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Primary sourceSpeech6 December 1830

Message to Congress On Indian Removal

Andrew Jackson · 6 December 1830

Jackson's 1830 annual message to Congress describing Indian removal as a benevolent policy that would strengthen the southwestern frontier.

Jackson's own words defending and reporting on the Indian removal policy he pursued as president.

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Handwritten manuscript page in brown ink cursive, numbered 188 at top right, with lines of script about constitutional duty, presidential term limits, and Indian removal policy. Aged cream paper.
Andrew Jackson, Message to Congress on Indian Removal, 6 December 1830. U.S. National Archives, Washington, DC.

About this source

What it is

This is a manuscript page from President Andrew Jackson's annual message to Congress, delivered on December 6, 1830. In it, Jackson reports on the progress of removing American Indian nations living east of the Mississippi River to land in the west. The original is held by the U.S. National Archives.

Why it matters

Jackson calls removal a "benevolent policy" that would bring wealth and security to white settlers in states like Alabama and Mississippi. His words reveal how he justified displacing Native nations as progress, while the policy led to the forced removal of tens of thousands of people, including the Cherokee Trail of Tears, in which thousands died.

Look closer

  • Why does Jackson call a policy of forced removal "benevolent"?
  • Whose perspective is missing from this document?
  • How does the language used here shape how later readers might judge the policy?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren and Zachary Taylor on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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