Cobbs-Hoffman Elizabeth, Blum Edward J., Gjerde Jon. Major Problems in American History, Volume I, 3 edition (ENG)
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clothes and other comforts. Morality listens to this, and so invariably do
the laws of nature create our duties and interests, that when they seem
to be at variance, we ought to suspect some fallacy in our reasonings. In
solving this question, too, we should allow its just weight to the moral
and physical preference of the agricultural, over the manufacturing, man.
This statement was a striking reaffirmation of Jefferson’s fundamental beliefs
on the subject of political economy, a statement that differed very little from his
well-known observations in the Notes on Virginia of twenty years earlier. Jefferson’s
encounter with Malthus thus served, in the end, to reconfirm his basic vision of a
predominantly agricultural America that would continue to export its bountiful
surpluses of food abroad. Such a republic, he believed, would best serve not only
its own citizens, by permitting them to pursue a virtuous way of life, but also the
European victims of a Malthusian fate, by providing them with the subsistence
they desperately needed. It seems clear, above all, that Jefferson’s brimming confi-
dence during this period—expressed both in his response to Malthus and in his
restatement of agrarian beliefs—must be viewed in the context of the Louisiana
Purchase. With the Federalists properly and, Republicans hoped, permanently dis-
placed from power in the national government, there was no need to worry about
the dangers to a republican political economy from political corruption. With
Louisiana safely added to the Union, there was also no need to worry about the
danger of foreign powers choking off the American supply of land. The acquisition
of Louisiana probably removed any Mathusian doubts Jefferson might have had
about the long-range viability of republicanism in America. Indeed, the Louisiana
question touched on so many aspects of the Jeffersonian vision of a republican
political economy that it deserves much closer investigation.
The Mississippi crisis of 1801–1803, which culminated in the Louisiana Purchase,
affected crucial and long-standing American concerns. Since the 1780s most
Americans had regarded free navigation of the Mississippi River and the right
of deposit at New Orleans as essential to the national interest. Without the access
to market that these conditions permitted, westward expansion would be stalled,
because settlers in the trans-Appalachian regions necessarily depended on the
Mississippi and its tributaries to sustain them as active and prosperous republican
farmers….
… [C]ontrol of the Mississippi permitted westerners to engage in a secure
and dynamically expanding foreign commerce and, as always, Americans saw
the significance of commerce in very broad social and moral terms. It was repeat-
edly asserted that an active commerce that provided a secure and dependable
access to foreign markets was absolutely necessary to establish and maintain the
republican character of western society….
By rectifying the chronic problem of an uncertain, rapidly fluctuating
demand for western agricultural surpluses, the Purchase thus served an important
social and moral purpose. “No ruinous fluctuations in commerce need now be
apprehended,” noted another western commentator, for “agriculture may depend
upon those steady markets which trade shall open to industry.” There could be
COMPETING VISIONS OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 193
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no doubt that a “want of markets for the produce of the soil” always had disas-
trous consequences, for “it saps the foundations of our prosperity; subverts the
end of society, and literally tends to keep us in that rude, uncultivated state,
which has excited the derision and contempt of other communities.”“As long
as this is the state of our country,” the same observer queried in familiar fashion,
“what encouragement is there for the mind to throw off its native ferocity?” By
permanently securing control of the Mississippi River and the promise of bound-
less foreign markets beyond, the Louisiana Purchase did more than pave the way
for economic prosperity. By providing the incentive to industry that shaped a
republican people, it laid the necessary basis for the westward expansion of
republican civilization itself….
Jefferson’s notion of a continuously expanding “empire of liberty” in the
Western Hemisphere was a bold intellectual stroke, because it flew in the face
of the traditional republican association of expansion and empire with luxury, cor-
ruption, and especially despotism. The familiar bugbear of the Roman Empire
and its decline through imperial expansion was the most common source of this
association. According to Jefferson and most American republicans, expansion
would preserve, rather than undermine, the republican character of America. In
addition to forestalling development through time and diffusing the spirit of fac-
tion, expansion was crucial to American security in its broadest sense. Removing
the French from Louisiana also removed the need for a dangerous military estab-
lishment in the face of a contiguous foreign threat. It greatly reduced, too, the
likelihood of American involvement in a ruinous war that would impose on the
young republic the vicious Old World system of national debts, armies, navies,
taxation, and the like. For a plethora of reasons, in short, peaceful expansion was
sustaining the Jeffersonian republic.
But if the Louisiana Purchase removed some serious obstacles to the realiza-
tion of Jefferson’s republican empire, it also exposed some of the tensions and
contradictions within that vision. Since the proper functioning of the empire
required both westward and commercial expansion, an assertive, even aggressive,
foreign policy would often be necessary to secure the republic. The Jeffersonians
frequently boasted of the isolation and independence of the United States; curi-
ously, this claim obscured the fact that American republicanism demanded both
an open international commercial order and the absence of any competing pres-
ence on the North American continent. The United States could isolate itself
from foreign affairs and the potential for conflict only if it was willing to resign
its tenacious commitment to westward expansion and free trade. To do this,
however, would be to abandon the two most important pillars of the Jeffersonian
vision of a republican political economy. Indeed, given the commitment to that
vision, the national independence and isolated self-sufficiency boasted of by the
Jeffersonians were illusory.
194 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
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FURTHER READING
Joyce Oldham Appleby, Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans (2000).
Lance Banning, The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology (1978).
Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton (2004).
Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism, 1788–1800 (1993).
Joseph J. Ellis, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson (1998).
Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (2002).
Linda K. Kerber, Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Republican America (1980).
David McCullouch, John Adams (2002).
James Roger Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (1993).
David Waldstreicher, In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism,
1776–1820 (1997).
Philipp Ziesche, Cosmopolitan Patriots: Americans in Paris in the Age of Revolution (2009).
COMPETING VISIONS OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 195
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CHAPTER 7
Foreign Policy, Western
Movement, and Indian Removal
in the Early Nineteenth Century
American foreign policy in the early national period looked both east and west. The United
States continued to maintain and develop relationships with European nations and this
interaction had a profound impact on American development. For example, France sold
the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803 doubling its size with the stroke of
a pen, which made the United States one of the largest nations in the world. Less advan-
tageous for the United States was its weak standing in relation to the European powers.
British and French warships harassed American ships in the early nineteenth century, and
the hostile posture of the British became particularly galling for many Americans. Struggles
with France and Britain caused economic problems for Americans, as they sought to protect
their economy from foreign goods while still wishing to sell goods abroad. The Embargo Act
of 1807, which forbade international trade to and from American ports, was largely a fail-
ure of Jefferson’s administration to respond to international war and economics. By 1812,
the United States, led by a group of young and aggressive legislators known as “War-
hawks,” declared war on Britain. After a series of battles that put the future of the United
States in danger—including the British attack on Washington and Baltimore —the war
turned into a stalemate. An inconclusive war finally culminated in the Treaty of Ghent
in 1815. The War of 1812 had two profound consequences. First, American leaders be-
came increasingly leery of what President Washington had called “entangling alliances”
with European nations. Second, many white Americans turned their attention westward
to regions peopled by members of Indian nations.
As American foreign policy became focused on relationships with Indian nations, the
challenges for Indian people multiplied. Indian-white interaction had existed for centuries
and native people accepted some aspects of Euro-American society and rejected others. The
accelerated growth in the early nineteenth century, however, only made more urgent the
Native American response. Some elements of Indian cultures fostered movements of
196
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revitalization that attempted to reclaim aspects of culture that had been lost due to Indian
interaction. On occasion, these revitalization movements were powerful forces in nurturing
efforts by Indians to band together and contest white society. The most notable movement
began in 1805 when a Shawnee man named Lalawathika seemingly returned from death.
He told of meeting the Master of Life who showed him the way to lead his people out of
degradation. Known to Americans as the Prophet, he adopted the name Tenskwatawa and
he began to preach a message that advocated a return to a traditional lifestyle. By 1807, he
began to suggest that Indian groups unite to resist white expansion. Just prior to the War of
1812 Tenskwatawa and his brother Tecumseh had built a confederacy of Indian nations to
challenge American military aims in present day Indiana. The movement ended in bloody
conflict, the most notable battle being the Battle of Tippecanoe when the American army
aided by frontiersmen defeated the Indian coalition.
An alternative strategy in resisting the westward migration was a selective acceptance of
certain aspects of white society. In particular, people from the Creek and Cherokee nations
were active in embracing aspects of white society varying from written language, farming,
and even slavery. By 1827, the Cherokee drafted and ratified a constitution and began
publishing their own newspaper one year later. Unfortunately for them, these innovations
were dismissed by the state of Georgia. In 1828, the Cherokee constitution was annulled
by the Georgia legislature. Despite—perhaps because of—legal appeals to the U.S.
Supreme Court, the hostility toward the Cherokee increased. Between 1830 and 1835,
Indian nations in the southeastern United States, Cherokees and Creeks included, were
forced to remove to “Indian territory” in present-day Oklahoma.
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT
What advantages might the United States have gained from it policies toward
Europe ranging from President Washington’s Farewell Address to the Monroe
Doctrine? How could white-Indian interaction reflect a combination of cooper-
ation and savagery? Which strategy used by Indians—resistance or acculturation—
was more successful in grappling with the westward migration of white Americans?
DOCUMENTS
The documents in this chapter alternatively focus upon American approaches to
and interactions with Europeans and Native Americans. President George
Washington, in document 1, worries about entering into alliances with other
nations in his Farewell Address in 1796. Document 2 moves to the frontier,
where William Clark—one of the leaders Lewis and Clark journey to the Pacific
Ocean—writes about his diplomatic engagements with native peoples. In a letter
written in 1806 to a white man who has offered assistance in dealing with the
Indians, Clark includes a speech that he delivered to the Yellowstone Indians.
Document 3 is an address by Sagoyewatha, also known as Red Jacket, to a
Massachusetts missionary. A member of the Seneca nation, Sagoyewatha chides
FOREIGN POLICY, WESTERN MOVEMENT, AND INDIAN REMOVAL 197
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the missionary for his attempt to convert the Indians to Christianity. William
Cullen Bryant, who would become one of the most famous American poets,
satirizes the Embargo Act in document 4 with a poem he wrote at only thirteen
years old. The next two documents illustrate the conflicts between Indians and
the U.S. government that developed around the time of the War of 1812. In
document 5, Tecumseh, in a speech delivered to Governor William H. Harrison
in 1810, recounts the misdeeds of whites and expresses his belief that the only
way to stop “this evil” is for all Indians to unite. In document 6, Tecumseh’s
brother, Tenskwatawa, describes his vision of going to the World Above and
the knowledge he gained from the journey with regard to revitalizing Indian
culture. Document 7 turns our attention back to American foreign policy with
Europeans. The Monroe Doctrine declares that the Western Hemisphere is closed
to further European colonization. As Americans puzzled over foreign policy with
Europe, the condition of Indians was deteriorating. Document 8 is an appeal by
the Cherokee nation against removal from Georgia in 1830. Document 9 is
President Andrew Jackson’s response in 1833 where he applauds the “benevolent
policy” of compelling Native Americans to move from their lands.
1. President George Washington Warns
Against “Entangling Alliances,” 1796
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are par-
ticularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many
opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts
of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils!
Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation
dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me,
fellow citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since
history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful
foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial;
else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a
defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike
of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and
serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots,
who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and
odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the peo-
ple to surrender their interests.
The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending
our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as pos-
sible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with
perfect good faith. Here let us stop.
Washington’s Farewell Address (1796). Reprinted in Washington’s Farewell Address to the People of the United States, Senate
Publication No. 108-21 (Washington, 2004), 25–28.
198 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
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Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none or a very
remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the cause
of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence therefore it must be un-
wise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.
Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a differ-
ent course. If we remain one people under an efficient government, the period is
not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when
we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time
resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the
impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us
provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest guided by jus-
tice shall counsel.
Why forgo the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to
stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any
part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambi-
tion, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of
the foreign world—so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it, for let me
not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements
(I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty
is always the best policy)—I repeat it therefore, let those engagements be observed
in their genuine sense. But in my opinion it is unnecessary and would be unwise
to extend them.
2. William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Enters into Diplomacy with Native People, 1806
SIR In the winter of 1805, you were so obliging as to express a disposition to
assist us in the execution of any measure relative to the Savages with whome you
were conversant, or that you would lend your aid in furthering the friendly
views of our government in relation to the Same, no object as we then informed
you did at that time present itself to our view, which we conceived worthy of
your attention, at present we have a commission to charge you with, which if
executed, we have no doubt will tend to advance your private interest, while it
will also promote those of the U. States in relation to the intercourse of her
citizens with the Indian nations in the interior of North America. It is that of
provailing on some of the most influensial Chiefs of those bands of Sioux who
usially resort the borders of the Missouri to visit the Seat of our Government,
and to accompany them there yourself with us. The Tetons of the burnt woods,
Teton Ockandandas, and other bands of Tetons, Cisitons, and yanktons of the
Letter to Hugh Henney and speech prepared for Yellowstone Indians, in The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark, V (1806), in Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804–1806, ed, Reuben
Gold Thwaites (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1905), 282–283, 285–286, 299–301.
FOREIGN POLICY, WESTERN MOVEMENT, AND INDIAN REMOVAL
199
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Plains are the Objects of our attention on this occasion, Particularly the Bands of
Tetons; those untill some effectual measures be taken to render them pacific, will
always prove a serious source of inconveniance to the free navigation of the
Missouri, or at least to it’s upper branches, from whence the richest portion of
it’s fur trade is to be derived.
The ardent wish of our government has ever been to conciliate the esteem
and secure the friendship of all the Savage nations within their territory by the
exercise of every consistent and pacific measure in her power, applying those of
coercion only in the last resort; certain we are that her disposition towards the
native inhabitants of her newly acquired Territory of Louisiana is not less
friendly; but we are also positive that she will not long suffer her citizens to be
deprived of the free navigation of the Missouri by a few comparatively feeble
bands of Savages who may be so illy advised as to refuse her proffered friendship
and continue their depridation on her citizens who may in future assend or
decend that river.
We believe that the sureest guarantee of savage fidility to any nation is a
thorough conviction on their minds that their government possesses the power
of punishing promptly every act of aggression committed on their part against
the person or property of their citizens; to produce this conviction without the
use of violence, is the wish of our government; and to effect it, we cannot devise
a more expedient method than that of takeing some of the best informed and
most influential Chiefs with us to the U. States, where they will have an ample
view of our population and resources, become convinced themselves, and on
their return convince their nations of the futility of an attempt to oppose the
Will of our government, particularly when they shall find, that their acquies-
cence will be productive of greater advantages to their nation than their most
sanguine hopes could lead them to expect from oppersition.
We have before mentioned to you the intentions of our government to
form tradeing establishments on the Missouri with a view to secure the attach-
ments of the nativs and emeliorate their sufferings by furnishing them with such
articles as are necessary for their comfort on the most moderate terms in ex-
change for their peltries and furs…. an Indian Agent will of course be necessary
at that post, your long acquaintance and influence with those people necessary
places your protentions to that appointment on the fairest Ground, and should
you think proper to under take the commission now proposed, it will still fur-
ther advance those pretentions….
In your communication with the Sioux, in addition to other considerations
which may suggest themselves to your mind, yo u will be pleased to assure
them of the friendly views of our government towards them, their power and
resources, their intention of establishing tradin g houses in their neighborhood
and the objects of those establishments, inform them that the mouth of all the
rivers through [wh ich] traders convey Merchindize to their country are now in
possession of the U nited States, who can at pleasure cut off all communication
between themselves and their accusto med traders, and consequently the in ter-
est they have in cultivateing our friendship. Y ou may also promis them in the
event of their going on with us, that they shall r eceive from our government a
200 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
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considerable present in Merchindize, which will be conveyed at the public exp-
ence with them to their nation on their return, urge them also to go imediately,
on the ground, that their doing so will haisten the establishment of the tradeing
house in contemplation.
[Speech prepared for Yellowstone Indians]
Children The Great Spirit has given a fair and bright day for us to meet to-
gether in his View that he may inspect us in this all we say and do.
Children I take you all by the hand as the children of your Great father the
President of the U. States of America who is the great chief of all the white
people towards the riseing sun.
Children This Great Chief who is Benevolent, just, wise & bountifull has
sent me and one other of his chiefs (who is at this time in the country of the
Blackfoot Indians) to all his read children on the Missourei and its waters quite
to the great lake of the West where the land ends and the [sun] sets on the face
of the great water, to know their wants and inform him of them on our return….
Children The object of my comeing to see you is not to do you injurey but
to do you good the Great Chief of all the white people who has more goods at
his command than could be piled up in the circle of your camp, wishing that all
his read children should be happy has sent me here to know your wants that he
may supply them.
Children Your great father the Chief of the white people intends to build a
house and fill it with such things as you may want and exchange with you for
your skins & furs at a very low price. & has derected me [to] enquire of you, at
what place would be most convenient for to build this house. and what articles
you are in want of that he might send them imediately on my return
Children The people in my country is like the grass in your plains noumer-
ous they are also rich and bountifull. and love their read brethren who inhabit
the waters of the Missoure
Children I have been out from my country two winters, I am pore necked
and nothing to keep of [f] the rain. when I set out from my country I had a
plenty but have given it all to my read children whome I have seen on my way
to the Great Lake of the West. and have now nothing….
Children The red children of your great father who live near him and have
opened their ears to his counsels are rich and hapy have plenty of horses cows &
Hogs fowls bread &c. &c. live in good houses, and sleep sound. and all those of
his red children who inhabit the waters of the Missouri who open their ears to
what I say and follow the counsels of their great father the President of the
United States, will in a fiew years be a[s] hapy as those mentioned &c.
Children It is the wish of your Great father the Chief of all the white peo-
ple that some 2 of the principal Chiefs of this [blank space in diary.] Nation
should Visit him at his great city and receive from his own mouth. his good
counsels, and from his own hands his abundant gifts, Those of his red children
who visit him do not return with empty hands, he [will] send them to their
nation loaded with presents
FOREIGN POLICY, WESTERN MOVEMENT, AND INDIAN REMOVAL 201
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Children If any one two or 3 of your great chiefs wishes to visit your great
father and will go with me, he will send you back next Summer loaded with
presents and some goods for the nation. You will then see with your own eyes
and here with your own years what the white people can do for you. they do
not speak with two tongues nor promis what they can’t perform
Children Consult together and give me an answer as soon as possible your
great father is anxious to here from (& see his red children who wish to visit
him) I cannot stay but must proceed on & inform him &c.
3. Iroquois Chief Red Jacket Decries
the Day When Whites Arrived, 1805
“Brother; Listen to what we say.
“There was a time when our forefathers owned this great island. Their seats
extended from the rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the
use of Indians. He had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food.
He had made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He had
scattered them over the country, and taught us how to take them. He had caused
the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done for his red children,
because He loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting ground,
they were generally settled without the shedding of much blood. But an evil day
came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great water, and landed on this island.
Their numbers were small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they
had fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and had come here to
enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on them, granted
their request: and they sat down amongst us. We gave them corn and meat, they
gave us poison (alluding, it is supposed, to ardent spirits) in return.
“The white people had now found our country, Tidings were carried back,
and more came amongst us. Yet we did not fear them. We took them to be
friends. They called us brothers. We believed them, and gave them a larger
seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land:
they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened, and our minds became uneasy.
Wars took place, Indians were hired to fight against Indians, and many of our
people were destroyed. They also brought strong liquor amongst us. It was
strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.
“Brother; Our seats were once large and yours were small. You have now
become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets.
You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force your religion
upon us.
“Brother; Continue to listen.
Red Jacket’s Reply to Reverend Cram (1805), first published in Monthly Anthology and Boston Review 6 (April 1809):
221–224. This document can also be found in Red Jacket: Iroquois Diplomat and Orator, Christopher Densmore (Syracuse,
N.Y. Syracuse University Press, 1999), 135–140.
202 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
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