"My friends, circumstances render it
impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You
have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to the west. And
the sooner you do this, the sooner you will commence your career of improvement
and prosperity."
~
President, Andrew Jackson
Painting by Robert Lindneux, 1942.
"Brothers! I have listened to many talks
from our Great Father. When he first came over the wide waters, he was
but a little man…But when the white man had warmed himself before the Indian's
fire, and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large. With a step
he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains and the valleys. His
hands grasped the eastern and the western sea, and his head rested on the moon.
Then he became our great father. He loved his red children, and he said, 'get a
little farther, lest I tread on thee…' Yet he continued to love his red
children, and when he found them too slow in moving, he sent his great guns
before him to sweep his path. Brothers! I have listened to a great many talks
from our great father.- But they always began and ended in this- 'get a little
further, you are too near me.' "
~
Speckled Snake, elder of the Creek Nation, 1829