Jacksonian expansion

Jackson had a history of working to establish and extend United States territory. He fought in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and was both criticized and lauded for his leadership in what is known as the “First Seminole War” (1817-1818) in Florida against both the Seminole Native American group and the Spanish colonial presence. Before Jackson became president, he also served as Senator of Tennessee and as a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court. As soon as he assumed presidential office, he began implementing policies that opposed Native American nations’ sovereignty. In 1830, President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. This act granted Jackson power to negotiate treaties with Native American groups who lived east of the Mississippi River, in attempts to force relocation to an area west of the river that is now the state of Oklahoma. For a map of the United States and its territories particularly in 1830, see: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/TERRITORY/1830map.html. Under Jackson, the federal government began drawing treaties and offering resettlement costs to all Native American groups east of the Mississippi, and resorted to force if these methods were unsuccessful.

One contested region was the land of the Cherokee nation; in 1827, Cherokee leaders developed a constitution that declared independence from the United States, except for any economic or political connections that were mutually agreed upon. The state of Georgia, which possessed the land surrounding the Cherokee nation, claimed its right to the land and wanted to incorporate Cherokee people under Georgia laws. The U.S. Supreme Court heard this question twice. In 1832 the Court asserted Georgia’s claim unconstitutional, stating that the federal government had authority over states to decide about treaties. Jackson refused to enforce the Supreme Court ruling that Georgia’s claim on the land was unconstitutional. For a detailed consideration of these questions as they were reported on and written about in the Cherokee Phoenix, a newspaper of the 1820s, please consult http://ngeorgia.com/history/phoenix.html.

While many supported Indian removal policies, some made their dissent clear. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one such voice of disapproval of the government’s dealings with the Cherokee nation. He wrote to then president Martin Van Buren in April 1838:

You, sir, will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy, and the name of the nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion and liberty, will stink to the world. (qtd. in Van Every 236-7)

President Martin Van Buren, who took office in 1838, ignored such protest and followed Jackson’s policy in promoting Native American relocation efforts. That year, the Cherokee nation was forced to abandon their land. The section titled “Trail of tears” details the forced migration of the Cherokee nation. (BH)

For information on the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and its importance to the history of aboriginal title, go here.  In general the Indigenous Foundations website at UBC has excellent resources for thinking about the fraught, ongoing history of settler-indigenous relations in North America.

Works Consulted:

McLoughlin, William G. After the Trail of Tears: the Cherokees’ Struggle for Sovereignty, 1839-1880. Chapel Hill:U North Carolina P, 1993.

PBS (Public Broadcasting Service). “People and Events: Indian Removal, 1814-1858.” Accessed 12 November, 2005. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html.

Van Every, Dale. Disinherited. NY: William Morrow, 1966