Script:

Brian: Andrew Jackson

Mark and Matt: Natives

Meredith and Jules: Narrator

Brian: I am president Andrew Jackson. This is the offer I propose to the Indian people. I understand that they don’t want to leave this land, but it is for the best that they do. I have set aside land west of the Mississippi for them all to live. It would be wrong for me to give them nothing.  I want this movement to be their own choice, so I will not force any Indians to leave. However, if they choose not to leave, they must follow American laws. If they do not want to leave their land, then they will have to pay taxes and fight with the American army. This means that they might have to fight against their people. Whites and Indians just cannot get along together, and development of white civilization seems to be taking them over. It is in their interest that they go west.

Mark: We will refuse to pay taxes and fight against our own people. There are very few supplies to live off of in the new area. It is very weak land for the agricultural lifestyle for us. There are many other tribes that already live there. We would not thrive in that area. We would rather die on this land than give it up to you.

Matt: We also wouldn’t be accustomed to the new culture and languages that the Indian tribes out west practice and speak. We have done nothing wrong so why do we have to leave? We have complete right to the land that we have been sharing peacefully with your people for nearly forty years.

Meredith: While Andrew Jackson said that he wouldn’t force anyone to leave, this proved to be untrue. Tribes were first encouraged to leave, but eventually Cherokees were arrested and forced to leave their homeland.

Jules: Andrew Jackson forced the Native Americans to go on a march to their new home, now known as the Trail of Tears. 10,000 of the 80,000 people who were being forced to move died. Many of the 10,000 who died passed away before the march or in the concentration camps. When people would lose their lives on the trail, the others were not allowed to mourn and were forced to bury the dead on the side of the roads. Tribes that were formerly spread out over a large area were all condensed into one state that already had Natives living there.

Meredith: Andrew Jackson is not a “people's president”. He treated the native people of America very badly and lead to the death of thousands. He forced them to move from their homelands to places that were not equipped for their needs. He may have made the other white’s lives better but he killed so many of the native people.