Date |
Event |
| 1812-1813 |
Jackson fights Indian and British troops in War of 1812. He threatens death to insubordinate soldiers (Even when the term of their enlistment has expired. (Remini, Indian Wars, 71-72)]. Redsticks defeated in Battle of Horseshoe Bend, March 27, 1814 |
| 1813 |
As Major General of U.S. Army, through the Treaty of Fort Jackson, Andrew Jackson imposes retributive measures on the entire Creek Nation though only a minority had been involved in the Red Stick rebellion. He threatens the Creek nation saying that if they do not cede the land they will prove themselves enemies to the United States. Though President Madison had called for land cessions to pay for the costs of the war, Jackson requires much larger land cessions and does not allow all friendly Creeks to remain in their homelands as Indian Agents had already promised under Madison’s direction. Jackson requires half of the Creek territory, 23 million acres of land, be ceded.
Jackson ignores orders to enforce Article IX of the Treaty of Ghent which required the return of Creek territory ceded in the Treaty of Fort Jackson. The Treaty of Ghent legally nullified the Treaty of Fort Jackson; but, disregarding a directive from the Secretary of War, Jackson refuses to return Creek land.
|
| 1816 |
Jackson is insubordinate when he learns of the treaty signed with the Cherokee in Washington on March 22. In this treaty the United States acknowledges the Cherokee right to land the Creeks had ceded in the Treaty of Fort Jackson. Secretary William Crawford reminds Jackson that the treaty had been “approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, and is the supreme law of the land. Submission to it is a duty which will not be neglected.” Jackson refuses to submit to the ratified treaty. In a letter to James Monroe (May 12th 1816) Jackson says that the Cherokee “never had the least semblance of claim ” to those four to five million acres. |
| 1816 |
Andrew Jackson uses threats and secret bribes to gain the land cessions he desires in treaties signed with Cherokee and Chickasaw leaders. |
| 1818 |
Jackson threatens war if the Cherokee do not sign a treaty ceding
two million acres, July 8th. This treaty inaugurates Jackson’s
ultimate “solution” to the “Indian problem” which
he thereafter continues to pursue: removal of all Southeastern Indians.
6,000 Cherokee remove to lands west of the Mississippi within two
years after the signing of the treaty. |
| 1818 |
In the First Seminole War, Jackson invades Florida,
taking control of Spanish forts and executing British nationals.
He invades and takes over Pensacola, the Spanish capital in Florida.
This action leads to international tensions, and the United States
fears war with Britain. Afterwards, Jackson is accused of acting
without authorization and threatening the peace of the United States
(Remini, Indian Wars, 143-162). |
| 1818 |
After an initial unsuccessful attempt to persuade Chickasaw to
remove, Jackson threatens violence, withholds overdue annuities,
misrepresents the facts, and bribes some of their leaders. A large
Chickasaw land cession is consequently obtained on October 19. Jackson
considers sections of Chickasaw land to legally belong to American
settlers though the Chickasaw land had not been ceded. |
| 1820 |
Choctaw treaty signed October 20. Jackson threatens
the Choctaw that if they do not accept the treaty their “nation
will be destroyed. ” |
| 1829 |
Jackson recommends a speedy Indian removal in his first annual
message, December 8th. As he has done in the past, he will use or
recommend superintendents use threats, bribes, and fraud in removal
treaty negotiations. Now that the United States is powerful enough
to force its will he insists that Indians must remove or live as
citizens subject to the laws of the States in which they reside.
He believes that Indian nations are not sovereign and are therefore
subject to the governance of the United States Congress and (more
especially) to the laws of the states in which they reside. |
| 1830 |
After passing the House and the Senate, Andrew
Jackson signs The Indian Removal Act on May 28th. This act gives
the President the power to negotiate removal treaties. It does not
in itself mandate removal. But the illegal and immoral tactics used
to coerce Indian acceptance of the treaties results in the removal
of almost 50,000 Indians from the East to a location beyond the Mississippi
River during Jackson ’s presidency. |
| 1830 |
Chickasaw agree to removal, August 27th, after Andrew Jackson threatens
that they will be destroyed if they resist; that their land “will
be taken possession of by your white brethren” and they “will
look on your conduct as acts of ill will & ingratitude…” (Remini,
Indian Wars, 175). |
| 1830 |
Choctaw Chiefs at first refuse to sign The Treaty
of Dancing Rabbit Creek. After superintendents threaten invasion
of Creek lands and government, they sign the treaty on September
27th. Superintendents had been instructed to be sure Indians gave “their
own free consent” to removal. Before Congress ratifies the
treaty Superintendent John H. Eaton assures Congress that no threats,
bribes, or secret agreements have been made. |
| 1832 |
In response to Supreme Court Justice John Marshall’s ruling
in Worcester v. Georgia, that Georgia’s laws are of no effect
in Cherokee lands, President Andrew Jackson writes, “the decision
of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that it cannot
coerce George to yield to its mandate. ” |
| 1833 |
April 26th, Jackson meets with and insists that
Black Hawk be imprisoned in Fortress Monroe and remain there until
given permission to leave. |
| 1834 |
John Ross meets with Jackson in Washington on February 5th in an
attempt to avert Cherokee removal. Jackson says “I tell you
that you cannot remain where you are now… It [is] impossible
that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You
have but one remedy within your reach. And that is, to remove to
the West and join your countrymen, who are already established there.” Jackson
reminds Ross of the fate of the Creeks, suggesting that the Cherokee
will suffer the same if they do not accept removal. |
| 1835 |
December 7th Jackson delivers his Seventh Annual
Message to Congress. He states that the “plan for their removal
and reestablishment is founded upon the knowledge we have gained
of their character and habits, and has been dictated by a spirit
of enlarged liberality. ” |
| 1835 |
The Second Seminole War begins on December 18th. It is not concluded
until 1842. |
| 1835 |
After calling for a “council of all the
People” to meet at New Echota, John F. Schermerhorn concludes
the Treaty of New Echota on December 28th. Almost all the Cherokee
Nation boycott the council. It is approved with 79 votes in favor
and 7 votes opposed. |
| 1836 |
Jackson signs the Treaty of New Echota on May 23, after narrowly
passing in the Senate. |
| 1836 |
Jackson orders the military to forcibly remove
the Creeks. |
| 1837 |
Jackson retires as President and returns to Tennessee. |
| 1838 |
Approximately 17,000 Cherokee are forcefully
removed. Estimates of Cherokee population losses due to removal are
between 4,000-8,000 (Remini, Indian Wars, 269). |
