Age of Jackson
March 23, 2000
JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY AND THE
AMERICAN INDIANS, Part One
I.
The White Political Origins of Indian Removal
A.
Definition of “Indian removal”
B.
Beginnings of the removal policy
C.
1.
Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase
2.
Indian removal as a top priority of Madison and Monroe admins.
3.
Jackson as an early proponent
Political forces that promoted removal
1.
Long heritage of common white Indian-killing and "uprisings" against
lenient Indian policies: Bacon's Rebellion, Paxton Boys, murders of allied
Indians during the Revolution.
2.
National political importance of the new western states
3.
The rise of democracy: universal white male suffrage, popular rather than
legislative elections.
II.
D.
Election of 1828 as a Mandate for Removal
E.
Indian Removal Act of 1830
Traditional Indian Culture in the “Eastern Woodlands”
A.
Family, sex & gender
1.
Matrilineal & matrilocal
2.
Relative unimportance of nuclear family, importance of “clans”
2
B.
C.
3.
Few prohibitions on pre-marital intercourse. Easy divorce.
4.
Subsistence: male hunting, female agriculture (corn, squash & beans)
Traditional Indian Economics
1.
Land tenure: traditional, collective, “usufruct” rights
2.
Ethic of redistribution, absence of unlimited accumulation
3.
Reciprocity and gift-giving. Trade = friendship.
Indian Political Organization
1.
Lack of formal political institutions or units larger than a “town”
2.
Absence of rulers, government, coercive authority. Decisions made by
consensus, dissidents free to leave.
3.
III.
Maintenance of order: public opinion and clan revenge
Early relations with Europeans: The “porousness” and resilience of Indian society
A.
Properly behaving whites could trade, intermarry, become influential.
B.
Rise of the mixed-bloo ds. Example of Alexander McGillivray.
C.
The Indian “market revolution”: heavy involvement in fur & skin trades
D.
Results of European cultural incursions
1.
Indians became allies of the various European powers.
2.
Growing dependence on European goods.
3.
Land cession treaties