Book Review - The Long Bitter Trail
In The Long Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the American Indians, Anthony F.C. Wallace takes on the unenviable task of discussing the Jacksonian era of Indian removal, recounting the history and politics of the forcible expulsion of Indians from their native homes by the United States Government. Though brief (the book comes in at only 120 pages), Wallace's work tries for conciseness and brevity in this subject; no footnotes can be found to supplement the material. Instead, Wallace seems to have meant this book "for students of history and others," and tells the story of Indian removal from pre-contact era to the modern day (Wallace, 1993). However, this book is more than a dry history of the events; Wallace's thesis, which he presents here, is that anthropology and ethnology can be traced back to propaganda established and institutionalized in the nineteenth century to support Indian removal, of which Jackson played a large part.
There are three sections in which Wallace covers the subject of Indian removal; in the introduction, he begins to set up the economic and geographical contexts for Westward expansion, allowing his audience to comprehend "larger processes of economic change" (Wallace 1993, p. 6). These include the rise of capitalism and the widespread nature of the Cotton Belt, which soon lapsed into Indian territory in the 1830s. In his first two chapters, Wallace sets the foundation for understanding the areas on both sides of the Proclamation Line, in order to show how federal policy dictated the treatment of Native Americans early in the nation's life.
Wallace's treatment of the early days of Indian-white interaction are somewhat simplified and naive; he constantly refers to the introduction of alcohol into the fur trade by white traders as "unscrupulous," since Indians "had no experience with any drug" (Wallace 1993, p. 23). When referring back to the "larger processes of economic change" Wallace mentions in his introduction, these comments seem misguided; alcohol was not introduced as a malicious scourge upon Indians, nor were white traders the scum of the earth. Instead, they were also being pulled around and exploited by their end of the fur trade as well. Trading whiskey was a necessary evil, as demand in the market was great for it, and it was one of the only sustainable ways to stay afloat.
Chapter two also introduces Lewis Cass, the first superintendent of Indian Affairs; Wallace characterizes Cass as idealistic and ambitious, as his mix of frontier expansionism and humanitarian reform led to the eventual policy of Indian removal. Rather than it be strictly for the sake of expansionism, Wallace claims that Cass, working from notions of the vanishing Indian and the rapidly evolving culture of the West, thought that Indian removal would be for the good of these native populations. Due to these contradictions, the equally conflicted BIA was created to set these plans in motion.
It is not until chapter three that Andrew Jackson enters the picture - the extent of his involvement reaches mostly to the passage of the Removal Act of 1930. However, Wallace also covers the various political machinations that took place in order to accomplish this task of Indian removal - the Georgia Compact of 1802, as well as Jackson's land interests, were significant factors in the signing of the Removal Act. Chapter four follows the implementation of that plan, giving an overview of the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes, going nation to nation one at a time.
Wallace goes into detail with the political pressures that Jackson was feeling at the time with regards to the 'Indian problem' - namely, needing to reward Georgia for their increased support for his policies, their objection to nullification, by breaking up the independent Cherokee state that had been created there at the time. State sovereignty was a huge issue during this crisis, and Jackson is characterized as somewhat tyrannical and stubborn about the Supreme Court turning down Georgia's claim for the same (e.g. arresting Indian journalists and missionaries who refused to follow the law of the state). Wallace's overall view of Jackson is dim: "It is abundantly clear that Jackson and his administration were determined to permit the extension of state sovereignty because it would result in the harassment of Indians, powerless to resist, by speculators and intruders hungry for Indian land" (Wallace, 1993).
In the last section, Wallace covers the Trail of Tears in "The Long Shadow of the Removal Policy". Wallace's sympathetic portrait of Indians oppressed by removal is admirable but misguided; he does not recognize that the Five Civilized Tribes actually had a much different experience than many other Indian nations, calling members of the Five Tribes "virtual dictatorsliterally exercising the powers of life and death" (Wallace 1993, p. 117). However, it was not the responsibility of Indian agents to lead the Five Tribes at that point, as the Dawes Commission and the U.S. Indian Inspector's office were largely responsible for that role. Because of the inefficiencies of these bureaucratic bodies, the Five Tribes were not given the accountability that they deserved.
This book covers Jackson comparatively briefly; as such, this work's contribution to the historiography of Jackson and the Jacksonian era is limited. Jackson's involvement in the Indian removal was important, and his actions set in motion the fate of an entire people; however, as Wallace establishes, this was but one part of a whole story, and to that end Jackson's presence in the book is smaller. Wallace covers many points also addressed by Remini (1981) and others, in that Jackson, like Cass, attempted to solve the problem of westward expansion by forcing Indian removal as a humanitarian measure - as opposed to public pressure to exterminate the "savages." Jackson's characterization is somewhat more negative in Wallace's estimation than Remini's, a staunch federalist who made this one exception in standing up for states' rights out of gratitude to Georgia as opposed to resignation to the pervading wisdom of the time.
In conclusion, The Long Bitter Trail is a brief but comprehensive book about the entirety of Native American-white relations in the United States, of which only one chapter is dedicated to Jackson's involvement with Indian removal. Wallace uses incendiary language and misguided assumptions to characterize whites as being uniformly malignant towards Native Americans, as opposed to people caught between conflicting social and economic forces (e.g. the fur traders, Jackson). This work contributes slightly to Jackson's historiography in that it outlines the negotiations and deals he needed to make to pass the Removal Act, but this information is provided with greater detail and even-handedness in other works.
References
Remini, R. V. (1981). Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822–1832. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wallace, A.F.C. (1993). The long, bitter trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians. Hill and Wang.
