What were the differences between Presidents Jefferson and Jackson in their perceptions of Native people?
Jefferson followed more the principal of assimilation of Native Americans. He saw Native American tribes as sovereign nations that should be recognized by the U.S. His ideal was to assimilate Native Americans into an agriculture based economy wherein they could participate in his agrarian vision of the United States. His idea for obtaining Indian lands was to buy them or to gain them by the process of letting the Indians get indebted to the United States to the degree that they would be forced into giving up land resources to cover that debt. If this plan failed Jefferson was more than willing to use forced removal and extermination as a means for obtaining the land America needed for its growth. In this respect he can be considered the true “Father of Indian Removal” as policy for the United States in dealing with Native Americans (Rockwell, 2010).
Jackson was a fierce opponent to treating Native American tribes as sovereign foreign nations; he did not believe that the U.S. should treaty with them. Jackson also held the reputation of being an ‘Indian Hater’; especially in the eyes of Native Americans who gave him the nickname “Indian Killer” or as the Cherokee called him, “Sharp Knife”. This nickname came about during Jackson’s military career during battles with Creek, Cherokee and Seminole tribes. His battle tactics were extremely brutal. Jackson even went so far as to encourage his men to kill women and children as to exterminate as many Indians as possible during his Creek campaign. In 1830 Jackson signed the Indian Removal act after his first year in office as President. Jackson was responsible for introducing the law during his first year in office. This law set the tone for the rest of the decade and into the 20th century for America’s policy in