Waubonsee Community College

The long, bitter trail, Andrew Jackson and the Indians, Anthony F.C. Wallace ; consulting editor, Eric Foner

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. [129]-132) and index

maps

index present

non fiction

The long, bitter trail

bibliography

26633154

Anthony F.C. Wallace ; consulting editor, Eric Foner

A Critical issue

Andrew Jackson and the Indians

Few issues in our history have proved as shameful as the white man's long conflict with Native Americans. The Indian Removal Act passed by Congress in 1830 was actively fostered by President Andrew Jackson. It called for eastern Indians to relocate west of the Mississippi River to the Oklahoma Territory - an early example of our government's racist policies. Anthony F.C. Wallace deals briefly with Indians of the Northeast, but focuses on the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast - Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, whose ancestral lands were coveted by white settlers to meet exploding domestic and international demands for cotton. Andrew Jackson, Indian fighter and crafty negotiator, is at the book's center. He lived in an age dominated by self-serving moralists and untenable theories of Indians as savage, nomadic hunters who had to be either "civilized" or moved from the white man's path for their own good. The Indian removals in the 1830s over the Trail of Tears that led west culminated in tragedy for the Indians

Introduction: The hunger for Indian land in Andrew Jackson's America -- The changing worlds of the Native Americans -- The conflict over Federal Indian policy -- The removal act -- The trail of tears -- Aftermath: The long shadow of the removal policy -- Appendixes: -- Appendix A. Excerpt from Jackson's message to Congress, December 8, 1829 -- Appendix B. The text of the Removal Act