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Andrew Jackson's Economic Policy

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P.2a Cherokee Policy Paper Andrew Jackson was one of the most controversial presidents due to his affiliation with the Trail of Tears and the devastating aftermath that emerged. Nations, like President Jackson and the US, establish their decisions with the basis of social, economic, and political policies. Consequently, Jackson’s contribution to the removal of the Cherokee Indians, an act that has been compared to ethnic cleansing, impacted these three principles. The Jackson Administration’s proposal to remove the Cherokee Tribe west of the Mississippi River resulted in a continuation of the previous social and economic policies, but changed the political policies conducted by the US towards the tribes. The removal of the Cherokees threatened …show more content…

For instance, the aftermath of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, which unfairly seized millions of acres of Native American land, brought upon white expansion,“speculators, farmers, and planters proceeded to take Indian’s land ‘legally,’ while absolving themselves from responsibility for Indian removal”(Towards the Stony Mountain, 91). The use of the treaty enabled the US to extract Native land without feeling guilty because it was done legally. They insist they are not responsible for removal due to the Treaty being passed; nonetheless, this was just another form of Indian removal committed in a misleading approach. Moreover, President Thomas Jefferson’s letter to Andrew Jackson reveals his plan to assimilate the Cherokee into farmers, leading to an agricultural way of life, which would diminish their need for land(Assimilation Doc. 2). Considering the fact that this would have an outcome of boundless vacant land, it is apparent that the US was not disclosing the complete truth behind the proclamation. The results of assimilation demonstrate another method of removing the Natives from their territory, and in a process that was fabricated to fit the government’s best economic interest. On the other hand, removal could be seen as a change in the economic policy because it differs from the goal of assimilation. This proves to be incorrect when understanding that assimilation’s main purpose was to obtain more land for the US, which was also the reasoning behind Jackson’s removal of the Natives. Therefore, the identical US economic policy prevailed due to the country’s ongoing desire to take Native American

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