The Trail of Tears is one of the saddest and cruelest episodes of American history, and it is hard to read the words of our leaders at the time without condemning them as racist. Yet, to learn from our past, we must try to understand how Congress, the President and our nation could allow such atrocities to occur. In this post, I will share the words of President Andrew Jackson in his 1835 State of the Union as he delivered them. My intention is not to gloss over any racism or nefarious attempts to grab land, but to show how Jackson spun the story. Jackson portrayed that the Native American tribes as a lost people who could never be civilized. Perception did not match reality. The Cherokee had developed their own constitution and newspaper, and many had sought U.S. citizenship. Nevertheless, Jackson argued it was in the best interest for all Native American tribes including the Cherokee to be relocated west of the Mississippi where they were free to choose their own way of life.
During Jackson's second term, the tensions between the Cherokee and white settlers was rising in Georgia. The US Supreme Court struck had recently down a Georgia law that would strip the Cherokees of all their land and declared that only the federal government had the power to deal with the Native American tribes. Georgia ignored the ruling and continued to enforce their laws. In response, John Ridge headed a Cherokee delegation that called on Jackson in Washington D.C. Jackson sent Secretary of War Lewis Cass to meet with the delegation and present the President's terms including land west of the Mississippi, relocation assistance and other long term benefits if the Cherokee would agree to give up their land in Georgia. During initial negotiations, the Cherokee under John Ridge and Andrew Ross, the younger brother of Chief John Ross were ready to sign a treaty, but when Secretary Cass urged John Ross to join the negotiations, he denounced his brother's delegation. In October of 1835, the Cherokee General Council rejected the proposed treaty and appointed a new committee including John Ross to go to Washington to negotiate a better one. Among their new stipulations was a request of $5,000,000 in compensation and relocation assistance. With a new treaty, the removal of Indians from the settled lands of the United States could be completed. Jackson now had to convince Congress and the American public to pursue and sign a treaty with the Cherokee and stay on the course of Indian Removal.
Jackson had an opportunity in his State of the Union Address, just 3 weeks before the U.S and Cherokee were to meet in New Echota. Andrew Jackson spun a story like no other President could. He began his address by stating that the relocation of the "aboriginal people" was in the final phases and should not only be continued but done as quickly and vigorously as possible. In Jackson's mind, all attempts to civilize the Indians had failed and it had become painfully obvious that the two races could not live together and prosper. Jackson held the view that the Native Americans, whether because of culture or biology, were not suited to agrarian society and years of trying to change them proved fruitless. It was now the moral duty of the Government of the United States to gather the "scattered remnants of his race" and remove them from within our borders to a palace where they can be preserved and protected if possible. The land out west had already been divided up and allotted to them and most had already been transplanted.
Jackson now had to sell the plan to the people. Here Jackson painted a picture of the treaties that were made and the planned treatment of the Indians as one that was in the spirit of great generosity. The land was the perfect climate, very fertile and more than enough land to support the "Indian population". Jackson argued that they being given more land than they gave up, and would be provided supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition and tools for whatever life style they choose to live. If they chose not to farm, there were "countless herds of buffalo" and miles of prairies for farming. Jackson continued his pitch, the United States would also provide them with funds to build schools, homes, provide for the poor and help men get started in the trades. Everything from steel and iron to salt, plows and framing utensils, domestic animals and looms were all begin provided to them. On top of this annuities were being paid equaling more than $30 for each member of the tribe.
The biggest promise of all though, was that the land would be “forever secured and guaranteed to them." Jackson explained that the Indians would now have exclusive right to the land and could establish their own government with or without the assistance of the United States. Jackson described a "barrier has thus been raised for their protection against the encroachment of our citizens and guarding the Indians as far as possible from those evils which have brought them to their present condition". The evils, I believe Jackson us referring to, is the encroachment of white settlers on their land. In the past, any claims against encroachment or stealing of Indian lands had to go through the "slow process of a legal seizure". Jackson now promised them "summary authority" to handle the cases themselves and destroy any "ardent spirits" who might try to swindle them out of their land. The land was theirs, and Jackson promised that any attempts to take back the land must be absolutely and unconditionally prohibited. Years of "cupidity" or greed of the white man had all but destroyed the Indian, and this must be the first step in their "melioration" or betterment.
Unfortunately, like the herds of buffalo that were exterminated to clear land for commodity farming, so to would the native tribes and their absolute right to the land. Jackson’s promises held little sway, 30 years later when the railroads crossed the continent, but in 1835 these promises were being made and Jackson told Congress that there was still some work to do. Laws were needed to govern the relations between the United States and "these transplanted Indian tribes". Somehow, peace between the two groups must be kept without the constant presence of a physical force between the two. Further legislation was also needed also to help govern the relations between the tribes and allow law and order to triumph over the tomahawk, and peace over the "those bloody wars whose prosecution seems to have made part of their social system.
Here is the full excerpt of Jackson’s 1835 State of the Union address regarding the New Echota Treaty and plans for Indian removal.
"The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its consummation. It was adopted on the most mature consideration of the condition of this race, and ought to be persisted in till the object is accomplished, and prosecuted with as much vigor as a just regard to their circumstances will permit, and as fast as their consent can be obtained. All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact that they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper. Ages of fruitless endeavors have at length brought us to a knowledge of this principle of intercommunication with them. The past we can not recall, but the future we can provide for. Independently of the treaty stipulations into which we have entered with the various tribes for the usufructuary rights they have ceded to us, no one can doubt the moral duty of the Government of the United States to protect and if possible to preserve and perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race which are left within our borders. In the discharge of this duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned for their permanent residence. It has been divided into districts and allotted among them. Many have already removed and others are preparing to go, and with the exception of two small bands living in Ohio and Indiana, not exceeding 1,500 persons, and of the Cherokees, all the tribes on the east side of the Mississippi, and extending from Lake Michigan to Florida, have entered into engagements which will lead to their transplantation.
The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded upon the knowledge we have gained of their character and habits, and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged liberality. A territory exceeding in extent that relinquished has been granted to each tribe. Of its climate, fertility, and capacity to support an Indian population the representations are highly favorable. To these districts the Indians are removed at the expense of the United States, and with certain supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition, and other indispensable articles; they are also furnished gratuitously with provisions for the period of a year after their arrival at their new homes. In that time, from the nature of the country and of the products raised by them, they can subsist themselves by agricultural labor, if they choose to resort to that mode of life; if they do not they are upon the skirts of the great prairies, where countless herds of buffalo roam, and a short time suffices to adapt their own habits to the changes which a change of the animals destined for their food may require. Ample arrangements have also been made for the support of schools; in some instances council houses and churches are to be erected, dwellings constructed for the chiefs, and mills for common use. Funds have been set apart for the maintenance of the poor; the most necessary mechanical arts have been introduced, and blacksmiths, gunsmiths, wheelwrights, millwrights, etc., are supported among them. Steel and iron, and sometimes salt, are purchased for them, and plows and other farming utensils, domestic animals, looms, spinning wheels, cards, etc., are presented to them. And besides these beneficial arrangements, annuities are in all cases paid, amounting in some instances to more than $30 for each individual of the tribe, and in all cases sufficiently great, if justly divided and prudently expended, to enable them, in addition to their own exertions, to live comfortably. And as a stimulus for exertion, it is now provided by law that "in all cases of the appointment of interpreters or other persons employed for the benefit of the Indians a preference shall be given to persons of Indian descent, if such can be found who are properly qualified for the discharge of the duties."
Such are the arrangements for the physical comfort and for the moral improvement of the Indians. The necessary measures for their political advancement and for their separation from our citizens have not been neglected. The pledge of the United States has been given by Congress that the country destined for the residence of this people shall be forever "secured and guaranteed to them." A country west of Missouri and Arkansas has been assigned to them, into which the white settlements are not to be pushed. No political communities can be formed in that extensive region, except those which are established by the Indians themselves or by the United States for them and with their concurrence. A barrier has thus been raised for their protection against the encroachment of our citizens, and guarding the Indians as far as possible from those evils which have brought them to their present condition. Summary authority has been given by law to destroy all ardent spirits found in their country, without waiting the doubtful result and slow process of a legal seizure. I consider the absolute and unconditional interdiction of this article among these people as the first and great step in their melioration. Halfway measures will answer no purpose. These can not successfully contend against the cupidity of the seller and the overpowering appetite of the buyer. And the destructive effects of the traffic are marked in every page of the history of our Indian intercourse.
Some general legislation seems necessary for the regulation of the relations which will exist in this new state of things between the Government and people of the United States and these transplanted Indian tribes, and for the establishment among the latter, and with their own consent, of some principles of intercommunication which their juxtaposition will call for; that moral may be substituted for physical force, the authority of a few and simple laws for the tomahawk, and that an end may be put to those bloody wars whose prosecution seems to have made part of their social system.
After the further details of this arrangement are completed, with a very general supervision over them, they ought to be left to the progress of events. These, I indulge the hope, will secure their prosperity and improvement, and a large portion of the moral debt we owe them will then be paid."
Three weeks later, about 500 Cherokee Indians met with U.S. Government officials at New Echota, Georgia, and signed a treaty for the relocation of their 16,000-member tribe to lands west of the Mississippi. When officials of the Cherokee National Party representing the large majority of the Cherokee heard the news, they begged the U.S. Senate not to ratify it. They argued that it was not negotiated by legal representatives of the Cherokee, but the Senate ratified the treaty anyways. The deadline for removal was set for May 23, 1838 and the fate of the Cherokee was cast. Chief Ross, then drew up a petition with almost 16,000 signatures and personally delivered it to Congress in the Spring of 1838 as the deadline approached, but Congress failed to act and President Martin Van Buren ignored it. Van Buren directed General Winfield Scott to forcibly remove all Cherokee that had not yet complied with the treaty. It was the last and deadliest march along the Trail of Tears with approximately 4,000 Cherokees died in the forced emigration to Oklahoma.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. 2020. Seventh Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: <https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/seventh-annual-message-2> [Accessed 4 December 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Trail Of Tears. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears> [Accessed 4 December 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Treaty Of New Echota. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_New_Echota> [Accessed 4 December 2020].
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