cultureofresistance:

Newt Gingrich, a former History Professor, apparently understands U.S. history and politics better than I had given him credit for.  In the Republican debate on January 17th, when asked by the moderator if Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was in Pakistan, would he support a similar attack to what Obama did to Bin Laden?  He replied, “Andrew Jackson had a pretty clear cut idea about America’s enemies … KILL THEM.”  The crowed went wild with applause.  Andrew Jackson truly is a historical figure whose influences on U.S. Empire and colonial escapades persists even today.

Andrew Jackson was a wealthy slave owner and infamous Indian killer, gaining the nickname “Sharp Knife” from the Cherokee.  He was also the founder of the Democratic Party, demonstrating that genocide against Indigenous People is a nonpartisan issue.  His first effort at Indian fighting was waging a war against the Creeks.  President Jefferson had appointed him to appropriate Creek and Cherokee lands.  In his brutal military campaigns against Indians, “Andrew Jackson recommended that troops systematically kill Indian women and children after massacres in order to complete the extermination.”  The Creeks lost 23 million acres of land in southern Georgia and central Alabama, paving the way for cotton plantation slavery.  His frontier warfare and subsequent “negotiations” opened up much of the Southeast U.S. to settler colonialism.

(Source: solitaryforager)