Chapter Review: Was Rachel Jackson a Bigamist?

Unsolved Mysteries of American History by Paul Aron, Barnes and Noble Books, New York, 1997.
This chapter concludes that this is a true statement to a degree.  This was an accusation made while Jackson was running for president.  In the day when Andrew Jackson and Rachel Jackson became husband and wife laws were different.  Rachel was married previous, and to get a divorce took and act of Congress, at least state house.  Rachel's first husband was abusive, but there was not a way for her to get out.  Andrew Jackson took up as her defender.  And it appears they had become intimate long before any divorce could be granted, which reportedly the Jacksons thought had happened but hadn't.  At any rate, the friends of the Jackson, and the country folk where they lived had no problem with it.  The relationship between Rachel and Andrew was considered legitimate.  
Andrew won the election, but Rachel never served as first lady as she passed away before Andrew Jackson took over as president.  

American Biography: David Crockett

David Crocket (he only became known as Davy late in life) was a frontiersman born in Kentucky.  He hunted bear and birds, trapped forest animals, planted crops and fathered two boys by Polly Finley who he married before he turned 20.  In 1813 he served with Andrew Jackson against the Red Sticks of the Creek.  Crocket performed well in battle, but he had a conflict with Jackson's ruthless tendencies.  Crockett's anger with Jackson would follow him into politics.
Crockett's political career began when his former commanding officer, Captain Matthews was a candidate for lieutenant colonel and asked Crocket to run for major.  However Crockett realized Matthews had picked Crockett to run against his son, hoping he was and easy candidate to beat.  He decided to run against Matthews instead, and became the commander of the militia.
Crockett's wife passed away, but he remarried, and now through his wife had some money.  Crocket would run for state legislature.  He wasn't a natural politician, and admitted this readily and made fun of himself, but would offer whiskey after his short words, and nobody would be left to listen to his opponent.  Crockett won.  When Crockett ran for Congress, he again ran a populist campaign.  He ran against Dr. William Butler, nephew of Andrew Jackson.  Crocket wore his buckskin clothes, while saying in the doctor's fancy house he the doctor walked on carpets better than most women's clothes.  Crockett again won.
The same year Andrew Jackson had run for president, and although he won the popular vote, he lost the electoral collage vote.  However Jackson's political hopes were looking up.  Crockett stood up for the rights of the poor and the down trodden.  Crocket supported Jackson in his next run for the presidency, which he won, but did not support his policies.  Crockett wrote a couple autobiographies, "The Life and Adventures of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee" and "A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, written by Himself."  A big bone of contention between Crockett and Jackson was the Indian Relocation Act.  Crockett opposed, while this was Jackson's goal to repay those who had supported him.  Gerrymandering had made Crockett's reelection less sure.  He won one campaign but lost the next.  He had said if he lost, he would move to Texas, and he did.  However Crockett was not just leaving, he was also going to be part of something bigger than himself.  He joined the Texans in the Alamo.  There were more than 1800 Mexican soldiers under Santa Anna, the Mexican dictator, who laid siege to 175 Texans inside the Alamo in San Antonio.  It is known that Crockett entertained the men with his storytelling and his violin.  He also put a cannon out of action that moved too close with his sharp shooting.  When the North Wall of the fort was breached, many of the Texans escaped to the barracks and chapel.  Crocket and his men fought in the open, exhausting their ammunition, and then using their weapons as clubs.  Most historians believe Crockett died with a pile of Mexican bodies around him, being stabbed by a bayonet.  A diary found many years later said Crockett had been executed.  Of the Texans there were three survivors, a woman and her son and a black slave.
Excerpts from Bill O'Reilly's Kegebds & Lies: The Real West, by David Fisher, Fox News.

Documentary Review: We Shall Remain: Trail of Tears

This show was hard to watch, but good to watch.  The Cherokee as a people did everything they could to appease the White Easterners.  Many accepted Christianity.  The Cherokee were one of the Civilized Tribes.  Some had Black slaves.  Many lived in fancy American style houses.  They had been granted their land, their reservation if you will.  However, many of their neighbors coveted the land.  However, when Andrew Jackson came into power as president, he came with a mandate from his constituents to remove the Indians to the West.  He was true to this campaign promise.  David Crocket and others opposed him in congress, but this opposition was not successful, and congress passed a bill in 1830 and President Jackson sign the Indian Relocation Act, authorizing him to remove the Indians. 
After passage of this act, the State of Georgia divvied up the Indian territory, and made it available to citizens of Georgia.  They began to push the Native Americans aside, and some were killed.  This issue went to the Supreme Court.  The court ruled that as the Cherokee were an independent nation, the state had no jurisdiction and they could not be removed without a new treaty.  Chief Justice John Marshall said, "The Cherokee nation, then, is a distinct community occupying its own territory in which the laws of Georgia can have no force. The whole intercourse between the United States and this Nation, is, by our constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States."
However, President Jackson chose not to enforce the ruling of the Supreme Court.  He made it clear he would not interfere with the State of Georgia, and in fact encouraged them to keep the "heat on."  This continued pressure split the nation.  John Ridge and his son and Elias Boudinot argued that removal was inevitable and they should negotiate with the government for compensation for their lands.  John Ross, the tribal chair at this time (John Ridge had been) followed the wishes of his constituents and refused to negotiate a treaty for giving away their lands.  Ridge, his son and Boudinot signed a treaty document ceding their lands for lands in Indian territory, $3 million dollars, and a guarantee of assistance in moving.  This was known as the Treaty of Echota.  It passed the Senate by only one vote.  They left, with about 2000 others before the required date, and were helped to move and reestablish themselves.  
John Ross held out hope of a change in heart.  They gathered a petition signed by almost every remaining Cherokee, about 15,000 signatures.  However it was not to be presented to Congress.  Other matters took precedence, and when the day came for removal, military and locl militia forced Indians out of their homes with just the clothes on their backs.  The rounded them into cattle corrals.  
Some would stay for some time in these corrals, facing the weather as the first group to travel hit illness.  The rest wanted to wait for the passing of the sick season.  They finally began their journey in the Fall.  However the weather caught them.  This season was exceedingly cold, with considerable amounts of snow.  Because of the weather they were delayed, and consequently their food ran out.  Of the 16,000 being forced to travel, a quarter would pass away.  All would suffer hardship, hunger and fatigue.
Cherokee law had been passed stating that if you sold Cherokee land your life was forfeit.  This payment was extracted from Ross sr. and JR as well as Boudinot.
I think it is important to watch this movie even though seeing the suffering is hard.  As a country, we treated the native Americans very harshly.  At one point a commentator said these acts were akin to genocide.  

Native American Biography: Josiah and Milly Francis

Josiah and Milly Hayo Francis are father and daughter.  Josiah is of mixed parentage, but identified with the Creek and Seminole.  He was of the Red Stick warring faction of the Creek and supported Tecumsah in his efforts to form a Pan American Indian Alliance.  He fought against Andrew Jackson who referred to Francis as a prophet.  When the Creek lost the first war, they had to give up millions of acres.  Francis was forced to sign the treaty.  In 1815 Francis journeyed to England to recruit English support for the Native Americans.  He was captured in 1818 and Jackson ordered his execution.

During the first Creek war, Josiah Francis had captured George McKinnon and order his execution by fire.  His daughter Milly Hayo Francis plead for his life from his father.  She said she would burn with him.  He was released, and stayed with the tribe until he was sold as a slave to the Spanish.  After the death of her father, Milly showed up with a group of women and children at an army post.  McKinnon, who had escaped was there and spared her life.  She refused his offer of marriage, feeling he must have felt obligated.  For her support during the first Creek war, Milly was granted a government pension, which she never received.  She did walk the trail of Tears and lived her final years in Oklahoma.  

Native American Biography: Pushmataha: Choctaw

Pushmataha, for his service and strict discipline with his warriors became known as the Indian General.  He may have in fact been a Brigadier General in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812.  He sided with the Americans agains the British and the Creek.  He served with Generals Ferdinand Claiborne and Andrew Jackson.  He had visited with President Thomas Jefferson at one point, ceding land and gaining promises from the government.  He would cede more land, for prime land west of the Mississippi.  He went to visit President James Monroe, but died in Washington, where he was afforded a military funeral.

Book Review: Perspectives on the Trail of Tears: The Tragedy of the American Indians

The Trail of Tears: The Tragedy of the American Indians by Katie Marsico, Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, New York, 2010
This book has a very good explanation of Andrew Jackson’s decisions with regards to the Native Americans, and requiring them all to move west of the Mississippi.  They were allowed to stay, but had to give up tribal affiliation and become American Citizens.  Jackson’s attitude always favored the Georgians, and their right to expand their state.  He favored encroachment on Indian lands which had been given them by treaty.  When gold was found on Indian land, this sealed the fate of the Native Americans, and confirmed Jackson’s ideas.  He said:

Can it be cruel in this government when, by events which it cannot control, the Indian is made discontented in his ancient home to purchase his lands, to give him a new and extensive territory, to pay the expense of his removal, and support him a year in his new abode?  How many thousands of our own people would gladly embrace the opportunity of removing to the West on such conditions!  If the offers made to the Indians were extended to them, they would be hailed with gratitude and joy.

Someone should have answered his question, and told him not all people have the same goals or desires.  Some did disagree with Jackson, and saw this as a great evil.  However the Indian Removal Act of 1829 was passed, which gave the president the authorization to remove the Native Americans to Indian Territory in the West.  The Supreme Court sided with the Cherokee.  Jackson responded by saying the Supreme Court would have difficulty enforcing their edict, and went ahead with the removal.  They did this by negotiating a treaty with prominent Cherokee, but not the legitimate government.  The treaty gave the Cherokee two years to vacate their lands. 
Some of the Cherokee left early for the new territory, while most lingered, hoping beyond hope that John Ross could negotiate something different with the government.  General Winfield Scott was given the task of seeing that the Native Americans were removed:

My troops already occupy many positions in the country….and thousands and thousands are approaching from every quarter. … Obey them when they tell you that you can remain no longer in this country.   Soldiers are as kind-hearted as brave…  We are commanded by the president to act toward you in that spirit, and much is also the wish of the whole people of America.  …Will you then, by resistance, compel us to resort to arms?  God forbid!  Or will you by flight, seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests, and thus oblige us to hunt you down?  Remember that, in pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts.  The blood of the white man or the blood of the red man may be spilt, and, if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent general war and carnage. 

That sounds pretty much a threat of obliteration.  Not all Cherokee who refused to leave gave up their affiliation.  A small group went to the Great Smokey Mountains and now has a reservation and are known as the eastern band. 
The trip was difficult.  It was not meant as a way to exterminate the Indians, however many died along the trip.  The mortality rates vary, but estimates put the death total at about 4000 of the 18,000 forced to emigrate passed away.  Most often those who passed away were the elderly or the children.  It was a brutal journey.  Those who took the water route on steam boats also had their own problems, and Cherokee had difficulty burying loved ones in the river as they preferred a land burial with ceremonies. 
After arriving in Indian Territory there were still bitter feelings between the different factions, those who traveled earlier and those who traveled later.  John Ross was the recognized leader, and he wanted to be sure .
The “Never-Ending Trail” is a poem composed by Del “Abe” Jones.  The poem concludes:

Each mile of this infamous "Trail"
Marks the graves of four who died -
Four thousand poor souls in all
Marks the shame we try to hide -

You still can hear them crying
Along "The Trail Of Tears"
If you listen with your heart
And not with just your ears.