAN.
1603 WORDS.
