The Handy American History Answer Book. David L. Hudson

What war brought Jackson into potential conflict with the presidency?

      President James Monroe asked Jackson to lead a campaign against the Seminole and Creek Indians in December 1817. Jackson ruthlessly carried out his task—and then arguably exceeded it. He ordered the execution of two British officers suspected of plotting against the United States by supplying weapons to the Indians. He also invaded Florida, a Spanish territory at the time. President James Monroe—against the advice of some of his Cabinet members—declined to punish or even censor Jackson for his actions.

      In what famous battles did Andrew Jackson prevail during the War of 1812 and the Creek War?

      Jackson led a successful campaign against the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814 during the Creek War (sometimes considered part of the War of 1812). Most famously, Jackson led outnumbered American forces in the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815. The defeat of the British made Jackson a national hero.

      What treaty ended the War of 1812?

      The Treaty of Ghent effectively ended the War of 1812. The treaty was signed in the Netherlands (present-day Belgium) in December 1814, although it was not ratified until February 1815 after the intervening Battle of New Orleans. Under the treaty, which the U.S. Senate ratified unanimously, the United States received its territories near the Great Lakes and Maine but renounced the lands they had acquired in Canada.

      What treaty helped soothe relations between the U.S. and Britain in President Monroe’s first year of office?

      The two countries signed the Rush–Bagot treaty in 1817, demilitarizing the Great Lakes area near the northern border of the U.S. This had been a hotly contested area of military conflict during the War of 1812. Under the treaty, each side would remove military posts, and a border was established between the U.S. and British territory (later Canada). The treaty was named after U.S. Secretary of State Richard Rush and British minister Sir Charles Bagot.

      TERRITORIAL CONFLICT AND EXPANSION

      What was the Louisiana Purchase?

      President Thomas Jefferson approved and ordered the Louisiana Purchase with Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, in 1803. Jefferson desired to acquire the French colony of Louisiana mainly to acquire the port city of New Orleans for commerce and defense purposes. Jefferson allegedly said: “There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy.” In other words, President Jefferson knew and appreciated the strategic importance of acquiring New Orleans and surrounding land.

      James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, the U.S. minister to France, negotiated the purchase with French authorities. The $15 million purchase included more than 800,000 square miles, roughly doubling the size of the United States. The U.S. Senate approved the purchase—completed in the form of a treaty—by a vote of 24–7. Upon the agreement, Livingston said: “From this day, the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank.”

      The land acquired during the Louisiana Purchase includes what is present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, much of North and South Dakota, and parts of New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, and Montana. It was one of the best and most important land deals in American history.

      What state did President Monroe acquire from Spain?

      Monroe obtained present-day Florida from Spain in February 1819 under the Adams–Onis Treaty. The treaty was named after U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish foreign minister Luis de Onis. Under the treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States, and the two countries set the southern borders of the United States, establishing that U.S. territory extended to the Pacific Ocean.

       What was Monroe’s policy toward Native Americans?

      Monroe appeared to support a policy that would protect the rights of Native Americans to land. In his first inaugural address, he said: “With the Indian tribes it is our duty to cultivate friendly relations and to act with kindness and liberality in all our transactions.” He advocated giving Native Indians simple titles to land for free, but although this seems generous on the surface, in reality the result was to break up the communal living style of the tribes so that they became separate land owners. It also allowed white settlers access to former Indian land.

      Furthermore, as would be true with many presidents to follow, Monroe would go back on treaties made with the tribes in earlier years, such as breaking an 1804 treaty with the Cherokee when the president asserted in 1824 the treaty had never been made.

      What was the Indian Removal Act?

      In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, a measure that President Jackson supported and signed into law that May. It called for the creation of an Indian territory in Oklahoma. Technically, the law called for the voluntary removal of various native tribes from the southeastern part of the United States. In practice, the law led to the forced removal of the Native Americans from their lands. The most famous of these removals was by the Cherokees from Georgia to what later became Oklahoma. This arduous journey became immortalized in history as the “Trail of Tears.”

      What was the impact of the Trail of Tears?

      The Trail of Tears devastated many Indian tribes, most notably the Cherokee. Thousands of Cherokees died from disease and starvation in the forced removal to Oklahoma. All told, nearly 50,000 American Indians were relocated. Along the way, four thousand Cherokee died.

      What were the American–Indian Wars?

      Historians use the term “American–Indian Wars” to discuss a long series of military conflicts between the United States and native peoples, as the European Americans slowly took over much of North America. Indeed, one could state that the wars began with the 1622 Jamestown massacre and did not end until 1924, when the Apache Wars were officially declared over.

      A map from the U.S. National Park Service shows the routes taken by Native Indians as they were removed from their homelands. Thousands died during the forced march.

      The history of the American–Indian Wars is often tragic and shameful. Much of the fighting was exacerbated by the U.S. government’s penchant for breaking treaties it had signed with various American Indian tribes; the U.S. military then forcibly removed Indians from land they had been told was theirs legally, herding the tribes into smaller and smaller reservations often located on land with poor resources that the U.S. government didn’t want anyway.

      What diplomatic crisis arose with Canada during the Van Buren presidency?

      Some Canadians began moving for independence from Great Britain. Some Americans helped the Canadians in their effort, exacerbating tensions in the U.S.–Great Britain relationship. Canadian loyalists, with support from Great Britain, then seized an American ship in 1837, the Caroline, containing supplies for Canadian rebels. During this seizure, American Amos Durfree was killed.

      Van Buren ordered General Winfield Scott to the area to prevent further hostilities. He also issued a proclamation of neutrality, stating that the United States would remain neutral in the Canadian–British struggle.

      What was the Aroostook War?

      The Aroostook War was not really a war. It was a tense conflict between Maine and New Brunswick about the proper border between the United States and Canada in the area along the Aroostook River. In 1839, the Maine legislature sent militia to the river to remove what it perceived to be Canadian interlopers. The New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor Sir John Harvey issued an order to remove Americans from what he believed to be Canadian, and thus British, land. Van Buren dispatched General Scott to work out a compromise, and eventually, both countries signed the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842.

      What did the Webster–Ashburton Treaty accomplish?

      The treaty was a significant diplomatic achievement that significantly reduced conflict between Great Britain and the United States. Signed on August 9, 1842, the main thrust of the treaty was