Episode 3 - Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal

This third episode of American History Too! is all about one man – the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson (1829-1837).  In particular, we debate Jackson’s role in the removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homes in the East to newly allotted land west of the Mississippi in the 1830s. Before jumping into the Indian controversy, we bring you up to speed with what’s being happening the US since our last podcast on the Constitution – all in two minutes!  We then dive straight into work of historian Francis Prucha and explain – with the help of other historians such Mary Young and Jon Meacham – why his attempt to rehabilitate Jackson’s image is greatly flawed.   We also debate Jackson’s legacy with regards to the Native Americans – is Jackson a game changer or merely a colourful character? In addition, Richard Nixon is mentioned an obscene amount of times for a nineteenth century podcast, Malcolm misguidedly attempts to rank Jimmy Carter in the higher echelons of American presidencies, and we most definitely do not discuss the tariff.  Finally, we answer our listener Francesca’s question on whether – as suggested in The West Wing – Andrew Jackson really did have a big block of cheese in the White House. We hope you enjoy this third episode (which also features improved audio quality from our first two efforts) and please let us know if you have any comments, questions, or suggestions. Cheers, Mark & Malcolm (Contact us on Twitter at @ahtoopodcast or by email at [email protected]) Reading List:          Francis Paul Prucha, ‘Andrew Jackson’s Indian Policy: A Reassessment’, Journal of American History  56 (1969), pp.527-539 (available on JSTOR).          Mary Young, ‘The Cherokee Nation: Mirror of the Republic’, American Quarterly, 33 (1981), pp.502-24.          Ronald N Satz, "Indian Policy in the Jacksonian Era," in Leonard Dinnerstein and Kenneth T. Jackson (eds.),  American Vistas 1607-1877 (New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995), 211-227.           Jon Meacham, American lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House (New York : Random House, 2008) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices