Jefferson vs. Jackson: Indian Removal

Thomas Jefferson is arguably the greatest and most renowned president in our history.  A surface observation of Jefferson will display him as our nation’s founding father, an advocate for America’s liberty, and the man who drafted our Declaration of Independence.  Sure, Thomas Jefferson’s legacy includes all of those things, but a part of Jefferson’s legacy that has lived in the shadow of all his other great accomplishments is his purchase of the Louisiana Territory and his policies regarding Indian Removal. 

Thomas Jefferson purchased The Louisiana Territory from France in July of 1803 to begin America’s westward expansion.  This purchase would provide America with vast new land, spanning from the Mississippi to the Rockies.  Jefferson saw western land as a necessity to America’s success as a nation.  Jefferson’s passion for westward expansion and how he viewed the Indians was similar to the Enlightenment.  Jefferson strived to civilize the Indians and bring European influence to their Agriculture.  Jefferson would insist that the Indians did not need to practice “savagery” in ways such as hunting.  As president, he stressed the importance of agriculture in meetings with Native leaders, in correspondence and in speeches. "In leading [Indians] to agriculture," he told Congress in 1803, "I trust and believe that we are acting for their greatest good."

The way Thomas Jefferson approached the conflict of Indians inhabiting this new western land is in my opinion admirable.  Jefferson admired the Indians and wanted to learn about their culture and ensure its survival.  With that said, there is another president to observe in the topic of Indian Removal and that is our seventh president, Andrew Jackson. 

Andrew Jackson was not a favored president and is largely associated with the “Trail of Tears” that occurred during and after his presidency (1829–1837).  Like Jefferson before him, Jackson saw expansion as the key to the continued success of the United States.  But Jackson went about this goal all wrong and approached it in a tyrannical fashion.

The Indian Removal Act was passed to open up for settlement those lands still 

held by Indians in states east of the Mississippi River.  Primary states such as Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, etc.  Jackson declared that this removal act would "strengthen the southwestern frontier."  Jackson, who was a Tennessee native, strived to strengthen the south's population, wealth, and power and the Indian Removal Act would do just that.   

This was said from a member of the Cherokee nation "What sort of hope have we from a president with an inclination to disregard laws and treaties? We have nothing to expect from such a president."


Andrew Jackson’s actions lead to a tarnished reputation and the death of many Native Americans when forced from their land.  Jackson's biggest mistake was his vicious desire to completely eliminate Native Americans from their land.  This is the largest difference between Jefferson and Jackson, Jefferson cared deeply for the Indians and their culture, where Jackson did not even regard Indians as humans and had little to no regard for their well-being.