Andrew Jackson's Presidency

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Explain Andrew Jackson's impact on Native Americans' status in America.

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The "Age of Jackson" is the name often used for the period from 1828 to 1848. Andrew Jackson (1767–1845) overcame a humble background and became a lawyer, politician, and judge. Finally, he was president of the US from 1829 to 1837. He rose to national prominence because of his military victories over Native Americans, and he remains notorious for his subsequent treatment of them as president.

The Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1814) helped make Jackson a national figure. Creek warriors, known as Red Sticks, were crushed by Jackson's army. Many Creek women and children were also casualties. Jackson's victory and a later triumph over the British facilitated his ultimate rise to the presidency.

Jackson earned the long-lasting enmity of Indians by his actions in the White House. Georgia wanted to evict the Cherokees from the state. The Cherokees had legal rights which were upheld by the Supreme Court. Jackson showed his contempt for both the Cherokees and the Court, and the Trail of Tears (1838–39) was the ultimate result. The Trail of Tears was the expulsion of over 100,000 Indians to lands west of the Mississippi. About 15,000 Indians died during the ordeal.

The Seminole of Florida refused to give up their land. They chose to fight a long hit-and-run war with the US instead.

Jackson's legacy remains so controversial that many Native Americans are still reluctant to use twenty dollar bills.

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Andrew Jackson's legacy regarding the status of Indians in American society is one of devastation, racism, and death. Known colloquially as the "Indian Killer" and "Sharp Knife" by the Cherokee people, Jackson waged a relentless war against the indigenous populations—one that even predated his presidency.

After being appointed by President Jefferson to appropriate Cherokee and Creek lands, Jackson essentially ordered the extermination of Indian woman and children and stripped the Creeks of 23 million acres of land in Georgia and Alabama in order to make room for settlers and plantation slavery. 

Once he became the president, Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act, which essentially legalized the ethnic cleansing of the Indians. Approximately 46,000 Indians were removed from their land east of the Mississippi by 1837, with 25 million acres of land formerly belonging to Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole people being offered to white settlers and slave owners. This paved the way for the Trail of Tears, which killed 4,000 Cherokee people who were being forced to migrate west. 

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