Over the course of mankind, certain populations of peoples have been persecuted and targeted by one person in particular; the Jewish people were persecuted by Hitler, the Cambodians by Pol Pot, the people of Uganda by Idi Amin, and the Kurds by Saddam Hussein. Sadly, all of these are stifled in comparison to the systematic and intentional destruction of the un-countless tribes of Native Americans by Thomas Jefferson. Despite the numerous accolades history has bestowed on a man who was the second Vice President and third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson’s atrocities against the Native Americans of the new world has largely been ignored and almost forgiven by historians. In Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First
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Jefferson essentially passed down his plans to Andrew Jackson, who successfully carried them out along with the help of Jefferson’s and Jackson’s administration. While President Jefferson kept up the facade of peace, he was secretly preparing to destroy Native Americans that were “hostile” towards the United States and the American government. In Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans, Jefferson’s letter documents his attitude toward Native Americans as he writes, “’We have learnt that some tribes are already expressing intentions of hostile to the United States, we think it proper to apprise them of the ground on which they now stand…we make them this solemn declaration of our unalterable determination that we wish them to live in peace with all nations as well as with us, and have no intentions ever to strike them or do them an injury of any sort, unless first attacked or threatened; but that learning that some of them mediate war on us, we too are preparing for war against those, and those only who shall seek it; and that if we ever are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the
Jefferson essentially passed down his plans to Andrew Jackson, who successfully carried them out along with the help of Jefferson’s and Jackson’s administration. While President Jefferson kept up the facade of peace, he was secretly preparing to destroy Native Americans that were “hostile” towards the United States and the American government. In Jefferson and the Indians: The Tragic Fate of the First Americans, Jefferson’s letter documents his attitude toward Native Americans as he writes, “’We have learnt that some tribes are already expressing intentions of hostile to the United States, we think it proper to apprise them of the ground on which they now stand…we make them this solemn declaration of our unalterable determination that we wish them to live in peace with all nations as well as with us, and have no intentions ever to strike them or do them an injury of any sort, unless first attacked or threatened; but that learning that some of them mediate war on us, we too are preparing for war against those, and those only who shall seek it; and that if we ever are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the