Jackson's Policies in Modern Textbooks
We researched online, specifically on the websites of popular textbook companies, such as Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and searched their teacher and student resources for references of Jackson’s policies. The topic of Native American removal and Jackson’s policies concerning this are rarely mentioned in primary grade textbooks. By the mid to late intermediate grades there seems to be at least some reference to Andrew Jackson’s Native American removal policies of the early 1800s. The chapter outline of a Macmillan/McGraw fifth grade textbook, The United States: Early Years, states that “Andrew Jackson was elected President in 1828. Jackson promised to protect the rights of average Americans. As Americans moved westward, tensions grew with Native Americans. Congress created the Indian Territory and thousands of Native Americans were relocated”. This suggests that the specifics of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Trail of Tears are not described in detail. In addition the term “relocated” implies that the Native Americans were cooperative and/or the Americans did not use force to ensure that the Native Americans did move westward.
Unlike our findings with the intermediate textbook, a middle school textbook, The American Journey Early Years, does mention the Trail of Tears and the fact that Jackson “approved” the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that called for the westward movement of Native American groups. In addition, the textbook explains that the federal government paid thousands of Indians to move westward and that despite this many groups still resisted relocation. Although this may have been the federal government's intent, we know that many Native Americans were not paid to relocate or that they were paid an extremely small amount of money to do so. Unfortunately, this was not mentioned in the chapter notes on the Macmillan/McGraw website, and therefore we assumed that it is not mentioned in the actual text either. Though this text attempts to depict Jackson’s policies in a more detailed and accurate manner and states that “most Native Americans had been taken from their lands by force”, it still suggests that the American government had every right to force Native Americans off of lands they had been living on long before the Americas were even discovered.
Despite the presentation of Jackson's Native American removal policies in textbooks, they still serve as good resources for students. Teachers can use the information from the textbooks along with books such as Joseph Bruchac's Trail of Tears and Roben Alacron's American Indians in the 1800s: Expanding & Preserving the Union to provide students with a more well-rounded view of the event.
Unlike our findings with the intermediate textbook, a middle school textbook, The American Journey Early Years, does mention the Trail of Tears and the fact that Jackson “approved” the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that called for the westward movement of Native American groups. In addition, the textbook explains that the federal government paid thousands of Indians to move westward and that despite this many groups still resisted relocation. Although this may have been the federal government's intent, we know that many Native Americans were not paid to relocate or that they were paid an extremely small amount of money to do so. Unfortunately, this was not mentioned in the chapter notes on the Macmillan/McGraw website, and therefore we assumed that it is not mentioned in the actual text either. Though this text attempts to depict Jackson’s policies in a more detailed and accurate manner and states that “most Native Americans had been taken from their lands by force”, it still suggests that the American government had every right to force Native Americans off of lands they had been living on long before the Americas were even discovered.
Despite the presentation of Jackson's Native American removal policies in textbooks, they still serve as good resources for students. Teachers can use the information from the textbooks along with books such as Joseph Bruchac's Trail of Tears and Roben Alacron's American Indians in the 1800s: Expanding & Preserving the Union to provide students with a more well-rounded view of the event.