Historical Thinking Skills
As you read each source, practice these four skills:
- Sourcing Who created this? When? Why?
- Contextualization What was happening when this was created?
- Close Reading What exactly does it say? What stands out?
- Corroboration How does it compare to other sources?
Margaret Bayard Smith on Jackson's Inaugural
Before You Read
When Andrew Jackson was inaugurated, thousands of ordinary citizens crashed the White House reception. The crowd was so large and rowdy that Jackson had to escape through a window. Margaret Bayard Smith, a Washington socialite, described the scene.
What a scene did we witness!… a rabble, a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling, fighting, romping. What a pity, what a pity!… Cut glass and china to the amount of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get the refreshments… Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses.
Vocabulary
- rabble — a disorderly crowd
- romping — playing roughly
- inaugural — related to an inauguration, the ceremony of taking office
Sourcing Questions
- Margaret Bayard Smith was a wealthy Washington socialite. How does her social class affect her reaction?
- Is she horrified by democracy or by disorder?
Close Reading
- Who showed up to Jackson's inauguration who wouldn't have shown up before? Why is that significant?
- What specific details show how chaotic the event was?
Corroboration
The textbook describes Jacksonian democracy as expanding voting rights for white men. Does this account illustrate that change?
Citation
Smith, Margaret Bayard. "Letter Describing Andrew Jackson's Inauguration." 1829. In The First Forty Years of Washington Society. Scribner's, 1906.
The Indian Removal Act
Before You Read
This law gave President Jackson the power to negotiate 'removal treaties' with Indigenous nations living east of the Mississippi. In theory, removal was voluntary. In practice, it was forced at gunpoint.
It shall and may be lawful for the President of the United States to cause so much of any territory belonging to the United States, west of the river Mississippi… to be divided into a suitable number of districts, for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as may choose to exchange the lands where they now reside, and remove there… Provided, That such removal shall be voluntary, and with the free consent of the tribes.
Vocabulary
- lawful — allowed by law
- reception — receiving, welcoming
- reside — to live in a place
- consent — agreement, permission
Sourcing Questions
- Who wrote this law? Whose interests does it serve?
- The law says removal should be "voluntary." Why might lawmakers include that word?
Close Reading
- The law says removal should be with "the free consent" of the tribes. Does that match what actually happened?
- What does the gap between the law's words and its enforcement tell you?
Corroboration
Compare this law's language with the reality described in John Burnett's account of the Trail of Tears (Source 9.3).
Citation
"Indian Removal Act." 28 May 1830. United States Statutes at Large. The Avalon Project, Yale Law School.
John Burnett, Trail of Tears Memoir
Before You Read
John G. Burnett was a U.S. Army private who participated in the forced removal of the Cherokee. He wrote this account on his 80th birthday, still haunted by what he had witnessed.
I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into 645 wagons and started toward the west… One can never forget the sadness and solemnity of that morning.
Vocabulary
- stockades — enclosed areas used as prisons
- bayonet — a blade attached to the end of a rifle
- solemnity — a feeling of deep seriousness
Sourcing Questions
- Burnett wrote this 52 years after the event. Why might he have waited so long?
- He was a soldier who carried out the removal. Does his guilt make him more or less reliable as a source?
Close Reading
- What specific details make this account powerful?
- He says the Cherokee were "loaded like cattle or sheep." What does this comparison tell you?
Corroboration
Compare this account to the Indian Removal Act's promise of "voluntary" and "free consent" removal. What's the gap between law and reality?
Citation
Burnett, John G. "The Cherokee Removal Through the Eyes of a Private Soldier." 1890. Museum of the Cherokee Indian.
Cherokee Phoenix Newspaper Masthead
Before You Read
The Cherokee Phoenix was the first Native American newspaper, published in both English and Cherokee (using the Sequoyah syllabary). Its very existence challenges the idea that Indigenous peoples were 'uncivilized.'
Cherokee Phoenix, Vol. 1, No. 1, February 21, 1828. The first newspaper published by Native Americans. Source: Library of Congress (public domain).
Sourcing Questions
- The Cherokee Phoenix was published by the Cherokee Nation. What was its purpose?
Guided Observation
- What languages appear on the masthead?
- What does a bilingual newspaper tell you about Cherokee society?
- How does this artifact challenge Andrew Jackson's argument that removal was necessary because Native peoples couldn't live alongside white Americans?
Corroboration
The textbook discusses the Cherokee as one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." How does this newspaper support or complicate that label?
Citation
"Cherokee Phoenix." 21 Feb. 1828. Library of Congress.