1. Analyze the U.S. government's changing policies toward Native Americans from an assimilationist strategy in the early 19th century to removal and isolation after 1825.
                Were the policies of Indian removal announced by
                President Monroe in his last annual message (December
                1824) and implemented by Andrew Jackson the result of
                Jeffersonian paternalism toward Native Americans or a
                decided reorientation of U.S. policy?
 
    The policies of Indian removal which were announced by President Monroe in his last annual message in December of 1824 and which were implemented by Andrew Jackson were the direct result of Jeffersonian paternalism toward Native Americans.  In Jefferson’s first annual speech to Congress, he was delighted to report that the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements had been a success.  He reported that at the previous session of Congress, two important Native American tribes had accepted the provision that was made for their removal and Jefferson hoped that it would induce other tribes to seek the same advantages.  Jefferson also stated that the consequence of a speedy removal would be important to the United States, to individual states, and also to the Native Americans themselves.  He stated that in addition to the economic advantages towards the government, it would also bring about an end to all possible danger of collision between the General and State Governments on account of the Indians.
    Jefferson also claimed that the Native Americans would receive advantages to their removal.  He claimed that it would separate the Native Americans from immediate contact with white settlements and that it shall free them from the power of the states.  After having been removed, they shall be able to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own institutions.  He claimed that removal shall slow the process of decay, which was lessening the Native American population and perhaps gradually cause them to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, Christian community.

    In President Madison’s last annual message to Congress in December of 1824, he mentioned some of the problems regarding the Native Americans and his solutions to these problems.  He stated that the relations with the Native American tribes had been negative and unchanging.  He claimed that there was a continuing hostility between numerous Native American tribes and white settlements along the state of Missouri, which had been worsening.
    Several parties of citizens had been plundered and murdered by certain Native American tribes.  President Madison concluded that the removal of Native Americans from white settlements was necessary due to his own beliefs and the same ones that Jefferson had stated in the past and therefore issued the Indian Removal Act on May 20, 1830.  This act provided for the relocation, by force if necessary, of Indian nations living east of Mississippi to Indian territory, which is now present-day Oklahoma.
    Both Jefferson and Madison could have approached the solution in a more peaceful manner.  Jefferson was wrong in criticizing the ways of the Native American ways by making derogatory statements saying that their lifestyles were primitive and that it would be necessary for them to adopt American culture.  By today’s standards, his statements would have been considered politically incorrect, and he himself would be criticized for being disrespectful towards Native American culture.