Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory (W.W. Norton), by Claudio Saunt

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In the 1830s, 80,000 Native Americans of the Cherokee and Creek nations were forcibly removed from the land left to them by treaty in Alabama and Georgia and dispatched to an uncertain future west of the Mississippi. At the same time, the U.S. launched a war of removal against Florida’s Seminoles. The expulsion of Indians from other states had occurred piecemeal; now, a national policy emerged.

University of Georgia history professor Claudia Saunt focuses on the Cherokee and Creek removals, including the infamous “Trail of Tears.” The actions were encouraged by President Andrew Jackson and authorized by a Congress dominated by Southerners who sought to extend the reach of their slave economy by seizing Native lands. Ironically, the Cherokees had adopted the “civilized” characteristics of their white neighbors, including town life, newspapers and the owning of black slaves.

Saunt follows the politics and finds a sorry trail of lies. Some Southerners cushioned their scheme in humanitarian terms (others were explicitly genocidal); many of the Indians’ Northern champions represented states that had long eliminated their Native populations or subjected the survivors to repressive restrictions. The slave-owning Jackson became the engine of expulsion, pressuring reluctant Congressmen to “get on board.” Saunt never mentions Trump but parallels with Jackson (Trump’s favorite predecessor) are clear enough. Jackson denounced politicians who didn’t fall in line as “traitors” and threatened to help defeat them in the next election. He also removed all officials in the bureaucracy who questioned his orders.

Unworthy Republic also touches on how the expulsion of Indians was seen around the world. According to Saunt, Russia and other foreign powers looked to America’s example as they contemplated mass deportations. Hitler compared the Slavs of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe to “Indians” and said, “the Volga must be our Mississippi.”