Question

Which statement best describes what Jackson's word choice reveals about his purpose in this passage?

Answer 1

Andrew Jackson is considered a "genocidal maniac against the Indians of the southwest who 'violated nearly every standard of justice', according to the historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown. He was also nicknamed as "Indian Killer" and "Sharp Knife" because of his forceful acts for Indian removal.

As president, he had to face conflicts between the southern states and Indian tribes. As they couldn't agree in their negotiations, Jackson's solution was the Indian Removal Act, with which he proposed a legal ethnic cleansing. He could also authorize to pursue a hard and fast removal of the Indian tribes and swap them away for the west Mississippi River's reservations.

The Removal Act forced the expulsion of thousands of Indians paving the way of more than 23 million acres of land to white settlement and cotton slavery plantation. In these brutal military campaigns he recommended the troops to systematically kill Indian women and children after the massacres attacking orders to complete them. It caused an event widely known as the "Trail of Tears" because of the thousands Indians that died of cold, hunger and disease on their way to the Mississippi lands.

Jackson spoke at the Congress and argued that a speedy removal would be very important to the country, to the states and also to the Indians, promising them freedom to search for happiness in their proper ways and, probably and gradually easing off "their savage habits and becoming an interesting, civilized and Christian community".

He truly believed his purposes to be correct and considered himself portraying paternalism and federal support as a generous act of mercy.

Jackson could only mean that he knew what was best for the Indians better then themselves calling them "savages" since he didn't agree with their differences and way of living, not considering them civilized people, but considering they would be better freely learning the Christian costumes away of the civilization as they were not welcomed within them, making letter A the correct answer.

Answer 2

For apex the answer is a. Jackson's use of the word "savages" suggests that he knows better than the American Indians what is good for them