“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are.”
—GEORGE WASHINGTON, to a gathering of Delaware Indian chiefs
“They were fat with eating beef—they wanted flogging… we bleed our enemies in such cases to give them their senses.”
—ANDREW JACKSON
“It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprise you of the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their new homes west of the Mississippi.”
—MARTIN VAN BUREN, in his 1838 message to Congress
“I don’t go so far as to think that any good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn’t inquire too closely into the case of the tenth. The most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.”
—THEODORE ROOSEVELT