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“to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy" =?

 
 
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 05:07 am

“to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy" = "“to observe a just and liberal policy toward the Indian tribes within our limits ?"

Context:

Removing Native Americans from their Land

President Andrew Jackson offered similar rhetoric in his first inaugural address in 1829, when he emphasized his desire “to observe toward the Indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy, and to give that humane and considerate attention to their rights and their wants which is consistent with the habits of our Government and the feelings of our people.” Yet, only fourteen months later, Jackson prompted Congress to pass the Removal Act, a bill that forced Native Americans to leave the United States and settle in the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River.

More:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/native_american2.html
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Type: Question • Score: 2 • Views: 823 • Replies: 11
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dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 05:56 am
@oristarA,
Yep.....the limits being pretty much as long as it suited the white people and didn't take from them anything they wanted, as far as I can tell.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 07:20 am
@dlowan,
dlowan wrote:

Yep.....the limits being pretty much as long as it suited the white people and didn't take from them anything they wanted, as far as I can tell.


Thanks.
So the limitations were in fact arbitrarily defined? Beyond "a just a liberal policy?"
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 07:28 am
@oristarA,
Pretty much.
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 02:48 pm
@dlowan,

This is a bit imprecise in meaning, but is he not just talking about geographical area?
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 03:25 pm
@McTag,
I don't think so.

It'd be interesting if a USian dropped in to explicate.

0 Replies
 
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 07:08 pm
@McTag,
McTag wrote:


This is a bit imprecise in meaning, but is he not just talking about geographical area?


Yeah, my first impression is that the "limits" refers to "borders." Dlowan changed that since I didn't hold the idea firm. And now you, are you crystal clear about it?
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Nov, 2011 07:20 pm
@oristarA,
dlowan is correct, but I believe the phrase "within our limits" here is best interpreted as "within our borders" or "within our jurisdiction."
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Nov, 2011 01:25 am
@oristarA,

My clarity is somewhat less than crystal. And indeed, the politician may have been being deliberately ambiguous.

Worth noting, however, that he wrote "to observe towards the indian tribes within our limits a just and liberal policy", and not "to observe a just and liberal policy, within our limits, to the indian tribes.."
Lustig Andrei
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Nov, 2011 01:45 am
@McTag,
This was the 1820s, Mc. Their sense of sentence structure was, at times, sententious. Or maybe just screwy.
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Nov, 2011 03:44 am
@Lustig Andrei,

I ha'e ma doubts.
dlowan
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Nov, 2011 04:31 am
@McTag,
I be joining yer in yer doubties.
0 Replies
 
 

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