As Long as the Grass Grows · Episode 5 of 15 · 44 min
How Andrew Jackson Turned Conquest Into Federal Policy
After the Creek War, Andrew Jackson forced even his own Creek allies to cede twenty-three million acres in a conquered peace. The episode takes Jackson's words seriously, his 1830 message framing removal as benevolent and inevitable, and measures them against the Indian Removal Act. It is the ideological engine of everything that follows.
Who's who
- Andrew Jackson+7 more episodesGeneral at Horseshoe Bend and president who signed the Indian Removal Act
- MenawaRed Stick war leader wounded at Horseshoe Bend
- Theodore FrelinghuysenNew Jersey senator who led Senate opposition to removal
- Davy CrockettTennessee congressman who voted against the Removal Act
- John CoffeeJackson's cavalry general, later a treaty commissioner
- Winfield Scott+4 more episodesGeneral later ordered to carry out Cherokee removal
Where it happens
- Horseshoe Bend, Tallapoosa River, AlabamaSite of Jackson's March 1814 victory over the Red Sticks
- Fort Mims, AlabamaRed Stick attack in 1813 that galvanized American mobilization
- Fort Jackson, Wetumpka, AlabamaSite of the 1814 treaty
Timeline
- August 30, 1813Red Sticks attack Fort Mims
- March 27, 1814Jackson crushes the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend
- August 9, 1814The Treaty of Fort Jackson takes about 23 million acres from the Creek Nation
- May 1830The House passes the Removal bill 102-97; Jackson signs it May 28
- December 6, 1830Jackson defends removal as a benevolent policy in his annual message
Still debated
Historians divide on whether Jackson's paternalism was sincere or cover for a land grab, and on how much was personal responsibility versus the wider machinery. The House tally is given variously, and the famous John Marshall has made his decision quote is almost certainly apocryphal.
← PreviousThe "Permanent" Native Border That Lasted Barely a DecadeNext →The Fraudulent Treaty Behind the Trail of Tears
Connected episodes in other series
The Highland Clearances and the Trail of Tears: Removal by LawEmpty the Land · Episode 2Also features Andrew Jackson, Winfield Scott
The Supremacy Clause: Why Every Nullification Theory Has Lost in Court for 200 YearsHomemade Sovereignty · Episode 7Also features Andrew Jackson
The Training Ground: The Officers Who Would Break the UnionTake the Land, Not the People · Episode 2Also features Winfield Scott
The Courts of the Conqueror: How the Marshall Trilogy Legalized the Taking of Native LandThe Least Dangerous Branch? · Episode 13Also features Andrew Jackson