Andre Jackson was the seventh president of the United States of America. Following his biography, he was orphaned at a tender age of fifteen and had his life to live without the care of parents. According to Remini, Jackson could not have existed if not for the Native Americans, but his life was connected to the Indians. It is evident that he fought alongside the Indians and on other cases he fought them (Remini 14). He was the key negotiator of the Indian lands and contributed in advising negotiators how to get the land from the Indians. Jackson had two choices to make, he could encourage the Indians to change their characters to be like the whites or push them away from their land but the later was favorable to him. Most of Jackson’s enemies compared him to them because the Indians shaped him, but he contributed in removing them from their land.
The white settlers started to move to the Southern Appalachians in large numbers colliding with the Indians and the five nations of Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws and Seminole. As the settlers pushed the Indians also pushed back resulting to both sides committing atrocities. The two parties engaged in signing duties to govern their relationships, but the treaties could not last. The Indians could not resist to the pressure and decide to give in to the demands of the white settlers through selling off their land.
As a military man Jackson was in the middle of the conflict between the white settlers and the Indians. Jackson is seen as a man of different calibers through becoming the great Tennessee Indian Fighter and later become a major general in the U.S. Army leading in the campaign of breaking the Creeks. He kept on rising ranks and became the major person in the negotiations that resulted to land swaps. The Naïve Americans were looking at him from different perspectives as a helper and sometimes as someone fighting against them. As a president, he signed the Indian Removal Act that led to the relocation of a large number of Indians from their homes giving room to the white settlers. During his reign in the White House, more than 45,000 Indians were relocated to the western part of the Mississippi (Remini 36).
Jackson signed the Indian removal act to relocate the Indian tribes from their native land. Jackson saw the removal policy as the best method to use to protect the cultures of the Indian tribes. He knew that if the Indians remains near to the white settlers they could have faced major problems such as increased slavery towards the Indians. The discriminations could lead to wars and violence resulting to a weakened economy, killings, complicated politics, and annihilations of the tribes from the eastern part. Although Jackson could see the support for removal as the best method, Remini contends; it was a result of his racism behavior and hunger for the fertile land.
Jackson knew that it was hard to please the Native Americans because he had lived with them when fighting as the Tennessee pioneer, as a land grabber and as a lawyer. He learned to fear them when he was a young boy living in the Southeast. By the time when he joined the military he had already established ideas about the Indians. The Native Americans were treacherous, and extremely dangerous people who required a high-level management to protect the white settlers and for the good of the natives. The definition that Jackson had of the Indians made him believe that any atrocity committed against the Indians was a result of self-defense (Remini 49).
Remini indicates that it was hard for Jackson to stop the removal policy from becoming a law. It is evident that Jackson was not the American to advocate the removal, but he started supported the policy from the time when he was in the military through contributing in the signing of treaties. He never had a second taught on the idea of removal because of his military experience and his perception towards the Indian people. He knew very well that the Indian people were difficult people to live with, and they could do well when living in their place. It was a rational thing to do to balance the feelings of the two distinct communities that were fighting (Remini 14).
In conclusion, Jackson spearheaded the creation of the new America with different states and the diversity of people. The natives helped him to reach the top and become a president through him participating in major events that shaped his life. He blended his reasoning to fit the natives and at the same time made decisions for the betterment of the country. Jackson is among the American presidents who contributed to the rise of democrats. He managed to rule the country because of his wisdom through winning major wars subjected to him. Remini shows that Jackson was a man who had the best intentions towards the Native Americans.
Works cited
Remini, Robert. “Andrew Jackson and His Indian Wars.” Penguin Books. 2002. Print.
