Andrew Jackson and the Indians
Andrew Jackson was certainly no friend of the Indian. "Old Hickory" rode to office partly on his military past as a "frontiersman" and "Indian fighter." A participant in the Creek War, he was referred to as "Jacksa Chula Harjo" ("Jackson, old and fierce") or "Sharp Knife" by them. The Choctaws had another epithet for him: "The Devil."
While some have tried to mitigate circumstances, pointing out that he adopted a Creek boy as his son and that the removals were for "humanitarian" purposes (they were always referred to in those terms, and in some cases, it was actually sincere). This seems belied by his actions and words.
During the Creek War, the men under his command demonstrated a high degree of savagery which—though it was against a general order—seems not to have been condemned or punished on his part as leader. The rampage of burning villages, fields, and killing livestock was part of his campaign to revenge an attack on a Fort—a campaign where even corpses were scalped by soldiers. (In yet another sad irony among many, Jackson's forces included help from member of other of the Five Civilized Tribes—not including the Seminole, but including some of the Creeks who opposed the "war" faction—as well as he had his life saved by a Cherokee.)
At the Creek town of Tallasahatchee (a generally peaceful town without any planned defenses), Jackson's men killed 186 warriors. And a number of women and children—hardly by accident: David Crockett, who was a scout, reported seeing a woman with "at least twenty balls blown through her." Additionally, Crockett reported that "we shot them like dogs" and (chillingly) that they spent the next day "eating potatoes from the cellar stewed in the oil of the Indians we had burned up the day before which had run down on them." As usual, the American retaliation ended up being far worse that the crime it was supposed to be punishing. And, again, apparently no reprisals against the men who committed the acts of overaggression and mutilation.
Horseshoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa River, was the decisive battle of the war. The War faction had built defenses that even impressed Jackson. The "stronghold" had a rear entrance open to the river for escape (particularly for the women and children) if the battle went bad. Jackson had the escape canoes cut free and positioned men with rifles to cut off escape. All told, 800 or more Creeks died that day, many trying to escape (the largest number of dead for any single battle with the Indians). Though there was supposed to be a standing order against mutilating the bodies, it was ignored, soldiers and even Indians looting, scalping, and removing skin—some of it for the purpose of making belts and reins for horses. When Jackson asked for a count of the dead, it was decided that the most efficient way to do so would be cut off the tip of each corpse's nose.
As a result of the "victory" against the Creek, it was demanded they pay reparations for the cost of the war. Having no way to do so, they were forced to cede some 23 million acres of land. A prelude of things to come.
Andrew Jackson: Humanitarian. A man who once said "the whole Cherokee Nation ought to be scourged" and bragged that he had "on all occasions preserved the scalps of my killed." Of course, this was also the man, who in his first Inaugural Address (apparently with a straight face) stated that
It will be my sincere and constant desire to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.
Or perhaps he had a better grasp of what the "habits of our Government and the feelings of our people" actually were.
He also made it to the White House on a platform of Indian Removal—the idea went back to George Washington and even before and was quickly becoming unofficial policy. In 1830 (elected in 1828), Congress passed and he signed the infamous Indian Removal Act, which precipitated the numerous Trails of Tears, which resulted in the (forced) "removal" of the vast majority of Indians east of the Mississippi River (particularly the Southeastern tribes, including the Five Civilized Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole).
The Cherokee put up a strong defense, twice going to the Supreme Court. The initial case was a ruling against them since they were not a "foreign nation" but a "domestic, dependent nation," therefore the court had no jurisdiction over them. After the state of Georgia (greedy for Cherokee lands not in a small way due to the discovery of gold there) made laws that any "white" living on Indian land had to be licensed with the state or face four years in prison (it was aimed at missionaries working there who were helping the tribe; several of whom were arrested and incarcerated for ignoring the law), the Cherokee went to court again. This time they won as it was decided that the state had no authority over the Indian land as
the Cherokee Nation then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter, but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves, or in conformity with treaties, and with acts of Congress.
Unfortunately, the court had no way to enforce the ruling (neither did the Cherokee) and Georgia was ignoring it (it was made to be a "states rights" question) and had already started giving away Cherokee land via lottery.
Jackson did nothing either, reportedly saying that "[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it." As he had said earlier to Georgia congressmen, "Build a fire under them. When it gets hot enough, they'll move." And though it now required a treaty to do so, in 1835 Jackson and proponents got their wish and the Cherokee were then "removed" in 1838.
(Sources: John Ehle Trail of Tears 1988, Gloria Jahoda The Trail of Tears 1975, David E. Stannard American Holocaust: Columbus and the conquest of the New World 1992, Carl Waldman Atlas of the North American Indian rev. ed. 2000, James Wilson The Earth Shall Weep: the history of Native Americans 1998, www.americanpresident.org/KoTrain/Courses/AJA/AJA_Domestic_Affairs.htm, numerous other sources consulted)