Question/Problem 4: Did Andrew Jackson's expansion of presidential power benefit or harm the American people?

Directions: Read the following excerpt from President Andrew Jackson's message to Congress on December 7, 1835. Answer the questions listed below.

...The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the settled portions of the United States to the country west of the Mississippi River approaches its consummation. It was adopted on the most mature consideration of the condition of this race, and ought to be persisted in till the object is accomplished, and prosecuted with as much vigor as a just regard to their circumstances will permit, and as fast as their consent can be obtained. All preceding experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact that they can not live in contact with a civilized community and prosper. Ages of fruitless endeavors have at length brought us to a knowledge of this principle of intercommunication with them. The past we can not recall, but the future we can provide for. Independently of the treaty stipulations into which we have entered with the various tribes for the usufructuary rights they have ceded to us, no one can doubt the moral duty of the Government of the United States to protect and if possible to preserve and perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race which are left within our borders. In the discharge of this duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned for their permanent residence. The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded upon the knowledge we have gained of their character and habits, and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged liberality.

Henry Steele Commager, Documents of American History, p. 260.

1. Summarize in your own words what Jackson is saying.







2. How did the proposal expand the power of the President?







3. Did this proposal benefit or harm the American people? Explain the reasons for your answer.