On Indian Removal

Content Warning: The source material displays racial and ethnic prejudice and promotes ethnic cleansing.

Jackson’s brief address uses an empathetic tone, simple diction, and other rhetorical strategies to frame Jackson as a paternal figure protecting and encouraging the developing American identity and nation. The speech was delivered on December 6, 1830, and Jackson’s immediate audience was a Congress composed of all white men ranging in age from approximately 40 to 70 years old. While some opposed Jackson’s plan, many supported a stronger federal government (the “collisions” of state and federal governments over the question of Indigenous Americans were among the Divisions Within America that formed the backdrop to Jackson’s speech). However, his larger audience was the newly formed Democratic party. A “Jacksonian Democrat” was someone who believed in personal liberty regardless of economic or social status, championed the voice of the “common man,” and did not bend to the will of the elite. This diverged from the long-standing practice of wealthy, land-owning, legacy candidates running for and participating in government, and the tension between Jackson’s constituency and the population of Congress is another of the divisions the speech implicitly addresses.