Since the 1790's, American Indian policies have differed slightly, but the main ideas of attempting to civilize the noble savages and trying to keep them from disturbing white men was kept alive. Thomas Jefferson's Indian policy was something to the effect of civilizing the Indians while also respecting them (Document F). James Monroe's Indian policy had to do with the removal of Indians to keep the amount of problems under control (Documents M and N). Jefferson wrote to major general Andrew Jackson that if America could lead them to grow into a civilized people, they would be helping them immensely (Document F). The Jackson administration was, in a sense, attempting to do exactly the same what Monroe, Jefferson, and others attempted--they would move Indians off of their lands into a more favorable habitat in which they would be away from whites, and in which they can build up a civilization.
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The Cleveland Indians Sweep The Kansas City Royals
Cute Indian Woman SittingAlthough the process was not peaceably and agreed on mutually, the Jackson administration's policy on Indians was in fact a reformulation of older policies because it was an attempt to help civilize the savages.
Jackson's idea of moving the Indians off of their lands because of past disagreements was a common idea among past policies. Jackson figured that the Indians would live better if not in contact with whites, and whites would live better if not in contact with Indians. This would enable them to become a stronger civilization. President James Monroe wrote in 1825 that, "the removal of the Indian tribes from the lands which they now occupy...is of very high importance to our Union," (Document N). As Jackson stated in a letter to General John Coffee on April 7, 1832, "The decision of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that it cannot coerce Georgia...