Ep 5. Trail of Tears: How Andrew Jackson Got Away With Genocide and Still Ended Up on the 20 Dollar Bill

“Murder is murder whether committed by the villain skulking in the dark or by uniformed men stepping to the strains of martial music. Murder is murder and somebody must answer.” Those are the words of John G Burnett, a translator for the US Army during the forced removal of indigenous Americans that took place between 1830 and 1850. During this “displacement,” tens of thousands of indigenous people lost their lives along what’s commonly referred to as the “Trail of Tears” in an American genocide that got swept under the rug. But did you know, that “somebody” Burnett referred to, the one responsible… Did you know his face is on the $20 bill to this day? Let’s fix that. 


Sources: 

• https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/andrew-jackson
• https://thehermitage.com/learn/andrew-jackson/childhood/
• http://encyclopediaofalabama.org/ARTICLE/h-2350
• https://www.bostonteapartyship.com/facts-continental-army
• https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2014/marchapril/feature/hannah-andrew-jacksons-slave#:~:text=By%20the%20time%20he%20was,Hermitage%20and%20a%20Mississippi%20plantation.
• https://www.history.com/news/andrew-jackson-presidency-controversial-legacy#:~:text=He%20strongly%20supported%E2%80%94and%20profited%20from%E2%80%94slavery.&text=Records%20show%20he%20beat%20his,chains%20when%20they%20were%20recovered.
• https://dailyhistory.org/How_did_the_United_States_acquire_Florida
• https://ualrexhibits.org/tribalwriters/artifacts/Family-Stories-Trail-of-Tears.html#Fleming
• History Uncovered podcast episode about the Trail of Tears
• Dark History podcast episode about Andrew Jackson

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