John Quincy Adams or Henry Clay Avoid the Trail of Tears
* JQ Adams is remembered today largely for two things, for his strong antislavery stance and for the allegation of a “corrupt bargain” against him by Jackson's supporters. The first happened later in his career. After losing the presidency, he became a congressman and campaigned against slavery for almost three decades. But there was none of his antislavery fire while president. (See Appendix.)
* The second claim is false, and hypocritical since Jackson did virtually the same. (See Section Five.) What is far less known about Adams is that he was one of the first voices to try to stop or slow the forced removal of the Five Tribes, what became the Trail of Tears and the Second Seminole War.
* Adams had a low opinion of Natives, believing them barbaric. He did favor eventual removal of the Five Tribes. But unlike Jackson, he strongly opposed either force or illegal treaties. His principled, though limited, opposition would have stopped the Trail of Tears and removal of some of the tribes.
* Some have the false impression that all white Americans before 1900 or so, presidents included, were all deeply racist towards Natives and waged unceasing war on them. This belief is common for both racists who hate Natives and anti racists who think they are being properly cynical about US history. But America's history with Native people was very mixed. Though overall what happened to Natives clearly was genocide, it was not persistent unceasing atrocities. It was very much stop and start, with some presidents favoring, others opposed for both pragmatic reasons and genuine anti racism.
* Andrew Jackson was unique in his downright fanatic hatred of Natives, the most destructive anti-American Indian president in history after Reagan. (See Section One.) Jackson pushed harder than any other president in history to take Native land. It was his central campaign promise, “Vote Yourself a Farm.” Jackson's central appeal was based on being an Indian fighter, both on the battlefield and off.*
* If Jackson were defeated, or more likely never ran in either 1824 or 1828, there is a strong chance Adams could stop removal. As President, Adams canceled a fraudulent treaty between the Creek tribe and Georgia, the Treaty of the Dancing Rabbit. When the treaty was presented to him he realized it was signed by Creeks who were not leaders of the tribe and had no right to sign away their land. He urged Georgia to negotiate again. At one point Adams even threatened to send US troops to stop white colonists' theft of Creek lands. The governor of Georgia challenged him. Adams backed down and the Creeks were illegally removed.
* But though he favored removal and failed to stop one tribe's removal, what this episode shows is important. Adams was committed to the rule of law and ethical negotiations. If Adams had been re elected, he would never recognize the illegal Treaty of New Echota that forcibly removed the Cherokee. More than that, he would certainly not defy the Supreme Court as Jackson did. He would respect the court's decision.
* The biggest difficulty is imagining Adams re elected. It was not a close election. The most likely scenario that makes Adams' re election possible is if Jackson never ran at all. If Jackson had been killed in battle, not only would Adams be far more likely to be re elected, his first term would be far more successful without Jackson's supporters trying to vengefully sabotage it.
* Jackson was nearly killed in the Creek War. A Cherokee warrior allied with the US, Junaluska, saved his life from a Creek warrior. When Jackson forcibly removed the Cherokee and the other Five Tribes, Junaluska from then on regretted saving Jackson's life. He remarked later that, had he known the future, he would have killed Jackson himself.
* Who would lead the Democrats if not Jackson and run against Adams? The two other main candidates in 1824 were William Crawford and Henry Clay. Crawford suffered a stroke in 1823 that left him too weak to campaign in 1824. Almost certainly his health is to poor to be elected in 1828.
* If Clay had won in 1824, his views were fairly close to Adams on many matters, part of the reason Adams chose him as Secretary of State. Clay's views on Natives especially were very close to Adams's. Both considered Natives inferior, but both also strongly argued for their legal rights. Neither would have enforced the fraudulent Treaties of the Dancing Rabbit or New Echota. Where Clay was different from Adams was his skill in negotiations. Clay likely would outmaneuver the Governor of Georgia and protected the Creek tribe, letting them remain in at least part of their homeland.
* What about Jackson's supporters, if Jackson had died earlier? There were still many angry populists and Indian haters. Their most likely champion was John Calhoun, Adams' Vice President. Calhoun had run for president but withdrew, and accepted being VP under both Adams and then Jackson. What Calhoun is best remembered for today is his defense of slavery, secession, and states rights, three causes beloved by southern racists like Calhoun himself, their intellectual godfather. He was the first to propose nullification, that states could supposedly choose to cancel any national law. Calhoun was also one of the first and the most infamous of racists to claim slavery was not a necessary evil but even “a positive good” for the slave.
* As for Natives, Calhoun created the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which often bribed land office officials to help them swindle Native land. Calhoun also helped negotiate the taking of Texas from Mexico, though he opposed war with Mexico. He realized, unlike other slavery advocates, that most stolen land would not become slave states. More than any other official, he created the Confederacy. More than any official besides Polk or Buchanan, he started the US on the path to Civil War.
* The good news is, Calhoun was likely to lose to either Adams or Clay. While skilled at mounting intellectual defenses of racism and slavery, Calhoun had none of Jackson's ability to rally angry poor whites. Calhoun tried to unite southern racists and secessionists in his Address of the Southern Delegates in 1849. But most southern congressmen did not rally behind him.
* How would the US be different with most or all of the Five Tribes not ethnically cleansed ? This may head off or slow forced removal of Midwest tribes. The south itself might have a different character. It might be culturally closer to Arizona, where much of the white population directs their still deep racism at Natives rather than invents fanciful stories of an Indian in the family as southerners do.