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than two million acres of their once sacred land in Alabama. These grotesque acts do not deserve representation on the twenty dollar bill, nor do they deserve even a small painting. However, Jackson still had many more horrible acts to commit, even before his election to presidency.
It was an ambush by the Seminoles in 1817 that sparked the "need" for military action in Florida. Not only were they known for harboring fugitive slaves, but also for having boarder conflicts with the neighboring settlements (Ward 58). The government desired the acquisition of Florida, and suggested that the Seminoles join the Creeks as one tribe. The Seminoles did not favor this plan, and stood firm. Before the approval of the government or congress, Jackson gathered up his old officers (from the War of 1812) and decided to invade the Seminole territory (59). He was under the assumption that Congress would approve his actions, given the circumstances, and they did. With his troops, he crushed the natives. In a similar fashion to the Battle at Horseshoe Bend, he set fire to more than 100 houses and their neighboring villages, while kidnaping 300 Seminole women and children to use as slaves (Giddings 43). In Ward's book, Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age, he describes how Jackson "seemed to violate nearly every standard of justice" (59). He also states that although most of the nation was glad to gain Florida, those who opposed him wondered about the legality of the seizure. The Battle at Suwanee (1818) closed out the first Seminole war with devastation and despair. The war had a hidden agenda; it wasn't fought to punish the Seminoles for harboring slaves, but it was fought to continue the oppression of America's native peoples (Giddings 119). It accomplished what the war had set out to do and the oppression continued, even after Jackson's election.

Jackson was elected by the popular vote in 1828. Giddings writes in his book, Florida Exiles, that "Andrew Jackson was a warrior, and had more faith in the bayonet than in moral truths. He trusted much to physical power but had little confidence in kindness or in justice" (71). This proved true as he continued to force the Natives from their homes and made that the basis for his entire political agenda. He believed that the new white settlements would be weakened by the Indian presence (98), and that could not be tolerated.
Under the Jackson administration in 1828, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee formed laws that abolished

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