Page "Thomas Jefferson" Paragraph 55

Jefferson believed assimilation was best for Native Americans ; second best was removal to the west.

He felt the worst outcome of the cultural and resources conflict between European Americans and Native Americans would be their attacking the whites.

He told his Secretary of War, General Henry Dearborn ( Indian affairs were then under the War Department ): " if we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down until that tribe is exterminated, or driven beyond the Mississippi.

" With the colonial and native civilizations in collision, compounded by British incitement of Indian tribes and mounting hostilities between the two peoples, Jefferson's administration took quick measures to avert another major conflict.

His deal with Georgia was related to later measures to relocate the various Indian tribes to points further west.