Andrew Jackson Considered As A National Indian Killer

Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States, cultivated relationships with Native Americans very early on in his life. While growing up in the backyard of South Carolina, Jackson had logged extensive interactions with the neighboring Waxhaw community where he encountered both friendly and not so friendly Indians. Many historians and people who know enough about Jackson usually depicted him of being an aggressive Indian fighter, trapping them in dessert lands east of the Mississippi. Jackson in all fairness was concerned more with the stability and security of the Union and sought to protect and strengthen areas of the Union that were deemed weak. The childish view of Jackson being remembered as a National Indian killer is just unacceptable.

His concerns of keeping the nation safe might have been his overriding attitude, because he was a military man, but what is overlooked is what some define nation to be. Jackson wanted to protect and strength of the Nation and all of its inhabitants, including Indians and whites alike. He also believed in protecting both Indians and whites from one another too, even if it meant serving out justice to the white man. Andrew Jackson at times seemed like he had it out for Native Americans, especially as a young man in the military when he gained a huge amount of national notoriety for his military leadership in wars against Indians like the War of the Creeks in 1813-1814, but Jackson should not, in any light, be remembered of ever having any anti-Indian attitudes (he hated the British). Jackson should have gone down in history as one of the great fighters and saviors for Native

In today’s perspective we see Jackson action as inhumane and selfish for only simply satisfy his own need to manifest further into North America. Jackson on the other hand saw the removal act as preserving the culture of the Indians. The Indian problem was way more complex that just simply removing all of the Indians and shoving them westward. Jackson had a four solutions to choose from and believe it or not, the removal and relocation of the Indians was the most just. The first solution was just too simply destroy all of the Indians. Whether in war, spread of dieses, shortage of food, etc. The second option called to rapidly assimilate Indians into the white society, which sounds great, except for the fact that Indians do not want to assimilate into the white culture. The third option was a combination of the first two, calling for the destruction of all Indians who were not capable of assimilating in white society. The fourth and final selection called for the removal of Indians. Jackson saw this solution best fit because neither adequate protection nor assimilation was achievable. It seemed reasonable to him if the Indians were away from the presences of white settlers, they would be able to determine their own path to becoming more civilized or preserve their culture in the area given to them away from opposing views. To ease the removal process Jackson proposed that the government would pay the costs