Second Annual Message - Andrew Jackson (1830)

Thèmes abordés

Second Annual Message 1830, Andrew Jackson, Congress, Five Civilized tribes, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, white settlements, removal of the Indians

Résumé du document

This document is an excerpt from Andrew's Jackson's Second Annual Message, delivered on December 6, 1830 to Congress. Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and dominated American politics between the 1820s and 1830s. The Jackson government sought to remove the Five Civilized tribes - these are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole - west of the Mississippi beyond the reach of white settlements.

Extraits

[...] However, in his argument, the emphasis is definitely placed on the advantages to the white man even though he tries to conceal it. And these advantages would result from the displacement of the Indians tribes. Therefore, the wellbeing of the Indians should not have been evoked to justify the removal. Indeed it was instrumentalized to moralize the removal. After 1830, Indians tribes continued to be moved. The removal was to be based on agreement but as the Cherokees and the Seminoles chose to remain, forced removal followed. [...]

[...] In order to give weight to his ideas, Jackson has taken – as basis for his reasoning – the well-known principle: welfare for the many, not the few. And if on top of that, the few are savages whereas the many are civilized, there is no reason to deprive whites of living on that area. In his second annual message, Jackson exposes all the advantages of the removal of the Indian tribes beyond the white settlements. Not only advantages for the United States but also for the individual States. Not only benefits for the whites but also for the Indians. [...]

[...] Jackson also insists on the superiority of farmer over hunting, giving the image of an American « extensive Republic » (line scattered with cities and towns « embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or industry execute » (line 23). According to Jackson the Indian removal would benefit together the United States, individual States and Indians themselves. He enumerates all the advantages of a « speedy removal » (line 6). Indeed, he starts mentioning the end to any « danger of collision » (line between the United States and individual States Governments. [...]

[...] Andrew Jackson's Second Annual Message (1830) This document is an excerpt from Andrew's Jackson's Second Annual Message, delivered on December to Congress. Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and dominated American politics between the 1820s and 1830s. The Jackson government sought to remove the Five Civilized tribes – these are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole – west of the Mississippi beyond the reach of white settlements. But even before Jackson was in office, his work was instrumental in forcing Indians out of the South. [...]

[...] It would slow down « the process of decay, which is lessening their numbers » (line 18) and finally it could make them « cast off their savage habits » (line 19) and help them to become a « civilized and Christian community » (line 20). But despite his goodwill towards the Indians, one can feel that it goes essentially towards the whites. Jackson rather insists on the advantages of such a removal for the whites. In fact his intentions are carefully disguised. He feels concerned with the white people above all. [...]