How Andrew Jackson Affected Native American Sexuality - Keona Holden

How Andrew Jackson Affected Native American Sexuality

Stemmed from a lecture in class, where I learned that Andrew Jackson was not a very pleasant man to Native Americans, I decided to learn more about Andrew Jackson’s presidency and how it affected the Native Americans’ sexuality.

Creek War 

In class we learned that Andrew Jackson actually recommended United States troops to thoroughly kill all the Native American women and children. The Creek war began when the United States government felt threatened because a portion of the Creek Indians, also known as the Red Sticks, lived in very close proximity to the Spanish immigrants.  The government thought that the two groups would come together against the United States.¹ This war lasted for one year. After the war, former President Jackson mutilated 800 Creek Indian women and children corpse that he massacred. Jackson’s concluded that women and children are essential to maintain a population. Also, a year after Jackson became president he signed a law that proposed the Indian Removal Act. This law was a form of ethnic cleansing, not only would the Native American women and children be killed, but the men too.

Location of Creek War

As a result of Andrew Jacksons desire to remove the Native American culture, many stereotypes formed about Native Americans.³ Most people back in history and some today are ignorant to the fact that not all Native Americans are the same.³ There are many Native American tribes that are still in existence today. Native Americans have distinct physical appearances, that others such as Andrew Jackson and Christopher Columbus were not familiar with.³ In class, we learned that women were portrayed as enjoying sex and seeking it out with every Anglo-American. But in the Native American culture, sex was viewed differently. Women almost “traded” sex in a sense in return for gifts. Anglo-Americans didn’t understand this practice and confused it with a sin, or prostitution. Anglo-Americans associated the nudity of Native American women with sexual sin and felt their marriages were filled with sin.

Democratic women in 113th Congress

After reading articles and looking over the PowerPoint presented in class, I realized that Andrew Jackson didn’t just kill innocent women and children; he contributed to a patriarchal mindset of Anglo-Americans. The Anglo-Americans did not take after the Native American culture where the women were mainly in charge of the community. This patriarchal mindset that was found in history is very present in todays world. For example, men substantially make more money than women a year. Men are also made as authority figures in today’s world. Congress has a total of 535 voting members. 435 of which are Representatives and 100 are Senators. There are only 81 women in the House of Representative and 20 women in the Senate. ⁴ These numbers are considerably lower than men serving in those same positions. To put it briefly, although Andrew Jackson is known for positive things such as serving in the military, he was not totally positive. He aided in the mass decrease of Native American population, which subsequently affected the history of sex of Native American women.

  

Works Cited

1.University of Groningen, "Andrew Jackson 1767-1845 A brief biography." Accessed February 27, 2014. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/biographies/andrew-jackson/the-creek-war-1813-1814.php.

2. Indian Country Today Media Network, "Indian-Killer Andrew Jackson Deserves Top Spot on List of Worst U.S. Presidents Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-list-worst-us-presidents-98997." Last modified FEBRUARY 20, 2012. Accessed February 27, 2014. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-list-worst-us-presidents-98997.

3. Mihesuah, Decon. American Indians: Stereotypes and Realities. Clarity Press, 1995.

4. Info Please, "Women in the 113th Congress." Last modified 2012. Accessed February 27, 2014. http://www.infoplease.com/us/government/113-congress-women.html.