Did Andrew Jackson SAVE the Cherokee?

[Racer1]

Thanks for your excellent answers, spoke-, and very good post, Sampiro!

It seems to me that it was a terrible, terrible event, but I think Sampiro hit the nail on the head when he said…

While even at the time Jackson was reviled by many for the act, it is absolutely impossible and unfair to judge him with 21st century eyes since peaceful co-existence, to paraphrase Spoke, couldn’t have been achieved by Jesus himself.

That sums it up for me. It doesn’t seem as clear-cut as blaming one person’s wickedness. I think emotions have (very understandably) come into play on how Jackson is remembered.

[smiling_bandit]

You ask for a solution. As long as you wish to dwell in the land of supposition and generality, I see no problem with a relatively small band or two of well-armed calvary/bounty hunters roaming freely across the area, forcibly evicting any squatters, and meeting resistance with lethal force. Heck, relatively small forces had tremendous success against the Indians out west! Of course, doing so would require acknowledgment of the Indian’s sovereign right to their territory, and we wouldn’t want to do that, would we?

SO you oppose the moving of Cherokees on the grounds that we could have shot our own citizens?