Indian removal has been on-going throughout history ever since the start of European colonization of the Americas. It became more relevant when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801. He had two main goals, which is to bind Indigenous Nations to the United States through treaties, and to encourage Native Americans to become more civilized by adopting European way of life or in other words assimilation. The overall plan was to drive the Native Americans into debt, forcing them to sell their land and move. Then came Andrew Jackson, who was a forceful proponent of Indian removal. Jackson had a series of strategies to remove Native Americans from their native land. Some tribes agree and some rebelled against his actions.According to the Indian removal overview article, there were five native nations in the southeast who resist forced removal. The Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations. Jacksons first attempt were to make treaties for an exchange of the natives land and to allow the tribes to have the ability to migrate west. As a result, only a few actually migrated west and most stayed. The five tribes eventually tried to assimilate themselves, so that they could coexist with the settlers. This backfired and only make the settlers resentful. In 1817 the First Seminole War started, along side them were fugitive slaves. In 1827 the Cherokee declared themselves to be a sovereign nation. Unfortunately, with Jackson fed-up, the Indian Removal Act was signed in 1830.With this weeks textbook chapter, Jacksons White Republic, it basically talks about what president Andrew Jackson has done to remove Native Americans from their homeland, which is similar to the Indian removal overview article. A quote that I found particularly interesting is on page 103, when the author states that, Democracy, equality, and equal rights do not fit well with dominance of one race by another.�
� This quotes stands out because throughout the history of the United States, democracy, equality, and equal rights never existed for the most. The beginnings were all about total control and domination of land and people who are inferior to the white settlers.Andrew Jackson had two speeches that stands out throughout his presidency, his first inaugural address and his second annual message. Both speeches had the same intended audience which was to the citizens, and both gave a warning to the Native Americans. Although not direct to the natives, Jackson inaugural address tells the citizens that the country is worth defending in regards to the rights of people, rights of property, and liberty of conscience and of the press. This means that if there a threat than it will be taken care of. His second annual message is more direct to the natives. It is basically a conclusion to what Jackson has done when dealing with the Native Americans that agreed and disagreed. Overall tone for the two speeches is professional and direct.The tone professional and direct didnt follow along when he wrote a letter to the Cherokee Tribe in 1835. In the beginning, he says he feels envy to the Cherokee for not leaving their land, but then he gets more aggressive later on throughout the letter. The aggressiveness leads the Cherokees to have no choice in what to do, due to Jackson declaring the use of force if they dont leave. At the end he signed as Your friend, as if that would make the tribe second guess themselves.Overall this weeks material was informative of the time of Andrew Jacksons presidency. His presidency is important due to the fact that it is a major point in Native American history. This weeks material builds off of last week materials due to the correlations of how settlers reacted to the Native Americans tribes in the start of colonization till what Andrew Jackson has done in his presidency.