Chapter 7 summary

Chapter 7 Summary As Americans continued to push further west, the feeling that the Indians that lived in these areas needed to be removed so the land being inhabited by them could be used for agriculture and other profits to the U. S. On page 134, Zinn states that “ Gold was discovered in Cherokee territory in Georgia. Thousands of whites invaded, destroyed Indian property staked out claims. ” This shows how Americans were only preoccupied on their own wealth, and they were willing to destroy the lives of thousands of Indians to get what they wanted. In effect to this, the U. S government made numerous treaties with the Indians, which gave them land that would always be theirs, and also promised that they would protect them. On page 136, Zinn expresses how the U. S. lied in the statement: “’a permanent home … which shall under the most solemn guarantee of the United States be and remain theirs forever…’ It was another lie. ” This movement to get rid of the Indians was aided by General Jackson, who set the Indian removal into effect in the war of 1812. He did this when he battled the great Tecumseh and conquered his allied Indian nation, then started to distribute their lands. Jackson became the leader of the distribution of Indian lands, and distributed them in unequal ways. In 1828 when Jackson was running for President, his platform was based upon Indian Removal, which was a popular issue. Jackson, who won a sweeping victory, began to formulate his strategies on how he would use an ” Indian Removal campaign”. In 1829, after seeing that his beloved Indian Removal Bill was not being followed, Jackson began dealing with the Indian tribes and offered them ” untouchable” tracts of lands west of the Mississippi River if they would only cede their lands to the US and move themselves there. The United States’ falseness is shown in the way that they broke the majority of the promises of protection that they made with the Indians. They also found some way to make the treaties void, which allowed them to push the Indians farther and farther west.