Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears
By Brother Anthony Baker, OSB

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Before his victory in New Orleans , he became involved in the Creek Civil War.  One faction of the Creeks known as the “Red Stick” attacked Fort Mims , Alabama in 1813, because they were opposed to white settlers encroaching on their land.  Here some “250 to 275 white settlers, friendly Indians, and mixed bloods were killed.”[i]  This brought Andrews Jackson into the Creek Civil War.  Although Monroe sent troops to fight and punish the “Red Sticks”, only Andrew Jackson’s Tennessee Militia fought and beat the “Red Sticks’ at the battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama a year later.  Here the “Red Sticks” and the Creek Civil War ends as Jackson ’s forces route the Creeks.

The result of this victory was the treaty of Fort Jackson .  Jackson forced the Creeks to “cede most of their land in Georgia and Alabama .”[ii]  Jackson along with his nephew John Coffee began to survey this land.  However, when Secretary of War William Crawford learned of Jackson activity, he overruled the treaty and subsequent survey of the land.  This was an early attempt at Indian removal by Jackson , allowing white settlers and squatters to settle the land.  However, Jackson subsequently removed these settlers under orders of William Crawford.  Jackson did make several small pacts with Native Americans tribes from 1817 to 1820 securing some 50 million acres of land for white settlers.  Some of these treaties included Indian Removal statements.  However, to remove all the Native American’s Jackson would have to wait until 1830.[iii]

Political forces had kept Jackson out of the White House in 1824.  He had run as a Democratic-republican for president at the request of friends.    When the Electoral Collage met, he received 99 votes.[iv]  He received more votes than any other candidate, but it was not a clear majority. When the Clay supporters backed Adams securing the presidency for him, Jackson‘s reason for running for president changed.  The goal now became personal for Jackson .  He believed that the people had chosen him as their president in 1824.  He was now going to fight another battle, which was his push to become president in 1828.  This fight began in 1825 and by the time the battles were over in 1828; Jackson became, the seventh president of the United States .[v]

After his election, Jackson knew that pressure for Native American lands was a force felt in both the North and South.  In the North, as white settlers moved west, so did the Native Americans for they had an outlet in which they could move west.  This was not true in the South.  White settlers and squatters hungry for land came into the South by three routes.  The first was from the east, the second was from the north, and third from the west via the Mississippi River .  Native Americans in the south were thus pinned against the Gulf of Mexico with no place to go.[vi]  Thus, four nations, the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, felt the most pressure from white settlers.  Additionally, the Seminoles in Florida also felt this pressure but were the hardest to remove.[vii]

In President Jackson’s first message to Congress in December of 1829 he discussed Native American affairs.  He began his discourse with concern about how civilized the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws had all become.  Many were now living in farmhouses with cultivated land.  They operated shops, mills, and ranches.  They were even accepting Christianity.[viii]  However, Jackson felt that the United States was continually hurting Native Americans and their efforts in civilization.