In Zinn’s Chapter, “As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs”, he talks about the Indian Removal Act as Andrew Jackson’s influence in it. Like the other chapters, a history that I thought I knew has a cruel twist to it. I was taught about the Indian Removal Act and how the US government wanted to grow which led to the forceful removal of the Indians. The US wanted to expand and be able to produce more agriculture and have bigger civilizations, which required the Indians to move westward.
The really surprising part about this chapter is the description of Andrew Jackson. I was never really taught about Andrew Jackson in school and I always remember questioning why he is on the 20 dollar bill. The vague teachings of him led to me thinking that he did something worth getting recognized for and created this image of Jackson as a good person. Zinn does a great job in this chapter making Jackson look to be the opposite of this. Zinn goes on and mentions how he, Jackson, was one of the biggest enemies to the Indians while being a terrible leader with treating his soldiers terribly. Jackson, who has been vaguly remembered as the guy on the 20 dollar bill, is actually another hero that the history books made up. Zinn greatly emphasizes that Jackson persited on removing Indians westward even after most of them had already fled or been killed. Jackson used policies to take the blame of Indian displacement and death off his hands. In this chapter, Zinn gives another prime example of how the history that schooling systems teach its students, focuses on vague stories about “heroes”, like Andrew Jackson and Christopher Columbus, that do not grasp nearly the full history of what happened.
I also was never really taught the full truth behind Andrew Jackson. Zinn did a great job of portraying Jackson in a truthful light. Once again, our school systems have taught us the wrong side of history. How many other individuals and events of history have we been taught wrong? Have they ever taught us right?
I also don’t really remember being taught about Andrew Jackson in school. I just seem to have an image in my head of him as a hero but I’m not really sure why, and this new information about him mistreating Native Americans was definitely never covered, allowing me to believe he was a “good guy”.
Reading chapter 7 I also wondered why I have not been taught a lot about Andrew Jackson. It was a shock to me things that he did. Once again I feel as though I have been lied to from the american education system. The heroism around Christopher Columbus and Andrew Jackson is a surprise to after reading Zinn.
Similarly, I was never taught about Jackson, and I feel lied to as the depictions of the native American and American interactions are never taught in this light. While I had heard of major events like the trail of tears, I never knew the full story, which is disheartening.
Before reading Zin’s perspective on Andrew Jackson, the only thing I could tell you about him is that he made the Louisiana Purchase. Other than that I didn’t really know much about him. It also interests me now on why such an immoral person could be represented on the 20 dollar bill
It’s interesting how you use the word “required” to explain what needed to happen for US expansion because that’s exactly how they looked at it too. Jackson really felt that because it was something the United States wanted, that was justification to make everyone bend to whatever they demanded, and if it didn’t go that way, they should be killed.