Example research essay topic: Trail Of Tears Andrew Jackson - 715 words

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Andrew Jackson: Indian Fighter Andrew Jackson is a man who was destined to be one of the most influential and dominating personas in United States history. What he is noted for is his tough attitude in any situation. This is especially true in his many battles against Indians, who he thought were savage, uncivilized people. He believed that the English were using the Indians to try and cause havoc in the states by selling guns to the Indians.

The Indians would then attack settlers in the western front of the United States. In the early part of the war Jackson's feats in crushing the Creek people won him national acclaim. The Creeks were British allies, who had threatened United States southwestern borders (Encarta CD). Jackson's decisive victory at Horseshoe Bend, Alabama, in March 1814, destroyed the Creeks; the harsh peace treaty he imposed deprived them of more than 8 million hectares (20 million acres) of land - an area larger than that of most of the states in the Union. Old Hickory, as Jackson was now known because of his toughness, had given the nation a taste of military glory (Sellers 101). In the years immediately following, Jackson maintained his prominence but not without creating a furor - as his actions often did.

Early in 1818, without clear authorization, he violated Spanish-owned territory by chasing the hostile Seminole into Florida, where he then created another international incident by putting two British subjects to death (Sellers 105). Then to further his aggression, he campaigned on to Pensacola where he attacked the Spaniards there that gave permission to the British enturpenurs to sell guns to the Seminoles. He then took down the Spanish flag and hoisted up the Stars and Stripes (Remini 186). Although this behavior disturbed the administration of President James Monroe, it was enthusiastically endorsed by the nationalistic majority of Americans. The Secretary of State John Quincy Adams asked President Monroe not to apologize to Spain, but ask them to sell Florida to the United States. Obviously, according to Adams, Jackson did Spain a favor by putting law and order back in Florida.

Since Spain is unable to govern Florida, they should sell it. Shortly after, the Adams-Onis Treaty was signed, which made Florida a United States territory. In 1821 he was appointed governor of Florida (ceded by Spain to the United States in 1819), and his high-handed actions in that office created new diplomatic storms. Nothing, however, could detract from his glowing reputation. Influential Tennessee friends made plans early in the 1820 s to have Jackson run for the presidency in 1824 (Funk & Wagnalls 97). The Trail of Tears refers to the route followed by fifteen thousand Cherokee during their 1838 removal and forced march from Georgia to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

In 1791, a United States treaty had recognized Cherokee territory in Georgia as independent, and the Cherokee people had created a thriving republic with a written constitution (Remini 224). For decades, the state of Georgia sought to enforce its authority over the Cherokee Nation, but its efforts had little effect until the election of President Andrew Jackson, a longtime supporter of Indian removal. Although the Supreme Court declared Congress's 1830 Indian removal bill unconstitutional (Worcester v. Georgia, 1832), the national and state harassment continued, culminating in the rounding up of the Cherokee by troops in 1838 (Encarta CD). The Cherokee were forced to abandon their property, livestock, and ancestral burial grounds and move to camps in Tennessee. From there, in the midst of severe winter weather, they were marched another eight hundred miles to Indian Territory.

An estimated four thousand people - over 25 percent of the Cherokee Nation - died during the march. The Trail of Tears, the path the Cherokee followed, became a national monument in 1987, serving as a symbol of the wrongs suffered by Indians at the hands of the United States government (Street 232). Andrew Jackson's removal of the Indians created and opened many opportunities for settlers coming into the United States. He was a man who stood his ground and did what he believed in, and in that context he did not care what was promised to who or what treaty was signed. If Andrew Jackson sought hard enough, "Old Hickory" got his way. Bibliography:

Research essay sample on Trail Of Tears Andrew Jackson