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and lasted six months. During that time, their escorts routinely took the Natives through places where epidemic diseases were rampant, and had them walking through the bitter cold. Feeding them rancid meat and spoiled flour, it was more of a death march than a "relocation." Because of these horrible conditions, they only averaged ten miles a day, and buried approximately fourteen to fifteen bodies wherever they stopped (Stannard 125). Once they had reached their destination in Oklahoma, four thousand had died on their 1000 mile trip, a quarter of their population. Once they arrived at their destination, they discovered that much of the land was unfertile and could barely sustain them, (Kinney 70). This was all part of Jackson's Removal Act; he did not simply mean removal from the territory, but removal from existence as well.

The Encyclopedia of Genocide states that "Genocide is neither accidental nor an unintended result of the actions of the states, armies, private companies, or development agencies" (351). The removal of the Native Americans was never directly called a "Genocide," but it is clear that the government intended it to be. Considered a "developmental genocide," the Native Americans were forced out for the "good of the country" because they could never fully culturally assimilate. Their involuntary settlement is viewed as "genocide-at-law" (Strickland 2), and those words don't even begin to capture the atrocities under the direction of Jackson. It is because of these reasons, because of his war crimes ranging from tanning human hides, to burning down houses, that he does not deserve the recognition the present American culture affords him.

Works Cited

"Biography of Andrew Jackson." The Presidents of the United States. 2 April 05.

Giddings, John. The Exiles of Florida. Gainsville: University of Florida Press, 1964.

Hitchcock, Robert K. "Genocide of Indigenous Populations." Encyclopedia of Genocide. Vol 2. 1999.

"Indian Removal 1814-1858 ." 1 April 05.

Kinney, J.P. A Continent Lost, a Civilization Won. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc, 1937.

Stannard, David, E. The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Strickland, Rennard. "Native American Removal."The Oxford Companion to American Law. Kermit L. Hall, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Ward, John William. Andrew Jackson- Symbol for an Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1962.

Weeks, Phillip. The American Indian Experience. Arlington Heights: Forum Press Inc. 1988.

Wright, Ronald. Stolen Continents. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992.

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