United States History Student Edition

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Lewis Cass on Indian Removal Lewis Cass served as

Jackson Writes to the Cherokee Nation

governor of the Michigan Territory. He presented his views on Native Americans in an article in 1830. PRIMARY SOURCE: ARTICLE “ Our object . . . is not to

After he persuaded Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act, President Jackson sent representatives to negotiate removal treaties with Native American peoples. In exchange for their desirable homelands, they were offered money and land in the Indian Territory. The Cherokee declined. PRIMARY SOURCE: LETTER “ You are now placed in the midst of the white population. Your peculiar customs . . . have been abrogated by the great political community among which you live; and you are now subject to the same laws which govern the other citizens of Georgia and Alabama . . . Most of your people are uneducated, and are liable to be brought into collision at all times with their white neighbors . . . The game has disappeared among you, and you must depend upon agriculture and the mechanic arts for support. And, yet, a large portion of your people have acquired little or no property in the soil itself, or in any article of personal which can be useful to them. How, under these circumstances, can you live in the country you now occupy? ” — From Andrew Jackson, “To the Cherokee Tribe of Indians East of the Mississippi,” 1835

trace the operation of all the causes which have contributed to the diminution of the population of the Indians. We confine ourselves to those which may be fairly attributed to the coming of the Europeans among them, and which are yet exerting their influence, wherever the two races are placed in contact. As we shall attempt eventually to prove, that the only means of preserving the Indians from that utter extinction which threatens them, is to remove them from the sphere of this influence, we are desirous of showing, that no change has occurred, or probably can occur, in the principles or practice of our intercourse with them, by which the progress of their declension can be arrested , so long as they occupy their present situation. ” — From “Removal of the Indians,” The North American Review , Volume 30, Number 66 diminution reduction, shrinking confine to restrict, limit attributed regarded as being caused by declension decrease arrested stopped EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Explaining Why does Cass advise that the only course of action is to remove the Native Americans from their land? What might be his motivation for that action? 2. Predicting What future does Cass predict for the Native American population?

in the midst of among abrogated abolished liable susceptible mechanic arts manufacturing

EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Analyzing What challenges does Jackson think the Cherokee face? What evidence of those challenges does he offer in his letter? 2. Identifying Bias What biases are revealed in Jackson’s letter? Explain using his words.

PHOTO: North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo; TEXT: (l)Cass, Lewis. Removal of the Indians. In The North American Review, Vol. 30. Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1830.; (r)Andrew Jackson, “To the Cherokee Tribe of Indians East of the Mississippi” [circular], March 16, 1835 (Gilder Lehrman Collection).

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