Historical Lab: Historical ChoiceAndrew Jackson

Historical Context:

As Southerners sought to expand the cultivation of cotton in the early nineteenth century, they began to move west into the lands of the Cherokee, Creek, Chocktaw, Chickasaw and Seminole nations. They urged the federal government to push the Native Americans from these areas and make them available for white settlement. Andrew Jackson, first as a military commander and then as president, played a central role in the policy that was referred to as Indian Removal.

President Jackson had a complicated relationship with American Indians. On one hand, he fought against them during the Creek Wars associated with the War of 1812, ultimately forcing the Creeks from 22 million acres of land in Georgia and Alabama. In 1818, he led an invasion of Florida to punish the Seminole nation for assisting runaway slaves. And, of the eleven major treaties signed between 1814and 1824, Jackson negotiated nine of them. No other American was so instrumental to Indian Removal. On the other hand, in 1813, Jackson adopted a Native American boy found orphaned on a battlefield and raised him as his son. Moreover, despite aggressively pursuing Indian Removal, he talked about –and perhaps believed in – a “benevolent” policy toward Indians.

Whatever ambivalence he harbored toward Native Americans, however, Jackson as president engineered the systematic forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. In 1830, he urged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act, which authorized the federal government to grant Native Americans lands west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands east of the river. Native nations were offered assistance during their relocation and promised the eternal protection of theUnited State government in their new homes, and, realizing the futility of resistance, some Indian nations accepted the offer.

The Cherokee, however, refused to leave. Conflicting Supreme Court rulings in 1831 and 1832 muddled the issue of the sovereignty of Indian nations, first declaring that they were dependent nations within United States jurisdiction and then declaring them sovereign. President Jackson ignored the second ruling and negotiated a treaty for Cherokee removal with a chief representing a small fraction of the nation. Despite efforts to resist, 15,000 to 16,000 members of the Cherokee tribe were forced by the military to relocate west of the Mississippi during the fall and winter of 1838-1839. During the forced march, this came to be

known as “the Trail of Tears,” over 3,000 Cherokee died. By the 1840s, Jackson’s policy of Indian Removal could be declared complete: No Indian nations existed in the American South.

Historical Lab Instructions: Your group will be analyzing six sources regarding Andrew Jackson and the removal of Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi River. Each member of the group will examine/read one of the sources and analyze their perspective and the value of their words. After you have completed examining your source you will engage in a group discussion about all of the sources. During this discussion you will need to develop an opinion about the Andrew Jackson’s intentions when removing the Native Americans west of Mississippi. You will then be asked to illustrate an answer and defend your answer with a short writing prompt.

Lab Procedures: 1. Each member will read the source they will assign. 2. While reading they will attempt to answer the “Task Question.” (See Below)3. Once every group member has finished their analysis a large group

discussion will ensue about the “Task Question” and the “Essential Questions.”

4. After Discussion is complete the group will create a pictorial representation of their opinion and a one paragraph explanation defending the choices they made in the picture.

5. After each group has completed their picture there will be a large group discussion and a sharing of the pictures.

Task Question: Your goal is to be able to answer the following questions, by examining the documents attached.

Was Andrew Jackson an oppressor or protector of American Indians?

Essential Questions: These will be large group discussion questions please make sure you and your group can discuss each question effectively.

When investigating history what value do you place on words and actions?

When evaluating history, how do we evaluate words, actions, and results? How to we judge events in the history, while living in the 21st century?

Assessment: Andrew Jackson decision to relocate Native Americans ultimately harmed them, but did Jackson intend the end result from the beginning? Was Indian relocation a “Truth” or his “Tale?” His “Tale” means that we wanted to appear like he was heling Indians, but his real goal was to benefit Americans. You will be asked to pictorially present your conclusion about the task question “was Andre Jackson an oppressor or protector of American Indians?

Please see the illustration table handout for further directions on the lab assessment.

Image Analysis Chart:

The Great White Father

1. What can you infer based on the image?

2. What claims does the author/artist make?

3. What evidence does the author/artist use to support his claims?

4. What feelings does the author/artist try to involve?

Hunting Indians in Florida with Blood Hounds

1. What can you infer based on the image?

2. What claims does the author/artist make?

3. What evidence does the author/artist use to support his claims?

4. What feelings does the author/artist try to involve?

5. What information does the author/artist leave out? Which perspectives are missing?

5. What information does the author/artist leave out? Which perspectives are missing?

What similarities and differences can you identify in the image?

Source A: Indian Removal Act (1830)

Historical Context: At Jackson’s request, Congress began crafting and debating a bill about Indian removal to western territories. The bill was controversial and divisive. It passed the Senate on a vote of 28 to 19 and House 102 to 97. Congress passed the bill on May 28th, 1830.

CHAP. CXL.VIII-An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause…any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi, not included in any state or organized territory, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, as he may judge necessary, to be divided into a suitable(acceptable) number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside for [the land west of the Mississippi].. .SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the President to exchange any or all of such districts, so to be laid off and described, with any tribe or nation within the limits of any of the states or territories, and with which the United States have existing treaties, for the whole or any part or portion of the territory claimed and occupied by such tribe or nation, within the bounds of any one or more of the states or territories, where the land claimed and occupied by the Indians, is owned by the United States, or the United States are bound to the state within which it lies to extinguish the Indian claim thereto . . .

Source B- Andrew Jackson’s 2nd Annual Address to Congress (1829)

Historical Context: Andrew Jackson’s Second Annual message was delivered on December 6th 1830, six months after the Indian Removal Act was passed. He informs them of his progress with the removal plan, stating that is moving ahead smoothly and explaining how it benefits everyone involved. The Native American tribes he was speaking about were the Cherokees, one of the "Five Civilized Tribes" in the southeast, and like all other tribes existing east of the Mississippi River, their removal was essential to Jackson's plan.

It gives me pleasure to announce that the benevolent [kind] policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation [completion]. Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages.

The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves. The pecuniary [financial] advantages which it promises to the Government are the least of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the General [federal] and State Governments on account of the Indians. It will place a dense and civilized population in large tracts of the country now occupied by a few savage hunters. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on the north and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites it will incalculably [vastly] strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the adjacent States strong enough to repel [fend off] future invasions without remote aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power. 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 [slow]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 and interesting, civilized, and Christian community.

Source C- Andrew Jackson as the Great FatherHistorical Context: This political cartoon was published in 1835, five years after the passage of the Indian Removal Act. In this cartoon, the artist is portraying Andrew Jackson as a father to the Native American tribes.

Source: Andrew Jackson as the Great Father. 1835. Native American History at the Clements Library. William L. Clements Library. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Accessed 8/22/14.

Source D- Hunting Indians in Florida with Blood Hounds

Historical Context: This is a picture dramatizing the brutal tactics employed by Zachary Taylor as commander of U.S. forces against the Seminole Indians during the Second Seminole War (1835-42). Taylor, on horseback at right, presides over a scene of devastation and carnage. Soldiers aided by bloodhounds relentlessly pursue retreating Seminoles, including a multitude of women and children who flee in panic to the left. A wounded dog lies on the ground in the lower right, while another lunges at the throat of a Seminole brave who shields a woman and child at left. A village burns in the distance In the center an officer standing with his back to the viewer points out the slaughter to Taylor, who exclaims, "Hurra! Captain, we've got them at last, the dogs are at them--now forward with the Rifle and Bayonet and "give them Hell Brave Boys", let not a red nigger escape-, show no mercy-, exterminate them, -this day we'll close the Florida War, and write its history in the blood of the Seminole--but remember Captn., as I have written to our Government to say that the dogs are intended to ferret out the Indians, (not to worry them) for the sake of consistency and the appearance of Humanity, you will appear not to notice the devastation they commit.” These actions were a direct result of the Indian Removal Act that had been passed in Congress in 1830.

Source: Ballie, James. Hunting Indians in Florida with Blood Hounds (Lithograph on woven paper), 1848

Source E: Letter by Elias Boudinot

Historical Context: Cherokee leader and newspaper editor Elias Boudinot was born circa 1803 in an area between present Rome and Calhoun, Georgia. He was the child of Oowatie and his wife Susannah and had the given name of Galagina (The Buck) Oowatie. During his education at schools operated by missionaries, he met and took the name of a supporter of their work, Elias Boudinot. Soon after completing his schooling, he became editor of the Cherokee Phoenix. This newspaper under his editorship was influential because it had a nationwide circulation, and in it the Cherokee defended their right to remain in their eastern homeland against the efforts of the federal and state governments to remove them to the West.

The following letter was written in 1837 by Elias Boudinot, a Cherokee who supported Indian Removal (and who signed the Treaty of New Echota that gave away Cherokee land). The letter is to Chief John Ross, leader of the Cherokees who opposed Indian Removal.

...I consider my countrymen, not as mere animals, and to judge of their happiness by their condition as such, which to be sure is bad enough, but as moral beings, to be affected for better or for worse, by moral circumstances, I say their condition is wretched. Look, my dear sir, around you, and see the progress that vice and immorality have already made!...

If the dark picture which I have drawn here is a true one, and no candid person will say it is an exaggerated one, can we see a brighter prospect ahead? In another country, and under other circumstances, there is a better prospect. Removal, then, is the only remedy--the only practicable remedy. By it there may be finally a renovation--our people may rise from their very ashes to become prosperous and happy, and a credit to our race....I would say to my countrymen, you among the rest, fly from the moral pestilence that will finally destroy our nation.

What is the prospect in reference to your [John Ross's] plan of relief, if you are understood at all to have any plan? It is dark and gloomy beyond description. Subject the Cherokees to the laws of the States in their present condition? It matters not how favorable those laws may be, instead of remedying the evil you would only rivet the chains and fasten the manacles of their servitude and degradation. The final destiny of our race, under such circumstances, is too revolting to think of. Its course must be downward, until it finally becomes extinct or is merged in another race, more ignoble and more detested. Take my word for it, it is the sure consummation, if you succeed in preventing the removal of your people. The time will come when there will be only here and there those who can be called upon to sign a protest, or to vote against a treaty for their removal--when the few remnants of our once happy and improving nation will be viewed by posterity with curious and gazing interest, as relics of a brave and

noble race. Are our people destined to such a catastrophe? Are we to run the race of all our brethren who have gone before us, and of whom hardly any thing is known but their name and perhaps only here and there a solitary being, walking, "as a ghost over the ashes of his fathers," to remind a stranger that such a race once existed? May God preserve us from such a destiny.

I have the honor to be, Sir,Your obedient and humble servant,

E. BOUDINOT.

Source F: Samuel Cloud

Historical Context: Samuel Cloud turned 9 years old on the Trail of Tears. Samuel's Memory is told by his great-great grandson, Michael Rutledge, in his paper Forgiveness in the Age of Forgetfulness. Michael, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is a law student at Arizona State University.

It is Spring. The leaves are on the trees. I am playing with my friends when white men in uniforms ride up to our home. My mother calls me. I can tell by her voice that something is wrong. Some of the men ride off. My mother tells me to gather my things, but the men don't allow us time to get anything. They enter our home and begin knocking over pottery and looking into everything. My mother and I are taken by several men to where their horses are and are held there at gun point. The men who rode off return with my father, Elijah. They have taken his rifle and he is walking toward us.

I can feel his anger and frustration. There is nothing he can do. From my mother I feel fear. I am filled with fear, too. What is going on? I was just playing, but now my family and my friends' families are gathered together and told to walk at the point of a bayonet.

We walk a long ways. My mother does not let me get far from her. My father is walking by the other men, talking in low, angry tones. The soldiers look weary, as though they'd rather be anywhere else but here.

They lead us to a stockade. They herd us into this pen like we are cattle. No one was given time to gather any possessions. The nights are still cold in the mountains and we do not have enough blankets to go around. My mother holds me at night to keep me warm. That is the only time I feel safe. I feel her pull me to her tightly. I feel her warm breath in my hair. I feel her softness as I fall asleep at night.

As the days pass, more and more of our people are herded into the stockade. I see other members of my clan. We children try to play, but the elders around us are anxious and we do not know what to think. I often sit and watch the others around me. I observe the guards. I try not to think about my hunger. I am cold.

Several months have passed and still we are in the stockades. My father looks tired. He talks with the other men, but no one seems to know what to do or what is going to happen. We hear that white men have moved into our homes and are farming our fields. What will happen to us? We are to march west to join the Western Cherokees. I don't want to leave these mountains.

My mother, my aunts and uncles take me aside one day. "Your father died last night," they tell me. My mother and my father's clan members are crying, but I do not understand what this means. I saw him yesterday. He was sick, but still alive. It doesn't seem real. Nothing seems real. I don't know what any of this means. It seems like yesterday, I was playing with my friends.

It is now Fall. It seems like forever since I was clean. The stockade is nothing but mud. In the morning it is stiff with frost. By mid-afternoon, it is soft and we are all covered in it. The soldiers suddenly tell us we are to follow them. We are led out of the stockade. The guards all have guns and are watching us closely. We walk. My mother keeps me close to her. I am allowed to walk with my uncle or an aunt, occasionally.

We walk across the frozen earth. Nothing seems right anymore. The cold seeps through my clothes. I wish I had my blanket. I remember last winter I had a blanket, when I was warm. I don't feel like I'll ever be warm again. I remember my father's smile. It seems like so long ago.

We walked for many days. I don't know how long it has been since we left our home, but the mountains are

behind us. Each day, we start walking a little later. They bury the dead in shallow graves, because the ground is frozen. As we walk past white towns, the whites come out to watch us pass. No words are spoken to them. No words are said to us. Still, I wish they would stop staring. I wish it were them walking in this misery and I were watching them. It is because of them that we are walking. I don't understand why, but I know that much. They made us leave our homes. They made us walk to this new place we are heading in the middle of winter. I do not like these people. Still, they stare at me as I walk past.

We come to a big river, bigger than I have ever seen before. It is flowing with ice. The soldiers are not happy. We set up camp and wait. We are all cold and the snow and ice seem to hound us, claiming our people one by one. North is the color of blue, defeat and trouble. From there a chill wind blows for us as we wait by a frozen river. We wait to die.

My mother is coughing now. She looks worn. Her hands and face are burning hot. My aunts and uncles try to take care of me, so she can get better. I don't want to leave her alone. I just want to sit with her. I want her to stroke my hair, like she used to do. My aunts try to get me to sleep by them, but at night, I creep to her side. She coughs and it wracks her whole body. When she feels me by her side, she opens her blanket and lets me in. I nestle against her feverish body. I can make it another day, I know, because she is here.

When I went to sleep last night, my mother was hot and coughing worse than usual. When I woke up, she was cold. I tried to wake her up, but she lay there. The soft warmth she once was, she is no more. I kept touching her, as hot tears stream down my face. She couldn't leave me. She wouldn't leave me.

I hear myself call her name, softly, then louder. She does not answer. My aunt and uncle come over to me to see what is wrong. My aunt looks at my mother. My uncle pulls me from her. My aunt begins to wail. I will never forget that wail. I did not understand when my father died. My mother's death I do not understand, but I suddenly know that I am alone. My clan will take care of me, but I will be forever denied her warmth, the soft fingers in my hair, her gentle breath as we slept. I am alone. I want to cry. I want to scream in rage. I can do nothing.

We bury her in a shallow grave by the road. I will never forget that lonesome hill of stone that is her final bed, as it fades from my sight. I tread softly by my uncle, my hand in his. I walk with my head turned, watching that small hill as it fades from my sight. The soldiers make us continue walking. My uncle talks to me, trying to comfort me. I walk in loneliness.

I know what it is to hate. I hate those white soldiers who took us from our home. I hate the soldiers who make us keep walking through the snow and ice toward this new home that none of us ever wanted. I hate the people who killed my father and mother.

I hate the white people who lined the roads in their woolen clothes that kept them warm, watching us pass. None of those white people are here to say they are sorry that I am alone. None of them care about me or my people. All they ever saw was the color of our skin. All I see is the color of theirs and I hate them.