Contrast thomas jefferson's policy to assimilate american indians in the 1780s with andrew jackson's policy of removing cherokees to west of the mississippi in the 1830s.

Jefferson initially said that Native Americans were capable of assimilating to American culture. However, some of his private letters note that he was in agreement with the forced removal of the Native Americans to the lands west of the Mississippi. Jackson was the one credited with the removal of Native Americans to these parts due to the Indian Removal Act. However, he was carrying out a plan that Jefferson initiated.