Chapter 7 of Howard Zinn

As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs

Thesis: Thomas Jefferson created the great purchase of the Louisiana Territory, almost doubling the size of the United States; he told congress that the Indians should be encouraged to farm small plots of land, to stop hunting, to trade with the whites and to earn debts that they would have to pay off with huge estates of land. Andrew Jackson however instructed an army major to tell the Cherokees and Choctaws that they would have land, outside of the state of Mississippi in which they could be free, and he would protect them as their white father. They could have the land “as long as grass grows or water runs”. However, this ended up being another of many lies in the United States, for the Indians had to move once more and even that would not be the last time. 

Two questions:

How is it that the state could so flatly ignore what congress and the Supreme Court said, such as the Worcester V. Georgia?

Would Jefferson have approved the way the Indians were treated?

Reaction:

It is very shocking how the Indians were treated. It is no surprise that when the revolutionary war broke out most of them were fighting on the side of the British. For only they it seems could have predicted that mass death that they would incur by the United States winning the war. What is even more shocking is that the Indians in the eyes of many looked were salvages, so taking their land, and lying to them really meant nothing to many people. This of course made the United States look very bad on its part and would be why all the killing and harsh treatment of the Indians is not mentioned in a lot of history books and textbooks. Howard Zinn, a respected author of history wrote in his book, “If you look through high school textbooks and elementary school textbooks in American history, you will find Andrew Jackson the frontiersman, soldier, democrat, man of the people — not Jackson the slaveholder, land speculator, executioner of dissident soldiers, exterminator of Indians.”

Andrew Jackson the “hero” in many eyes truly was not a nice person. He lied himself into power and abused that power to get the land that he wanted. Greed of Americans cost many lives and the sad thing is that those greedy Americans most likely did not even care. It is very noble of the Indians to try to stand for what they believed, however they should have surrender to help save lives. However, they did insist that they would even pay to stay in their land and the politicians could have done more to protect the land for the Indians. But then again maybe not since it seemed that the States felt that they could do whatever they wished.