In the election of 1824, Andrew Jackson gained more votes in the Electoral College then any other candidate but did not have enough to win, outright.  The House of Representatives settled the election and their decision put John Quincy Adams into the White House. [i]  This did not discourage Jackson who prepared and won the election of 1828, which brought forth the Jacksonian era.[ii]  During his eight years in office, he had to deal with several issues.  Some of these issues included the institution of the ‘Spoil System’, the ‘Eaton Affair’, the ‘Nullification Crisis’, the “Bank of the United States ’, the ‘Annexation of Texas ’, the ‘Indian Removal Act of 1830’, and so on.[iii]  Of all the issues Jackson faced during his administration, the ‘Indian Removal Act of 1830’ was probably the most destructive for Native Americans.  Thus, this paper will address Andrew Jackson Native American policy as well as their effects.

By the time Andrew Jackson became president, a long history of Native American affairs with European countries and the United States had already taken place.  On the national level, each president had to deal with this issue.  Some took a more hard line approach, such as George Washington who followed Henry Knox’s advice, that the only way to acquire Native American lands was through the purchase of these lands.[iv]  Although Washington took Knox’s advice, he was also in favor of removing Native Americans.[v] 

Thomas Jefferson was more sympathetic towards Native Americans.  He felt that they could possibly be civilized and be equals to men of European descent.[vi]  These two approaches then became the standards in the early nineteenth century. 

Andrew Jackson believed that removal of Native Americans helped white settlers who were seeking land to replace the exhausted lands further east.[vii]  This included Jackson who was a self-made man and plantation owner.  He was born in either North or South Carolina in 1767, but he grew up in North Carolina .[viii]  Between the ages of ten and fourteen, he witnessed the deaths of his brother due to smallpox and his mother due to yellow fever.[ix]  Before her death, he received some education.  Later on, he would be inspired to become a lawyer, which he accomplished before the age of twenty.  He eventually moved to Tennessee , became a solicitor in Judge McNairy’s jurisdiction and then entered politics.  He was first a Representative to the House and later a Senator representing Tennessee in Washington DC .[x]  During these early years of Jackson ’s life, he most likely became aware of this duality of either removing Native Americans or civilizing them.

Andrew Jackson career as a representative in Washington did not last.  His rough and tough personality lent itself better to being a solicitor and then a general.  In this position, Jackson “[t]raveled almost constantly over the wretched roads and through the dark forests, dodging Indians, swimming his horse across torrential streams, sleeping alone in the woods with hands on rifle, threatened by desperate wrongdoers.”  This brought “Andrew Jackson public confidence which later became his chief political asset.” [xi] This political asset began first in western Tennessee but would spread nation wide as the War of 1812 unfolded and especially after his victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.