From “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future” by Robert P. Jones
By 1830, the strong preference of whites for “Indian removal” over assimilation and sharing of resources became clear. After personally overseeing brutal military campaigns against Native Americans as a general in the US Army, Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828. Leveraging the incorporation of the Doctrine of Discovery into US law in the 1823 Johnson v. M’Intosh case, Andrew Jackson made “Indian removal” the center of his presidency and the official policy of the United States. His speech to the US Senate celebrating the passage of the 1830 Indian Removal Act is revealing:
“[The removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements] will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the states; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community.”