The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen (2018–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Live Free or Die - full transcript
Andrew Jackson rises to power and clashes with another national hero Davy Crockett over the U.S. policy towards the Native Americans and Jackson's Indian Removal Act. Meanwhile, a war with Mexico is brewing.
Previously on "The Men Who
Built America: Frontiersmen.."
Lewis and Clark
achieve the impossible..
...reaching the Pacific..
...claiming new land
for the US..
...and infuriating
Great Britain.
By 1812..
...the frontier is again
a battleground..
...and America's survival..
...is once more in peril.
Whoa-oa-oa whoa-oa-oa
Across the northern frontier
the US is fighting
its second war in 30 years
against Great Britain and
its Native American allies
and it's losing.
Aah!
Legendary war chief, Tecumseh
has already captured
a key American fort.
In an unprecedented move
the Shawnee leader
has united warriors
from two dozen different tribes.
He now leads them in raids
meant to drive
American settlers
from native lands.
His goal,
create a pan-Indian nation
west of the Appalachians.
It's a mission that fills
America's leaders with fear.
This Pan-Indian alliance
was a nightmare
for the American government.
This could potentially
seriously would impede,
uh, the forward progress
of the future United States.
And so, he had to be eliminated
because this possibility
was too much
for the American government
to accept.
By 1813, Tecumseh's warriors
dominate a large area
in the Ohio Valley
territory that Britain
ceded to the US
after the revolution.
To secure the frontier
the US government
assigns a seasoned soldier
to confront Tecumseh..
...one of the few men who has
defeated him in the past
his long-time adversary
William Henry Harrison.
The leadership
of the United States
believed that Tecumseh's
alliance with Britain
could be a factor,
a major factor
in the US
possibly losing the war.
I don't know
if William Henry Harrison
had a personal vendetta
against Native Americans
but his military career
is defined by that.
He was well known as ruthless.
And when it comes
to the War of 1812
he has this inherent vitriol.
He wanted Tecumseh dead.
As Harrison prepares
to march north
the fight for the frontier
escalates in the south..
...as Britain encourages
a breakaway group
of Creek Indians
known as the Red Sticks
to attack settlements
inciting fear
throughout the south.
They destroy an American outpost
killing 500 men,
women and children..
...in what becomes known
as the Fort Mims Massacre.
They decided to raise
the banner of war
against the whites
to resist white encroachment.
And if they would have
taken the position
that this was, uh, simply
a defense of their homeland.
But to American settlers,
it represented a grave threat
to the security
of the American frontier.
With the army fighting
Tecumseh on the northern front
President Madison
calls on the militia
closest
to the Mississippi Territory
to defend the south.
In Tennessee..
...one commander has been
waiting for the chance
to join the fight.
His name..
...is Andrew Jackson.
This was a person
who started life
very much at the bottom
very much on his own
and was determined
to make something of himself.
And so, one way
for an ambitious young person
to rise would be to go to war
and to win glory in war.
Jackson's the perfect man
for the job.
He's spent a lifetime
building a reputation
as a man who gets results.
Ten years earlier..
...he was a tough
backcountry judge
known for taking the law
into his own hands.
There was one instance where
there was a particularly
vicious bully
who was wanted for murder
and no one wanted to arrest him.
So he decides
to take it on himself.
Andrew Jackson
was a loose cannon.
He would take bullwhips
to people.
He pursued duels
long after
duels were out of fashion.
He would come to blows
with people.
There are countless examples
of when he just took matters
into his own hands.
One of the most famous stories
of Jackson
is how he gets into a bar fight
gets shot in the arm, uh
and just right before the doctor
is about to amputate
he grabs the doctor and says
"You cut off my arm,
I'm gonna kill you."
There was nothing
that was gonna keep him down
including an infection
from a bullet in his arm.
Now, Jackson has the greatest
opportunity of his life.
He leads more than 2500
volunteer militiamen south
to destroy
the Red Stick faction.
But first, he has to find them.
As Jackson searches
for the Red Stick warriors
in the north,
William Henry Harrison
and his 3000 troops
are just a day's march from
Tecumseh's camp near Lake Erie.
The Shawnee war chief
is planning his own revenge.
Two years earlier
Harrison destroyed
Tecumseh's capital
Prophetstown.
Now, Tecumseh meets
with his British allies
to plan a carefully coordinated ambush.
He says,
"If your men can hold the line
our men
can take care of the rest."
The British will attack
Harrison's army as they march
and push them towards the woods
where Tecumseh and his warriors
will be waiting to crush them
as they retreat.
Tecumseh knows that Harrison
is leading this force.
It's gonna be a gun fight.
And one of them
is not gonna survive that day.
On October 5, 1813
Tecumseh and his men
take their positions
for a battle that could help
decide the outcome of the war
and the future
of the United States itself.
On the banks of the Thames River
Tecumseh and 500 warriors
from half a dozen tribes
wait to attack US forces.
Tecumseh's British allies
plan to strike
William Henry Harrison's
troops head on
forcing them
to retreat into the woods
where native warriors
will ambush them from behind.
Suddenly, the British
enter the woods..
...but they're not attacking.
They're retreating.
The British last
less than five minutes.
And the Native American forces
were outnumbered three to one.
Tecumseh realizes
that he has to make a stand
because if he retreats
they might not be able
to build another army.
William Henry Harrison has
his bitter rival pinned down
caught between the Thames River
and the American troops.
Tecumseh's forces held
and they held as long
as they possibly could.
But without the British,
it was a slaughter.
When Tecumseh is killed
by Harrison's forces..
...his Native American
confederacy dies with him.
I can only imagine what Tecumseh
must have been feeling
when he realized he'd been
abandoned by the Brits.
How it must have felt
to put your trust in white man
and then
have that trust betrayed
and it cause your downfall.
The death of Tecumseh
was an incalculable loss
for Native America.
In the wake of, of losing him
and losing the forces
who fought with him
the pan-tribal confederacy
failed.
Shawnee people are never
as powerful and influential
as they were under Tecumseh
and so, it's a situation
of having to come
to the negotiating table
of having to sign treaties with
the United States Government.
And they do.
After years of fighting
the Shawnee are finally defeated
and Tecumseh's dream of
regaining a native homeland
in the Ohio Valley is lost.
For the United States
victory
at the Battle of the Thames
is a turning point in the war.
They regain control
in the north.
But 600 miles to the south
the frontier is still in chaos.
Andrew Jackson's
leading a campaign
to find the Red Stick warriors
responsible
for the Fort Mims Massacre.
His militia searches
the wilderness for weeks..
...and finds nothing.
One of the wonders
of this period for Americans
is to realize how very different
the American landscape was then.
There were relatively few people
it was mostly wilderness.
And into this wilderness came
an army of several thousand men
that was very poorly supplied.
They were having
to live off the land.
In the end, what they did
was nearly starve.
By October, 1813
Jackson's running out of time.
If he can't find the Creek Tribe
he risks losing his
volunteers to desertion.
But a new recruit
has just joined his militia.
His name is Davy Crockett.
Crockett became famous
as a hunter on the frontier
over the course
of a long period of time
of learning
how to exist in the woods.
He claimed to have shot,
in a seven-month period
a hundred and five black bears.
When Crockett joined the militia
he was perfect
to chase rogue Creeks
then got to observe how
they moved through landscape.
It was something
that he, in fact, emulated.
With just six months
of formal schooling
young Crockett's real education
comes from the frontier itself.
Crockett came
from a tradition of woodsmen
and he would've learned
from his father and his uncles
how to hunt.
He learned how to track
he learned how to identify sign
scat, broken twigs.
Now, Crockett uses
his frontier skills
to track the Creek Tribe
for General Jackson.
It's just a harrowing
undertaking to do this.
He wasn't carrying modern-day,
cutting-edge technology.
So you needed to be an
expert tracker and woodsman.
You look
at all the sign around you
and the tracks
and the markings and the trees.
You look at everything
as being something
that is gonna affect
my next decision
where the Indians might be.
In just two weeks,
Crockett finds their village
and the Americans
prepare for revenge.
In late 1813,
on the northern frontier
victories by the US
diminish the threat
posed by Britain's
Native American allies.
But to the south
native raids
are destroying settlements
spreading panic throughout
what is now Alabama.
General Andrew Jackson
has been ordered
to eliminate
the Creek Indians responsible
for killing over 500 settlers
at Fort Mims.
After weeks of searching,
Davy Crockett has found them..
...giving Jackson
all the information
he needs to attack.
'Split the men
into two columns.'
We'll arrive here
before the sun rises.
'We'll cross the river
at the low point here and here.'
'Yes, sir.'
Not a single one of them
makes it out.
Prepare the men.
'Scouts!'
Jackson took the position
that the Indians had started
this round of war
by massacring whites.
And he also believed the
lesson to be taught to them was
you don't massacre whites
without expecting
a comparable reprisal.
You kill or you be killed.
That was the world he lived in
and that was the life he chose.
In the early morning hours
nine hundred Tennessee militia
including Davy Crockett,
surround the village.
In only minutes,
186 Creek warriors are killed.
And women and children are
burned alive in their homes..
...in what comes to be known
as the Battle of Tallushatchee.
Jackson allowed his men
to engage
in the most bloody reprisal
to teach the Indians a lesson
so they wouldn't do this again.
And it was
as a consequence of this
that people
came to recognize his ability
to defend the country
against its enemies.
Tallushatchee is called
the Battle of Tallushatchee
but it was really more like
the Massacre of Tallushatchee.
They burned 46 people to death.
It was bedlam.
As Crockett phrased it later,
"We shot them like dogs."
The ruthlessness of Jackson's
war against the Creeks
was something that really shook,
uh, Davy Crockett
and reshaped the way
he's looking, uh
at America's treatment
of the Native Americans.
He kind of realizes that
th-there's a senselessness
to this slaughter and it really
changes him, uh, as a person.
After the battle
Crockett is sickened
by the massacre..
...and chooses to leave
the volunteer militia.
'Morning.'
'Where are you men off to
this morning?'
'We're goin' home.'
No.
You're going to turn around
and go back to your tents.
We're volunteer militia.
I will not ask again.
You're gonna shoot your own men?
Do not test me.
Fire on my command.
After the massacre of over
200 Native American men
women and children
Davy Crockett chooses to
leave the Tennessee militia..
Return to your camp!
...but is caught by his
commander, Andrew Jackson.
Jackson tried
to hold the army together.
And maintaining and establishing
military discipline was hard.
Jackson would not brook
this walking away by the troops.
This is the last time
I will give you the option.
I will not ask again.
Crockett stands down..
...and grudgingly
stays in camp.
Crockett had mixed emotions
about what he was doing.
Obviously,
he was serving his country
and, I think, looked at it
really more as a job.
It was something
that he had to do.
The whole idea
of killing Indian families
whole Indian families..
...didn't sit well with him.
Colonel.
You asked to see me, sir?
You're a disgrace..
...to yourself, to your family
and to your country.
What I did for you
at that village..
...I will never do that again.
You're a coward.
When you look at this divide
between Crockett and Jackson
you can kind of see, uh,
the divide
that gets to the heart
of the American frontier.
On one hand, most Americans
looked at the treatment
of the Native Americans
as just another step in
the forward path of progress.
Davy Crockett
sees the inherent injustice
of the ruthless massacring
o-of the Creek Indians.
When his service is over
Crockett heads home
to Tennessee.
Jackson and Crockett certainly
started in similar fashions.
Both were born in log cabins
both came
from humble beginnings.
But w-what Crockett saw
in the Creek War
with Jackson's treatment
of Indians
it started a rift
that would really open up later
in Crockett's life.
Jackson doesn't stop
at avenging Fort Mims.
He launches a series of brutal
attacks on the Red Sticks..
...killing hundreds
and sending a powerful message.
They were targets
of a scorched-earth campaign.
There was no law of war
that was really respected.
By early 1814
Jackson has crushed
the Red Stick faction..
...and he forces
the rest of the Creek Nation
to negotiate a treaty
even though
they had nothing to do
with the conflict.
Jackson said to them
they must surrender millions
of acres of their own land
to the United States Government
as a kind of compensation
for the war.
Jackson actually described it
as a national security measure.
He said that
by taking over this land
the United States would isolate
the remaining rebels.
But the reality was
that he was taking millions
of acres of real estate.
Jackson seizes major parts
of Alabama and Georgia
nearly 22 million acres of land.
The United States
has now quelled
the Native American threat
on the frontier.
But as they begin to turn
the tide of the War of 1812
the British devise a new plan.
After forcing Napoleon
into exile
they commit additional troops
to America
invading the East Coast
in Baltimore.
During the War of 1812
the British almost brought the
United States to its knees.
Ultimately,
the British sack Washington
and, and burn the White House.
After capturing
America's capital..
...Britain turns
to the most important port
on the frontier..
...New Orleans.
The city controls access
to the Mississippi River
providing a highway
to British forts in Canada.
The British had a huge advantage
over the United States
in the War of 1812
because the British
had the most powerful navy
in the world.
It meant that the British
could move their troops
from here, there along the coast
and always beat the Americans
to wherever they wanted to get.
If they captured New Orleans
they could go up the Mississippi
and connect with British
forces coming down from Canada.
Knowing Britain will attack
New Orleans..
...the US turns
to its new war hero
Andrew Jackson.
Here emerged from Tennessee
this general
who organized an army
managed to keep it together
by force of will
and crushed the Creek Nation.
Jackson's determined to win.
He has a powerful and
personal hatred of Britain
dating back to his childhood.
In the fall of 1781
Jackson was held
as a prisoner of war
during the revolution.
'On your feet.'
As a, a young teenager
Andrew Jackson rode as a courier
for the American forces
against the British
who eventually captured him
and put him
in a prisoner-of-war camp.
He lost two brothers
during the war.
His mother also perished
in the conflict.
Jackson suspected the British
of all evil things.
He detested the British.
If you wanted to get a rise
out of Andrew Jackson
all you had to do was mention
Britain or the British.
Now, he has a shot at revenge
if Jackson can lead his men
through Louisiana's
deadly swamp lands
and get to New Orleans
before the enemy.
Deep in the southern frontier
Andrew Jackson is marching
to the port of New Orleans
to defend it against
a coming British attack.
But while the British
have the advantage
of traveling by sea..
...Jackson must get there
by land.
And he faces
a massive obstacle..
...the Louisiana swamps.
The Atchafalaya Basin
is the biggest swamp
in the country
covering nearly
1000 square miles.
And Jackson has to cross it
with 1500 men,
artillery and supplies.
This was an era
before good roads.
In fact, in that region
of the country
there were hardly any roads.
To get several thousand
troops to New Orleans
with all their equipment
was an extreme difficulty.
Get that end, get that end.
When you're talking about going
through those swamps,
you're talkin'
about water that gets
neck deep at times
gators everywhere
poisonous snakes everywhere,
very aggressive.
Mosquitoes have got to be
just eating them alive.
They got very thick clothing
on, they've got to be sweating.
You're talking about
an absolute misery fest.
Jackson works his men
around the clock..
Park down here.
We gotta go.
...improvising bridges
to haul a two-ton cannon
through the bog.
'Up, up!'
'Hold, hold, hold, hold!'
'Bring the wood! Let's go,
let's go! You're holding up!'
It doesn't have to look pretty,
just secure.
- 'Let's go!'
- One, two, pull!
I want one man here,
one man here, and one man there!
Work the wood down!
'Keep them straight now!'
'One, two, pull!'
Under Jackson's command
they maintain a pace
of 25 miles a day.
It was at this moment
that Jackson's leadership
became really most apparent.
And up! Roll!
Jackson's soldiers,
whatever they thought about the British
whatever they thought
about the Indians
whatever they thought
about American policy
they would follow Andrew Jackson
to the gates of hell.
'Push, boys, push!'
Put your backs into it!
Finally...
Come on, men!
...after two weeks
of grueling work..
...Jackson arrives
in New Orleans..
...knowing the British
could land any minute.
New Orleans was hugely
important, uh, at that time
and still is, uh,
for that matter.
In-in many respects,
it's the, the gateway
to the inland waterways
that were so critical
to that part
of the United States.
So retaining that port,
this great trading port
which has access
to all of these waterways
uh, was absolutely vital.
Jackson races
to build fortifications
at key entry points
around the city
to force the British to attack
him where he's strongest.
But to do it, he needs
all the manpower he can get.
He didn't have much of an army
but he assembled one from
the forces that were available
ranging
from Kentucky Frontiersmen
to some of his own
Tennessee loyalists
to New Orleans militia
to an African-American
militia unit
to river pirates
who were engaged
because they had cannon
and could fire them
and even local Indians
all became part
of Jackson's military force.
And he welded them together
in an effective way.
In all, Jackson has
about 4500 men.
When the British finally appear
they have 60 warships
and 15,000 men.
The Americans are outnumbered
by more than three to one.
Who's willing to suffer more
for victory, men?
General Jackson has 4500 men
arrayed against a British force
outnumbering him
by more than three to one.
His mission, hold New Orleans at all costs.
All trade
west of the Appalachians
flowed down the Ohio River
and into the Mississippi and out
through the port of New Orleans.
It was
the most critical choke point
for the American continent.
Prepare to fire!
Hold!
Jackson plans a way
to give his inferior force
an advantage.
He positions his men with
the Mississippi to the right
and dense swampland
to the left..
...forcing the British
to charge uphill..
...on a narrow strip of land
without cover.
Hold!
Fire!
Fire!
Reload!
From behind cotton bales
and other obstacles..
...Jackson's men,
in relative security
could open fire
on charging British troops.
Fire!
Fire at will, men!
Fire at will!
Had they met the British troops
in an open battlefield
things would've been
completely different.
But as it turned out,
the British charged
right where Jackson would've wanted them to
and they did it very badly,
and they were slaughtered.
Over ten days
of ferocious battle..
Fire!
...Jackson and his men
push back every unrelenting wave
of British assault.
Finally,
after devastating losses
British forces withdraw.
The figures were unbelievable.
Over 2000 British casualties.
Less than a hundred
on the American side.
And it's at that moment
that Andrew Jackson becomes
the great military hero
of the American people.
Andrew Jackson
was often thought of
as the second coming
of George Washington.
George Washington
wins independence
for the United States
Andrew Jackson
defends independence
for the United States.
The victory at New Orleans
propels Jackson
to national fame..
...and secures his legacy
as an American hero.
But what
American and British forces
at New Orleans don't know
is that before the battle began
the War of 1812
was already over.
Just over three weeks earlier
half a world away, in Belgium
representatives of
the United States and Britain
sign a treaty
ending almost three years of war
between the two nations.
There's already a peace treaty.
It just takes that long for news
to cross the Atlantic
and get to New Orleans.
But it really doesn't matter
to the American nation.
All they know
and all they want to focus on
is that they have beat
the British Empire
and having done that,
nothing is impossible
and we're now
going to look westward
across the American continent
and expand.
In the Treaty of Ghent
Britain formally recognizes
that the US now controls
all the native lands
that were once part
of the Mississippi Territory.
Alabama and Mississippi
are now open for settlement.
After his victory
at the Battle of New Orleans
a grateful government
assigns Andrew Jackson
the job of surveying
this new territory.
And he immediately senses
opportunity
to grow one of America's
most profitable crops..
...cotton.
When Jackson went off
on military expeditions
he had his eye out for land
that could also grow cotton.
And one of the big attractions of the land
in what would become
Alabama, Mississippi
was the fact
that it was very well suited
to growing cotton.
Over the next two years
Jackson uses his position
to buy vast tracts of land
at low cost
then sell it at a profit
to wealthy plantation owners.
Gentlemen.
Everything we discussed..
...is in this contract,
if you'd like to look it over.
What's happening here
is not just the expansion
of the United States
in a new territory.
It was an opportunity for men
in what is now the Deep South
to carve out
brand-new plantations..
Just sign here.
...plant cotton
and make a fortune.
And it was perfectly timed
for men like Jackson
to make a lot of money.
The frontiersman born in poverty
amasses a personal fortune
of four-and-a-half
million dollars.
But his business dealings
have a devastating consequence
resurrecting an institution
on the verge of collapse.
Slavery serves the larger
interests of the planter class.
What it creates
is tremendous economic profit
for planters, for farmers
and American business interest
in that region.
Jackson did not consider himself
an evangelist for slavery.
But, in fact,
his actions did give slavery
a new lease on life.
At the beginning of
the 18th century, it was unclear
whether slavery
was going to remain profitable.
And it might not have
had Jackson
and those who fought with him
not opened up
vast new territories
to cotton culture.
To the future of America.
- Hm. To the future.
- Future.
The land speculation
Jackson ignites
has another consequence.
In just three years,
the price of an acre
skyrockets from $2 to 78.
For Davy Crockett,
this betrays the promise
of the American frontier
one he's determined
to fight for.
In the years since his clash
with Andrew Jackson
Davy Crockett's tried to
carve out a life for himself
in the backwoods of Tennessee.
But in the last decade
he's watched
his beloved frontier
disappear before his eyes.
Thousands of acres of wilderness
that frontiersmen
have depended on for years
have now turned
into cotton farms
and the original settlers
are being pushed aside.
One of Crockett's main issues
was squatter's rights.
He felt that the squatters,
the settlers
ought to be able to purchase
the land they were living on
for reasonable prices.
And this rubbed against
the monied, landed aristocracy
of the southern
plantation farmers.
Determined to protect the
way of life he believes in
the frontiersman who grew up
without formal education
decides to run for Congress.
Some man comes along,
waves a piece of paper at you
tells you, "You can't track
here anymore." I.. Hell, no.
These land speculators
and plantation owners
never set a foot in Tennessee
in their life.
It's our families and our dreams
that are being destroyed here.
If we don't speak up, th..
They're just gonna keep
right on doin' it.
'Thank you very much.'
Hi. Good to meet you.
In the summer of 1827
Davy Crockett
wins in a landslide
with a campaign built
on bringing the frontier
fight to Washington.
David Crockett looms huge
in the notion of what
the American frontier was.
He became a symbol
of possibility, of hope
that the common man
could actually rise
to great heights.
A man with six months' education
ends up
in the halls of Congress.
It's a uniquely American story.
But while Crockett is entering
the House of Representatives
his former militia commander
has become one of the richest
and most powerful men
in the frontier.
And he has his sights set
on the highest office
in the country.
Jackson, as a young man,
he didn't see himself
as a career politician
by any means.
But he became this national hero
as a result of his victory
at the Battle of New Orleans.
And people began telling him
that he could be
president of the United States.
For the first 40 years
of America's existence
the president hailed
from either Massachusetts
or Virginia.
But now as more and more people
pour into the frontier
Jackson believes
the country is ready
for an unprecedented change.
Andrew Jackson rose to power
just at a moment
when people
were becoming conscious
that the revolutionary
generation was passing away
and a new generation was rising
and some of those leaders
were going to come
from a new region
that had not really existed
at the time
of the American Revolution.
Jackson trades on his
reputation as a war hero
and like Crockett
paints himself
as a self-made frontiersman.
You just look
at the-the political competition
uh, for Jackson in his day.
Uh, his main competitor
was John Quincy Adams.
Son of the president,
he went to Harvard
he spoke
five different languages.
And here's Andrew Jackson,
completely self-educated.
Jackson's message
resonates with Americans
across the country.
And on December 3, 1828
he's elected as the seventh
president of the United States.
Here's the man himself.
Mr. President.
When Jackson became president
in 1829
he was the first president
who was called
and who could be considered
the people's president.
Each and every one of you men
are responsible
for this victory.
To you.
To you, Mr. President.
And that was the most lasting
contribution of Jackson
because the presidency
from Jackson until today
is preeminently
the office of the people.
After taking office,
Jackson's first priority
is to continue
American expansion.
And that means more land.
Andrew Jackson inherited
a country in transition.
This was a period in which
Americans were continuing
to move west.
The population was almost
doubling every 20 years.
And he entered office
with one overriding priority
above all
and that was
to obtain more land.
Jackson introduces a plan
called the Indian Removal Act
to the horror of his old
rival, Davy Crockett.
Fellow citizens of the Senate
and of the House
of Representatives
'it gives me pleasure
to announce to you..'
...that the benevolent policy
in relation to the removal..
...of the remaining Indians..
...beyond the white settlements
by... fair exchange..
...is approaching
a happy consummation.
Jackson believed that white
Americans would never be secure
from Indians as long as
the two populations mingled.
And so Jackson's policy
was a policy of removal.
People today might call it
ethnic cleansing.
And, indeed, it was.
The general government
kindly offers him a new home
and proposes to pay
the whole expense
of his removal and settlement.
The Indian Removal Act will
force 50,000 Native Americans
from five tribes to leave
their ancestral lands
and settle 600 miles west,
in modern-day Oklahoma.
The Indian Removal Act
was an act
whose sole goal was to open up
large swaths of ground
to more settlement
and to make
these giant tracts of land
available to those who could
then purchase it, sell it.
They wouldn't have to deal
with the Indian problem anymore.
The plan has widespread support
but Crockett stands against it.
And whoever wins..
...will help decide the future
of the American frontier.
'This government'
will purchase Indian lands
and give them
new expensive territory.
President Andrew Jackson
has introduced
the Indian Removal Act
to Congress.
It would force Native
Americans from their homelands
to make way for white settlement
and it's gaining
widespread support.
But one man is taking a stand
against the president..
...Congressman Davy Crockett.
Four of my counties
border Chickasaw Country.
I know, personally,
many of their tribe.
'They are a proud people'
who have stood as our allies
in war and in peace.
Removal was taking the property
of Native Americans
and putting it in the hands,
not just of US citizens
but, frankly,
of Andrew Jackson supporters.
And when Davy Crockett stood
up on the floor of Congress
and spoke against the Indian Removal Act
Crockett put
not only his reputation
but his entire political career
on the line.
There is nothing
that will make me vote
to force them
off their homelands.
Not a political party
nor any one man, no matter
how powerful he may be.
What I like best
about Davy Crockett was
he was able to change his mind.
When he was a young man
he participated
in an Indian massacre.
But then he opposed
President Jackson
when Jackson wanted to push
the Indian Removal Act
because he knew it was wrong.
Crockett didn't care that
it was Andrew Jackson's baby.
While it was going to help
people who already had money
he thought it was wrong.
He believed that the Indians
had as much right to live
freely as anyone else.
Debate about
the Indian Removal Act
rages for five months
both in Congress
and around the country.
And on May 26, 1830
it's put to a vote in the
House of Representatives
and Crockett's efforts
fall short.
David Crockett
is the only member
of the Tennessee delegation
to vote against
the Indian Removal Act.
And that was a shocking act
of, uh, defiance
of the, uh, Jackson machine.
Davy Crockett stood his ground.
He realized he made a mistake
on that Indian massacre
and he took the right position.
'To you, Mr. President.'
The measure passes
by only four votes
and is signed in to law
by President Jackson
two days later.
'It's only beginning,
gentlemen.'
The Indian Removal Act
goes exactly
according to Jackson's plan
opening large parts
of present-day Georgia
Mississippi and Florida,
to American expansion.
But in the coming years
the Indian Removal Act
will be known by another name..
...The Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears
was the migration route
from Georgia to territory
west of the Mississippi River.
It was called the Trail of Tears
because the deaths from exposure
and disease were appalling.
The Indian Removal Act
is not only a major stain
on Jackson's legacy, it's a
major stain on American History.
Here was
the US Federal Government
getting into,
what many could call
an ethnic cleansing.
Over the next two decades
members of the Cherokee, Creek
Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations
are forced to march
thousands of miles
often at gunpoint.
Over 16,000 die on the journey.
Well, my own tribe
signed a treaty in 1831
and agreed to remove
to the Indian territory.
Most people only think
of the Cherokee
when they think
of the Trail of Tears
and something like 25%
of their people died.
My tribe went through
a trail of tears
as did dozens of others
as they were also moved
to the Indian territory.
So the Trail of Tears
was literally
the extermination
of Indian nations
and Indian peoples
and their replacement
by Americans
and American society.
In mandating the human tragedy
that we call the Trail of Tears
Jackson, in one fell swoop,
cements his legacy
as a person willing to do
whatever was necessary
in order to serve the interest
of white settlers.
For President Jackson
the legislative win
isn't enough.
The president is out
for revenge on Davy Crockett.
Andrew Jackson
made the political personal.
It was not enough for his side
his perspective to win.
His opponents had to
be thoroughly defeated.
He was
a genuinely dangerous man.
Their fight will force Crockett
to the southwestern frontier
changing the course
of American expansion.
President Andrew Jackson
signs the Indian Removal Act
despite Congressman
Davy Crockett's opposition.
Now, Crockett is up
for re-election
and Jackson vows
to crush his rival
by choosing a loyal supporter..
...William Fitzgerald,
to run against him.
Mr. Fitzgerald, come in.
Well, you don't cross
Andrew Jackson
without there
being consequences.
I-it's characteristic
of all successful politicians
because they want that to be
a warning sign to anybody else
not to cross me in the future.
So Jackson has to bury Crockett.
You will have my full support.
It would be an honor, sir.
Mr. President.
To ruin Crockett's
political career
Jackson attacks his character
launching a smear campaign
in the press..
...accusing him
of being a drunk..
...a womanizer..
...and a gambler.
The Jackson machine in Tennessee
had a tremendous amount
of political influence.
And when Jackson decides
to go after
Crockett's reputation
it becomes front-page news
throughout the United States.
The attacks infuriate Crockett.
Davy Crockett was, in part
built on his reputation
as a man of honor.
He would not stand idly by
and watch
as people destroy that.
At a campaign stop
in northwest Tennessee
Crockett confronts Fitzgerald.
Forget Davy Crockett.
I will give you the real voice
of Tennessee in Washington.
When Crockett
and Fitzgerald arrived
for one of their
co-stump speeches
Crockett stood up
and strode toward the stage
and said, you know,
"If you continue
"with these casting aspersions
I'm going to give you
a country caning."
Fitzgerald leveled a pistol
at Crockett's chest and said
"Take one more step
and it'll be your last."
I suggest you leave.
So in addition
to his moral flaws
it would appear
that Mr. Crockett
is not quite as tough
as he claims.
The event
with William Fitzgerald
and the pistol
was devastating to Crockett.
He had run part
of his campaign on his courage
and here he was,
publically slinking away
in front of someone.
It was kind of an assault
to his manhood.
After a brutal campaign
in the fall of 1831
some 16,000 ballots are cast
in the election
for Tennessee's 9th District.
In a stunning upset
Crockett loses
by just 800 votes.
Disgraced in Washington
Davy Crockett returns home
to Tennessee
with his career in ruins
only to find his personal
life is also falling apart.
When Crockett
lost his bid for Congress
he sort of slug home
with his tail between his legs.
He was now broke,
arriving to find out
that his, his wife
had also left him
and he was living alone.
It was a very low, low point
in his life.
In a stroke of blind luck
Crockett's fortunes
take a turn..
...when a play
based on his life
opens in New York City.
One of the things
that revitalized Crockett
in his career
was the creation of this play
called "The Lion Of The West.."
...which was clearly, uh,
a depiction of Crockett.
At the beginning, Crockett
was sort of offended by this.
He felt like
he was being made fun of
but as it turned out
the play actually made him
an international celebrity.
As Crockett's fame
as a frontiersman grows
the US population explodes.
Over the next four years
it balloons to 17 million.
As the old frontier is dominated
by cotton plantations
and settlements..
...pioneers looking for land
stream further west
across modern-day Mississippi
Alabama and Arkansas
into a new frontier
full of opportunity
a Mexican territory
called Texas.
One of the attractions of Texas
to the Americans who went there
when Texas was part of Mexico
was precisely that it
was foreign territory.
It was this place
where you could go
if things weren't going well
for you wherever you were
because it provided opportunity.
Americans discovered
because land was cheap
they would get title to land
and then the land
would increase in value
and they'd eventually sell it
and become wealthy
as a result of this.
In 1835
Crockett leaves
Tennessee behind..
...hoping his name can help
jump start a new life in Texas.
But instead of opportunity..
...Crockett's
about to find himself
in the middle of an all-out war.
After his reputation
is shredded by Andrew Jackson
Davy Crockett heads west..
...looking for a fresh start
in Texas
a rugged frontier territory
across the border in Mexico.
For years,
the Mexican government
has encouraged
foreign settlement
to increase their population
offering families 4000 acres
at low prices.
Mexicans were encouraging
Americans and others
to move, uh, into Texas
and offering land.
But, of course,
the stipulation was that, uh
they had to abide
by the rules of Mexico.
And for the most part,
Americans generally lived
relatively peacefully.
One of the attractions of Texas
to the Americans who went there
when Texas was part of Mexico
was precisely
that it was foreign territory.
They had bad memories, bad debts
there were people who were
after them in the United States
and they went to Texas.
By 1836, 45,000 Americans
move here.
Davy Crockett is one of them.
Unsure what awaits him.
Crockett went to Texas,
clearly, to start over.
He'd lost his last bid
for Congress
and he was going to Texas
to get land
and to look at possible
political opportunity.
Jackson may have destroyed
Crockett's career in Washington
but in Texas, he's hailed
as a frontier legend.
As David Crockett arrived
in the Texas outpost towns
he began to notice that people
were already lining the streets
waiting for his arrival.
People in Texas
heard that he was coming
and would have big feasts
and parties for him.
And you spent time, uh,
in the militia, as well?
As Crockett begins to settle in
he realizes Texas
is on the verge of rebellion.
After years of loose governance
Mexican President, Santa Anna
suddenly imposes
new restrictions on settlers.
Now, angry Texans
are calling for revolution.
Texas was on the verge
of independence
that the Texians,
as they were called
were going to try to become
independent from Mexico.
And there would be possibilities
of land
and political opportunity.
In response, Santa Anna
sends 500 troops
to confiscate weapons
and quell unrest.
When Texans refuse to give in
he makes plans to retaliate.
Santa Anna is training an army
in San Luis Potosi
to march against Texas.
Santa Anna did not think that
this was a local insurgency.
He was absolutely convinced
the United States was involved
and so that's why
the Mexican government
was so determined
to put down this revolt.
Crockett arrives in Texas
at the same time
as news of Santa Anna's
counter-attack.
When Crockett had gone
to Texas, it was really just
meant to be an extended hunting
expedition and land scout
and he bumbles right into
a war for independence.
But a number of things
happened, uh, along the way.
One was the appearance
of Halley's Comet.
And when Halley's Comet
appeared in the sky in 1836
some people thought
that it meant
that David Crockett
was coming to Texas
to fight for independence.
We could use
somebody like you, Crockett.
Oh, yeah?
To remove the stain
on his character
Crockett finds himself
drawn into war.
Hell, I'll join you boys.
Hell or Texas, right?
Hell or Texas!
Hell or Texas!
Hell or Texas!
What began
as a fresh start in Texas
is now a call to arms.
As the situation in Texas
escalates
back in Washington
President Jackson
sees the unrest
as a new opportunity to expand.
Andrew Jackson knew
that America was a young country
and needed more territory.
He saw in Texas enormous energy
timber, agricultural resources
a land mass that many Americans
in the future could move to
and he wanted them.
Jackson believed that
Texas ought to be part
of the United States.
Jackson attempted
to purchase Texas from Mexico
after Mexico
became independent of Spain.
But Mexico
didn't wanna sell Texas.
And so Jackson
tried to figure out
"How can I deal with this?"
To avoid war with Mexico
Jackson wants Texas
to declare independence
on its own.
But what he doesn't realize
is that his plan will hinge
on the actions
of his long-time rival.
In February 1836
two hundred and sixty men
move towards San Antonio..
...as Mexican general,
Santa Anna
marches 4000 soldiers
toward Texas.
The two forces will soon
clash at an old Spanish fort.
Its name is The Alamo.
And his stand here will make
Crockett an American icon.
Alright, close it up.
Next time, on the conclusion
of "The Men Who Built
America: Frontiersmen.."
...Davy Crockett
makes a valiant last stand.
A new president
plots a covert war
to gain California and Texas.
Polk isn't content
to just look at Texas.
He's going to look broader,
beyond that.
Polk wants the entire continent.
Famed explorer, John Fremont..
We made it!
...opens the Oregon Trail.
He was known
as the Great Pathfinder.
Fremont was the one
who made the expansion real.
His partner is legendary
frontiersman, Kit Carson.
Before there were
all the cliches of the west
there was Kit Carson.
Brutally honest, very violent
but lived true to a code.
His legacy in many ways is
kind of the ultimate Westerner.
Together, they start
a revolution
on the Pacific coast..
Let's go!
...battling new enemies..
...to realize a long-held dream
a nation
stretching from sea to sea.
Built America: Frontiersmen.."
Lewis and Clark
achieve the impossible..
...reaching the Pacific..
...claiming new land
for the US..
...and infuriating
Great Britain.
By 1812..
...the frontier is again
a battleground..
...and America's survival..
...is once more in peril.
Whoa-oa-oa whoa-oa-oa
Across the northern frontier
the US is fighting
its second war in 30 years
against Great Britain and
its Native American allies
and it's losing.
Aah!
Legendary war chief, Tecumseh
has already captured
a key American fort.
In an unprecedented move
the Shawnee leader
has united warriors
from two dozen different tribes.
He now leads them in raids
meant to drive
American settlers
from native lands.
His goal,
create a pan-Indian nation
west of the Appalachians.
It's a mission that fills
America's leaders with fear.
This Pan-Indian alliance
was a nightmare
for the American government.
This could potentially
seriously would impede,
uh, the forward progress
of the future United States.
And so, he had to be eliminated
because this possibility
was too much
for the American government
to accept.
By 1813, Tecumseh's warriors
dominate a large area
in the Ohio Valley
territory that Britain
ceded to the US
after the revolution.
To secure the frontier
the US government
assigns a seasoned soldier
to confront Tecumseh..
...one of the few men who has
defeated him in the past
his long-time adversary
William Henry Harrison.
The leadership
of the United States
believed that Tecumseh's
alliance with Britain
could be a factor,
a major factor
in the US
possibly losing the war.
I don't know
if William Henry Harrison
had a personal vendetta
against Native Americans
but his military career
is defined by that.
He was well known as ruthless.
And when it comes
to the War of 1812
he has this inherent vitriol.
He wanted Tecumseh dead.
As Harrison prepares
to march north
the fight for the frontier
escalates in the south..
...as Britain encourages
a breakaway group
of Creek Indians
known as the Red Sticks
to attack settlements
inciting fear
throughout the south.
They destroy an American outpost
killing 500 men,
women and children..
...in what becomes known
as the Fort Mims Massacre.
They decided to raise
the banner of war
against the whites
to resist white encroachment.
And if they would have
taken the position
that this was, uh, simply
a defense of their homeland.
But to American settlers,
it represented a grave threat
to the security
of the American frontier.
With the army fighting
Tecumseh on the northern front
President Madison
calls on the militia
closest
to the Mississippi Territory
to defend the south.
In Tennessee..
...one commander has been
waiting for the chance
to join the fight.
His name..
...is Andrew Jackson.
This was a person
who started life
very much at the bottom
very much on his own
and was determined
to make something of himself.
And so, one way
for an ambitious young person
to rise would be to go to war
and to win glory in war.
Jackson's the perfect man
for the job.
He's spent a lifetime
building a reputation
as a man who gets results.
Ten years earlier..
...he was a tough
backcountry judge
known for taking the law
into his own hands.
There was one instance where
there was a particularly
vicious bully
who was wanted for murder
and no one wanted to arrest him.
So he decides
to take it on himself.
Andrew Jackson
was a loose cannon.
He would take bullwhips
to people.
He pursued duels
long after
duels were out of fashion.
He would come to blows
with people.
There are countless examples
of when he just took matters
into his own hands.
One of the most famous stories
of Jackson
is how he gets into a bar fight
gets shot in the arm, uh
and just right before the doctor
is about to amputate
he grabs the doctor and says
"You cut off my arm,
I'm gonna kill you."
There was nothing
that was gonna keep him down
including an infection
from a bullet in his arm.
Now, Jackson has the greatest
opportunity of his life.
He leads more than 2500
volunteer militiamen south
to destroy
the Red Stick faction.
But first, he has to find them.
As Jackson searches
for the Red Stick warriors
in the north,
William Henry Harrison
and his 3000 troops
are just a day's march from
Tecumseh's camp near Lake Erie.
The Shawnee war chief
is planning his own revenge.
Two years earlier
Harrison destroyed
Tecumseh's capital
Prophetstown.
Now, Tecumseh meets
with his British allies
to plan a carefully coordinated ambush.
He says,
"If your men can hold the line
our men
can take care of the rest."
The British will attack
Harrison's army as they march
and push them towards the woods
where Tecumseh and his warriors
will be waiting to crush them
as they retreat.
Tecumseh knows that Harrison
is leading this force.
It's gonna be a gun fight.
And one of them
is not gonna survive that day.
On October 5, 1813
Tecumseh and his men
take their positions
for a battle that could help
decide the outcome of the war
and the future
of the United States itself.
On the banks of the Thames River
Tecumseh and 500 warriors
from half a dozen tribes
wait to attack US forces.
Tecumseh's British allies
plan to strike
William Henry Harrison's
troops head on
forcing them
to retreat into the woods
where native warriors
will ambush them from behind.
Suddenly, the British
enter the woods..
...but they're not attacking.
They're retreating.
The British last
less than five minutes.
And the Native American forces
were outnumbered three to one.
Tecumseh realizes
that he has to make a stand
because if he retreats
they might not be able
to build another army.
William Henry Harrison has
his bitter rival pinned down
caught between the Thames River
and the American troops.
Tecumseh's forces held
and they held as long
as they possibly could.
But without the British,
it was a slaughter.
When Tecumseh is killed
by Harrison's forces..
...his Native American
confederacy dies with him.
I can only imagine what Tecumseh
must have been feeling
when he realized he'd been
abandoned by the Brits.
How it must have felt
to put your trust in white man
and then
have that trust betrayed
and it cause your downfall.
The death of Tecumseh
was an incalculable loss
for Native America.
In the wake of, of losing him
and losing the forces
who fought with him
the pan-tribal confederacy
failed.
Shawnee people are never
as powerful and influential
as they were under Tecumseh
and so, it's a situation
of having to come
to the negotiating table
of having to sign treaties with
the United States Government.
And they do.
After years of fighting
the Shawnee are finally defeated
and Tecumseh's dream of
regaining a native homeland
in the Ohio Valley is lost.
For the United States
victory
at the Battle of the Thames
is a turning point in the war.
They regain control
in the north.
But 600 miles to the south
the frontier is still in chaos.
Andrew Jackson's
leading a campaign
to find the Red Stick warriors
responsible
for the Fort Mims Massacre.
His militia searches
the wilderness for weeks..
...and finds nothing.
One of the wonders
of this period for Americans
is to realize how very different
the American landscape was then.
There were relatively few people
it was mostly wilderness.
And into this wilderness came
an army of several thousand men
that was very poorly supplied.
They were having
to live off the land.
In the end, what they did
was nearly starve.
By October, 1813
Jackson's running out of time.
If he can't find the Creek Tribe
he risks losing his
volunteers to desertion.
But a new recruit
has just joined his militia.
His name is Davy Crockett.
Crockett became famous
as a hunter on the frontier
over the course
of a long period of time
of learning
how to exist in the woods.
He claimed to have shot,
in a seven-month period
a hundred and five black bears.
When Crockett joined the militia
he was perfect
to chase rogue Creeks
then got to observe how
they moved through landscape.
It was something
that he, in fact, emulated.
With just six months
of formal schooling
young Crockett's real education
comes from the frontier itself.
Crockett came
from a tradition of woodsmen
and he would've learned
from his father and his uncles
how to hunt.
He learned how to track
he learned how to identify sign
scat, broken twigs.
Now, Crockett uses
his frontier skills
to track the Creek Tribe
for General Jackson.
It's just a harrowing
undertaking to do this.
He wasn't carrying modern-day,
cutting-edge technology.
So you needed to be an
expert tracker and woodsman.
You look
at all the sign around you
and the tracks
and the markings and the trees.
You look at everything
as being something
that is gonna affect
my next decision
where the Indians might be.
In just two weeks,
Crockett finds their village
and the Americans
prepare for revenge.
In late 1813,
on the northern frontier
victories by the US
diminish the threat
posed by Britain's
Native American allies.
But to the south
native raids
are destroying settlements
spreading panic throughout
what is now Alabama.
General Andrew Jackson
has been ordered
to eliminate
the Creek Indians responsible
for killing over 500 settlers
at Fort Mims.
After weeks of searching,
Davy Crockett has found them..
...giving Jackson
all the information
he needs to attack.
'Split the men
into two columns.'
We'll arrive here
before the sun rises.
'We'll cross the river
at the low point here and here.'
'Yes, sir.'
Not a single one of them
makes it out.
Prepare the men.
'Scouts!'
Jackson took the position
that the Indians had started
this round of war
by massacring whites.
And he also believed the
lesson to be taught to them was
you don't massacre whites
without expecting
a comparable reprisal.
You kill or you be killed.
That was the world he lived in
and that was the life he chose.
In the early morning hours
nine hundred Tennessee militia
including Davy Crockett,
surround the village.
In only minutes,
186 Creek warriors are killed.
And women and children are
burned alive in their homes..
...in what comes to be known
as the Battle of Tallushatchee.
Jackson allowed his men
to engage
in the most bloody reprisal
to teach the Indians a lesson
so they wouldn't do this again.
And it was
as a consequence of this
that people
came to recognize his ability
to defend the country
against its enemies.
Tallushatchee is called
the Battle of Tallushatchee
but it was really more like
the Massacre of Tallushatchee.
They burned 46 people to death.
It was bedlam.
As Crockett phrased it later,
"We shot them like dogs."
The ruthlessness of Jackson's
war against the Creeks
was something that really shook,
uh, Davy Crockett
and reshaped the way
he's looking, uh
at America's treatment
of the Native Americans.
He kind of realizes that
th-there's a senselessness
to this slaughter and it really
changes him, uh, as a person.
After the battle
Crockett is sickened
by the massacre..
...and chooses to leave
the volunteer militia.
'Morning.'
'Where are you men off to
this morning?'
'We're goin' home.'
No.
You're going to turn around
and go back to your tents.
We're volunteer militia.
I will not ask again.
You're gonna shoot your own men?
Do not test me.
Fire on my command.
After the massacre of over
200 Native American men
women and children
Davy Crockett chooses to
leave the Tennessee militia..
Return to your camp!
...but is caught by his
commander, Andrew Jackson.
Jackson tried
to hold the army together.
And maintaining and establishing
military discipline was hard.
Jackson would not brook
this walking away by the troops.
This is the last time
I will give you the option.
I will not ask again.
Crockett stands down..
...and grudgingly
stays in camp.
Crockett had mixed emotions
about what he was doing.
Obviously,
he was serving his country
and, I think, looked at it
really more as a job.
It was something
that he had to do.
The whole idea
of killing Indian families
whole Indian families..
...didn't sit well with him.
Colonel.
You asked to see me, sir?
You're a disgrace..
...to yourself, to your family
and to your country.
What I did for you
at that village..
...I will never do that again.
You're a coward.
When you look at this divide
between Crockett and Jackson
you can kind of see, uh,
the divide
that gets to the heart
of the American frontier.
On one hand, most Americans
looked at the treatment
of the Native Americans
as just another step in
the forward path of progress.
Davy Crockett
sees the inherent injustice
of the ruthless massacring
o-of the Creek Indians.
When his service is over
Crockett heads home
to Tennessee.
Jackson and Crockett certainly
started in similar fashions.
Both were born in log cabins
both came
from humble beginnings.
But w-what Crockett saw
in the Creek War
with Jackson's treatment
of Indians
it started a rift
that would really open up later
in Crockett's life.
Jackson doesn't stop
at avenging Fort Mims.
He launches a series of brutal
attacks on the Red Sticks..
...killing hundreds
and sending a powerful message.
They were targets
of a scorched-earth campaign.
There was no law of war
that was really respected.
By early 1814
Jackson has crushed
the Red Stick faction..
...and he forces
the rest of the Creek Nation
to negotiate a treaty
even though
they had nothing to do
with the conflict.
Jackson said to them
they must surrender millions
of acres of their own land
to the United States Government
as a kind of compensation
for the war.
Jackson actually described it
as a national security measure.
He said that
by taking over this land
the United States would isolate
the remaining rebels.
But the reality was
that he was taking millions
of acres of real estate.
Jackson seizes major parts
of Alabama and Georgia
nearly 22 million acres of land.
The United States
has now quelled
the Native American threat
on the frontier.
But as they begin to turn
the tide of the War of 1812
the British devise a new plan.
After forcing Napoleon
into exile
they commit additional troops
to America
invading the East Coast
in Baltimore.
During the War of 1812
the British almost brought the
United States to its knees.
Ultimately,
the British sack Washington
and, and burn the White House.
After capturing
America's capital..
...Britain turns
to the most important port
on the frontier..
...New Orleans.
The city controls access
to the Mississippi River
providing a highway
to British forts in Canada.
The British had a huge advantage
over the United States
in the War of 1812
because the British
had the most powerful navy
in the world.
It meant that the British
could move their troops
from here, there along the coast
and always beat the Americans
to wherever they wanted to get.
If they captured New Orleans
they could go up the Mississippi
and connect with British
forces coming down from Canada.
Knowing Britain will attack
New Orleans..
...the US turns
to its new war hero
Andrew Jackson.
Here emerged from Tennessee
this general
who organized an army
managed to keep it together
by force of will
and crushed the Creek Nation.
Jackson's determined to win.
He has a powerful and
personal hatred of Britain
dating back to his childhood.
In the fall of 1781
Jackson was held
as a prisoner of war
during the revolution.
'On your feet.'
As a, a young teenager
Andrew Jackson rode as a courier
for the American forces
against the British
who eventually captured him
and put him
in a prisoner-of-war camp.
He lost two brothers
during the war.
His mother also perished
in the conflict.
Jackson suspected the British
of all evil things.
He detested the British.
If you wanted to get a rise
out of Andrew Jackson
all you had to do was mention
Britain or the British.
Now, he has a shot at revenge
if Jackson can lead his men
through Louisiana's
deadly swamp lands
and get to New Orleans
before the enemy.
Deep in the southern frontier
Andrew Jackson is marching
to the port of New Orleans
to defend it against
a coming British attack.
But while the British
have the advantage
of traveling by sea..
...Jackson must get there
by land.
And he faces
a massive obstacle..
...the Louisiana swamps.
The Atchafalaya Basin
is the biggest swamp
in the country
covering nearly
1000 square miles.
And Jackson has to cross it
with 1500 men,
artillery and supplies.
This was an era
before good roads.
In fact, in that region
of the country
there were hardly any roads.
To get several thousand
troops to New Orleans
with all their equipment
was an extreme difficulty.
Get that end, get that end.
When you're talking about going
through those swamps,
you're talkin'
about water that gets
neck deep at times
gators everywhere
poisonous snakes everywhere,
very aggressive.
Mosquitoes have got to be
just eating them alive.
They got very thick clothing
on, they've got to be sweating.
You're talking about
an absolute misery fest.
Jackson works his men
around the clock..
Park down here.
We gotta go.
...improvising bridges
to haul a two-ton cannon
through the bog.
'Up, up!'
'Hold, hold, hold, hold!'
'Bring the wood! Let's go,
let's go! You're holding up!'
It doesn't have to look pretty,
just secure.
- 'Let's go!'
- One, two, pull!
I want one man here,
one man here, and one man there!
Work the wood down!
'Keep them straight now!'
'One, two, pull!'
Under Jackson's command
they maintain a pace
of 25 miles a day.
It was at this moment
that Jackson's leadership
became really most apparent.
And up! Roll!
Jackson's soldiers,
whatever they thought about the British
whatever they thought
about the Indians
whatever they thought
about American policy
they would follow Andrew Jackson
to the gates of hell.
'Push, boys, push!'
Put your backs into it!
Finally...
Come on, men!
...after two weeks
of grueling work..
...Jackson arrives
in New Orleans..
...knowing the British
could land any minute.
New Orleans was hugely
important, uh, at that time
and still is, uh,
for that matter.
In-in many respects,
it's the, the gateway
to the inland waterways
that were so critical
to that part
of the United States.
So retaining that port,
this great trading port
which has access
to all of these waterways
uh, was absolutely vital.
Jackson races
to build fortifications
at key entry points
around the city
to force the British to attack
him where he's strongest.
But to do it, he needs
all the manpower he can get.
He didn't have much of an army
but he assembled one from
the forces that were available
ranging
from Kentucky Frontiersmen
to some of his own
Tennessee loyalists
to New Orleans militia
to an African-American
militia unit
to river pirates
who were engaged
because they had cannon
and could fire them
and even local Indians
all became part
of Jackson's military force.
And he welded them together
in an effective way.
In all, Jackson has
about 4500 men.
When the British finally appear
they have 60 warships
and 15,000 men.
The Americans are outnumbered
by more than three to one.
Who's willing to suffer more
for victory, men?
General Jackson has 4500 men
arrayed against a British force
outnumbering him
by more than three to one.
His mission, hold New Orleans at all costs.
All trade
west of the Appalachians
flowed down the Ohio River
and into the Mississippi and out
through the port of New Orleans.
It was
the most critical choke point
for the American continent.
Prepare to fire!
Hold!
Jackson plans a way
to give his inferior force
an advantage.
He positions his men with
the Mississippi to the right
and dense swampland
to the left..
...forcing the British
to charge uphill..
...on a narrow strip of land
without cover.
Hold!
Fire!
Fire!
Reload!
From behind cotton bales
and other obstacles..
...Jackson's men,
in relative security
could open fire
on charging British troops.
Fire!
Fire at will, men!
Fire at will!
Had they met the British troops
in an open battlefield
things would've been
completely different.
But as it turned out,
the British charged
right where Jackson would've wanted them to
and they did it very badly,
and they were slaughtered.
Over ten days
of ferocious battle..
Fire!
...Jackson and his men
push back every unrelenting wave
of British assault.
Finally,
after devastating losses
British forces withdraw.
The figures were unbelievable.
Over 2000 British casualties.
Less than a hundred
on the American side.
And it's at that moment
that Andrew Jackson becomes
the great military hero
of the American people.
Andrew Jackson
was often thought of
as the second coming
of George Washington.
George Washington
wins independence
for the United States
Andrew Jackson
defends independence
for the United States.
The victory at New Orleans
propels Jackson
to national fame..
...and secures his legacy
as an American hero.
But what
American and British forces
at New Orleans don't know
is that before the battle began
the War of 1812
was already over.
Just over three weeks earlier
half a world away, in Belgium
representatives of
the United States and Britain
sign a treaty
ending almost three years of war
between the two nations.
There's already a peace treaty.
It just takes that long for news
to cross the Atlantic
and get to New Orleans.
But it really doesn't matter
to the American nation.
All they know
and all they want to focus on
is that they have beat
the British Empire
and having done that,
nothing is impossible
and we're now
going to look westward
across the American continent
and expand.
In the Treaty of Ghent
Britain formally recognizes
that the US now controls
all the native lands
that were once part
of the Mississippi Territory.
Alabama and Mississippi
are now open for settlement.
After his victory
at the Battle of New Orleans
a grateful government
assigns Andrew Jackson
the job of surveying
this new territory.
And he immediately senses
opportunity
to grow one of America's
most profitable crops..
...cotton.
When Jackson went off
on military expeditions
he had his eye out for land
that could also grow cotton.
And one of the big attractions of the land
in what would become
Alabama, Mississippi
was the fact
that it was very well suited
to growing cotton.
Over the next two years
Jackson uses his position
to buy vast tracts of land
at low cost
then sell it at a profit
to wealthy plantation owners.
Gentlemen.
Everything we discussed..
...is in this contract,
if you'd like to look it over.
What's happening here
is not just the expansion
of the United States
in a new territory.
It was an opportunity for men
in what is now the Deep South
to carve out
brand-new plantations..
Just sign here.
...plant cotton
and make a fortune.
And it was perfectly timed
for men like Jackson
to make a lot of money.
The frontiersman born in poverty
amasses a personal fortune
of four-and-a-half
million dollars.
But his business dealings
have a devastating consequence
resurrecting an institution
on the verge of collapse.
Slavery serves the larger
interests of the planter class.
What it creates
is tremendous economic profit
for planters, for farmers
and American business interest
in that region.
Jackson did not consider himself
an evangelist for slavery.
But, in fact,
his actions did give slavery
a new lease on life.
At the beginning of
the 18th century, it was unclear
whether slavery
was going to remain profitable.
And it might not have
had Jackson
and those who fought with him
not opened up
vast new territories
to cotton culture.
To the future of America.
- Hm. To the future.
- Future.
The land speculation
Jackson ignites
has another consequence.
In just three years,
the price of an acre
skyrockets from $2 to 78.
For Davy Crockett,
this betrays the promise
of the American frontier
one he's determined
to fight for.
In the years since his clash
with Andrew Jackson
Davy Crockett's tried to
carve out a life for himself
in the backwoods of Tennessee.
But in the last decade
he's watched
his beloved frontier
disappear before his eyes.
Thousands of acres of wilderness
that frontiersmen
have depended on for years
have now turned
into cotton farms
and the original settlers
are being pushed aside.
One of Crockett's main issues
was squatter's rights.
He felt that the squatters,
the settlers
ought to be able to purchase
the land they were living on
for reasonable prices.
And this rubbed against
the monied, landed aristocracy
of the southern
plantation farmers.
Determined to protect the
way of life he believes in
the frontiersman who grew up
without formal education
decides to run for Congress.
Some man comes along,
waves a piece of paper at you
tells you, "You can't track
here anymore." I.. Hell, no.
These land speculators
and plantation owners
never set a foot in Tennessee
in their life.
It's our families and our dreams
that are being destroyed here.
If we don't speak up, th..
They're just gonna keep
right on doin' it.
'Thank you very much.'
Hi. Good to meet you.
In the summer of 1827
Davy Crockett
wins in a landslide
with a campaign built
on bringing the frontier
fight to Washington.
David Crockett looms huge
in the notion of what
the American frontier was.
He became a symbol
of possibility, of hope
that the common man
could actually rise
to great heights.
A man with six months' education
ends up
in the halls of Congress.
It's a uniquely American story.
But while Crockett is entering
the House of Representatives
his former militia commander
has become one of the richest
and most powerful men
in the frontier.
And he has his sights set
on the highest office
in the country.
Jackson, as a young man,
he didn't see himself
as a career politician
by any means.
But he became this national hero
as a result of his victory
at the Battle of New Orleans.
And people began telling him
that he could be
president of the United States.
For the first 40 years
of America's existence
the president hailed
from either Massachusetts
or Virginia.
But now as more and more people
pour into the frontier
Jackson believes
the country is ready
for an unprecedented change.
Andrew Jackson rose to power
just at a moment
when people
were becoming conscious
that the revolutionary
generation was passing away
and a new generation was rising
and some of those leaders
were going to come
from a new region
that had not really existed
at the time
of the American Revolution.
Jackson trades on his
reputation as a war hero
and like Crockett
paints himself
as a self-made frontiersman.
You just look
at the-the political competition
uh, for Jackson in his day.
Uh, his main competitor
was John Quincy Adams.
Son of the president,
he went to Harvard
he spoke
five different languages.
And here's Andrew Jackson,
completely self-educated.
Jackson's message
resonates with Americans
across the country.
And on December 3, 1828
he's elected as the seventh
president of the United States.
Here's the man himself.
Mr. President.
When Jackson became president
in 1829
he was the first president
who was called
and who could be considered
the people's president.
Each and every one of you men
are responsible
for this victory.
To you.
To you, Mr. President.
And that was the most lasting
contribution of Jackson
because the presidency
from Jackson until today
is preeminently
the office of the people.
After taking office,
Jackson's first priority
is to continue
American expansion.
And that means more land.
Andrew Jackson inherited
a country in transition.
This was a period in which
Americans were continuing
to move west.
The population was almost
doubling every 20 years.
And he entered office
with one overriding priority
above all
and that was
to obtain more land.
Jackson introduces a plan
called the Indian Removal Act
to the horror of his old
rival, Davy Crockett.
Fellow citizens of the Senate
and of the House
of Representatives
'it gives me pleasure
to announce to you..'
...that the benevolent policy
in relation to the removal..
...of the remaining Indians..
...beyond the white settlements
by... fair exchange..
...is approaching
a happy consummation.
Jackson believed that white
Americans would never be secure
from Indians as long as
the two populations mingled.
And so Jackson's policy
was a policy of removal.
People today might call it
ethnic cleansing.
And, indeed, it was.
The general government
kindly offers him a new home
and proposes to pay
the whole expense
of his removal and settlement.
The Indian Removal Act will
force 50,000 Native Americans
from five tribes to leave
their ancestral lands
and settle 600 miles west,
in modern-day Oklahoma.
The Indian Removal Act
was an act
whose sole goal was to open up
large swaths of ground
to more settlement
and to make
these giant tracts of land
available to those who could
then purchase it, sell it.
They wouldn't have to deal
with the Indian problem anymore.
The plan has widespread support
but Crockett stands against it.
And whoever wins..
...will help decide the future
of the American frontier.
'This government'
will purchase Indian lands
and give them
new expensive territory.
President Andrew Jackson
has introduced
the Indian Removal Act
to Congress.
It would force Native
Americans from their homelands
to make way for white settlement
and it's gaining
widespread support.
But one man is taking a stand
against the president..
...Congressman Davy Crockett.
Four of my counties
border Chickasaw Country.
I know, personally,
many of their tribe.
'They are a proud people'
who have stood as our allies
in war and in peace.
Removal was taking the property
of Native Americans
and putting it in the hands,
not just of US citizens
but, frankly,
of Andrew Jackson supporters.
And when Davy Crockett stood
up on the floor of Congress
and spoke against the Indian Removal Act
Crockett put
not only his reputation
but his entire political career
on the line.
There is nothing
that will make me vote
to force them
off their homelands.
Not a political party
nor any one man, no matter
how powerful he may be.
What I like best
about Davy Crockett was
he was able to change his mind.
When he was a young man
he participated
in an Indian massacre.
But then he opposed
President Jackson
when Jackson wanted to push
the Indian Removal Act
because he knew it was wrong.
Crockett didn't care that
it was Andrew Jackson's baby.
While it was going to help
people who already had money
he thought it was wrong.
He believed that the Indians
had as much right to live
freely as anyone else.
Debate about
the Indian Removal Act
rages for five months
both in Congress
and around the country.
And on May 26, 1830
it's put to a vote in the
House of Representatives
and Crockett's efforts
fall short.
David Crockett
is the only member
of the Tennessee delegation
to vote against
the Indian Removal Act.
And that was a shocking act
of, uh, defiance
of the, uh, Jackson machine.
Davy Crockett stood his ground.
He realized he made a mistake
on that Indian massacre
and he took the right position.
'To you, Mr. President.'
The measure passes
by only four votes
and is signed in to law
by President Jackson
two days later.
'It's only beginning,
gentlemen.'
The Indian Removal Act
goes exactly
according to Jackson's plan
opening large parts
of present-day Georgia
Mississippi and Florida,
to American expansion.
But in the coming years
the Indian Removal Act
will be known by another name..
...The Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears
was the migration route
from Georgia to territory
west of the Mississippi River.
It was called the Trail of Tears
because the deaths from exposure
and disease were appalling.
The Indian Removal Act
is not only a major stain
on Jackson's legacy, it's a
major stain on American History.
Here was
the US Federal Government
getting into,
what many could call
an ethnic cleansing.
Over the next two decades
members of the Cherokee, Creek
Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations
are forced to march
thousands of miles
often at gunpoint.
Over 16,000 die on the journey.
Well, my own tribe
signed a treaty in 1831
and agreed to remove
to the Indian territory.
Most people only think
of the Cherokee
when they think
of the Trail of Tears
and something like 25%
of their people died.
My tribe went through
a trail of tears
as did dozens of others
as they were also moved
to the Indian territory.
So the Trail of Tears
was literally
the extermination
of Indian nations
and Indian peoples
and their replacement
by Americans
and American society.
In mandating the human tragedy
that we call the Trail of Tears
Jackson, in one fell swoop,
cements his legacy
as a person willing to do
whatever was necessary
in order to serve the interest
of white settlers.
For President Jackson
the legislative win
isn't enough.
The president is out
for revenge on Davy Crockett.
Andrew Jackson
made the political personal.
It was not enough for his side
his perspective to win.
His opponents had to
be thoroughly defeated.
He was
a genuinely dangerous man.
Their fight will force Crockett
to the southwestern frontier
changing the course
of American expansion.
President Andrew Jackson
signs the Indian Removal Act
despite Congressman
Davy Crockett's opposition.
Now, Crockett is up
for re-election
and Jackson vows
to crush his rival
by choosing a loyal supporter..
...William Fitzgerald,
to run against him.
Mr. Fitzgerald, come in.
Well, you don't cross
Andrew Jackson
without there
being consequences.
I-it's characteristic
of all successful politicians
because they want that to be
a warning sign to anybody else
not to cross me in the future.
So Jackson has to bury Crockett.
You will have my full support.
It would be an honor, sir.
Mr. President.
To ruin Crockett's
political career
Jackson attacks his character
launching a smear campaign
in the press..
...accusing him
of being a drunk..
...a womanizer..
...and a gambler.
The Jackson machine in Tennessee
had a tremendous amount
of political influence.
And when Jackson decides
to go after
Crockett's reputation
it becomes front-page news
throughout the United States.
The attacks infuriate Crockett.
Davy Crockett was, in part
built on his reputation
as a man of honor.
He would not stand idly by
and watch
as people destroy that.
At a campaign stop
in northwest Tennessee
Crockett confronts Fitzgerald.
Forget Davy Crockett.
I will give you the real voice
of Tennessee in Washington.
When Crockett
and Fitzgerald arrived
for one of their
co-stump speeches
Crockett stood up
and strode toward the stage
and said, you know,
"If you continue
"with these casting aspersions
I'm going to give you
a country caning."
Fitzgerald leveled a pistol
at Crockett's chest and said
"Take one more step
and it'll be your last."
I suggest you leave.
So in addition
to his moral flaws
it would appear
that Mr. Crockett
is not quite as tough
as he claims.
The event
with William Fitzgerald
and the pistol
was devastating to Crockett.
He had run part
of his campaign on his courage
and here he was,
publically slinking away
in front of someone.
It was kind of an assault
to his manhood.
After a brutal campaign
in the fall of 1831
some 16,000 ballots are cast
in the election
for Tennessee's 9th District.
In a stunning upset
Crockett loses
by just 800 votes.
Disgraced in Washington
Davy Crockett returns home
to Tennessee
with his career in ruins
only to find his personal
life is also falling apart.
When Crockett
lost his bid for Congress
he sort of slug home
with his tail between his legs.
He was now broke,
arriving to find out
that his, his wife
had also left him
and he was living alone.
It was a very low, low point
in his life.
In a stroke of blind luck
Crockett's fortunes
take a turn..
...when a play
based on his life
opens in New York City.
One of the things
that revitalized Crockett
in his career
was the creation of this play
called "The Lion Of The West.."
...which was clearly, uh,
a depiction of Crockett.
At the beginning, Crockett
was sort of offended by this.
He felt like
he was being made fun of
but as it turned out
the play actually made him
an international celebrity.
As Crockett's fame
as a frontiersman grows
the US population explodes.
Over the next four years
it balloons to 17 million.
As the old frontier is dominated
by cotton plantations
and settlements..
...pioneers looking for land
stream further west
across modern-day Mississippi
Alabama and Arkansas
into a new frontier
full of opportunity
a Mexican territory
called Texas.
One of the attractions of Texas
to the Americans who went there
when Texas was part of Mexico
was precisely that it
was foreign territory.
It was this place
where you could go
if things weren't going well
for you wherever you were
because it provided opportunity.
Americans discovered
because land was cheap
they would get title to land
and then the land
would increase in value
and they'd eventually sell it
and become wealthy
as a result of this.
In 1835
Crockett leaves
Tennessee behind..
...hoping his name can help
jump start a new life in Texas.
But instead of opportunity..
...Crockett's
about to find himself
in the middle of an all-out war.
After his reputation
is shredded by Andrew Jackson
Davy Crockett heads west..
...looking for a fresh start
in Texas
a rugged frontier territory
across the border in Mexico.
For years,
the Mexican government
has encouraged
foreign settlement
to increase their population
offering families 4000 acres
at low prices.
Mexicans were encouraging
Americans and others
to move, uh, into Texas
and offering land.
But, of course,
the stipulation was that, uh
they had to abide
by the rules of Mexico.
And for the most part,
Americans generally lived
relatively peacefully.
One of the attractions of Texas
to the Americans who went there
when Texas was part of Mexico
was precisely
that it was foreign territory.
They had bad memories, bad debts
there were people who were
after them in the United States
and they went to Texas.
By 1836, 45,000 Americans
move here.
Davy Crockett is one of them.
Unsure what awaits him.
Crockett went to Texas,
clearly, to start over.
He'd lost his last bid
for Congress
and he was going to Texas
to get land
and to look at possible
political opportunity.
Jackson may have destroyed
Crockett's career in Washington
but in Texas, he's hailed
as a frontier legend.
As David Crockett arrived
in the Texas outpost towns
he began to notice that people
were already lining the streets
waiting for his arrival.
People in Texas
heard that he was coming
and would have big feasts
and parties for him.
And you spent time, uh,
in the militia, as well?
As Crockett begins to settle in
he realizes Texas
is on the verge of rebellion.
After years of loose governance
Mexican President, Santa Anna
suddenly imposes
new restrictions on settlers.
Now, angry Texans
are calling for revolution.
Texas was on the verge
of independence
that the Texians,
as they were called
were going to try to become
independent from Mexico.
And there would be possibilities
of land
and political opportunity.
In response, Santa Anna
sends 500 troops
to confiscate weapons
and quell unrest.
When Texans refuse to give in
he makes plans to retaliate.
Santa Anna is training an army
in San Luis Potosi
to march against Texas.
Santa Anna did not think that
this was a local insurgency.
He was absolutely convinced
the United States was involved
and so that's why
the Mexican government
was so determined
to put down this revolt.
Crockett arrives in Texas
at the same time
as news of Santa Anna's
counter-attack.
When Crockett had gone
to Texas, it was really just
meant to be an extended hunting
expedition and land scout
and he bumbles right into
a war for independence.
But a number of things
happened, uh, along the way.
One was the appearance
of Halley's Comet.
And when Halley's Comet
appeared in the sky in 1836
some people thought
that it meant
that David Crockett
was coming to Texas
to fight for independence.
We could use
somebody like you, Crockett.
Oh, yeah?
To remove the stain
on his character
Crockett finds himself
drawn into war.
Hell, I'll join you boys.
Hell or Texas, right?
Hell or Texas!
Hell or Texas!
Hell or Texas!
What began
as a fresh start in Texas
is now a call to arms.
As the situation in Texas
escalates
back in Washington
President Jackson
sees the unrest
as a new opportunity to expand.
Andrew Jackson knew
that America was a young country
and needed more territory.
He saw in Texas enormous energy
timber, agricultural resources
a land mass that many Americans
in the future could move to
and he wanted them.
Jackson believed that
Texas ought to be part
of the United States.
Jackson attempted
to purchase Texas from Mexico
after Mexico
became independent of Spain.
But Mexico
didn't wanna sell Texas.
And so Jackson
tried to figure out
"How can I deal with this?"
To avoid war with Mexico
Jackson wants Texas
to declare independence
on its own.
But what he doesn't realize
is that his plan will hinge
on the actions
of his long-time rival.
In February 1836
two hundred and sixty men
move towards San Antonio..
...as Mexican general,
Santa Anna
marches 4000 soldiers
toward Texas.
The two forces will soon
clash at an old Spanish fort.
Its name is The Alamo.
And his stand here will make
Crockett an American icon.
Alright, close it up.
Next time, on the conclusion
of "The Men Who Built
America: Frontiersmen.."
...Davy Crockett
makes a valiant last stand.
A new president
plots a covert war
to gain California and Texas.
Polk isn't content
to just look at Texas.
He's going to look broader,
beyond that.
Polk wants the entire continent.
Famed explorer, John Fremont..
We made it!
...opens the Oregon Trail.
He was known
as the Great Pathfinder.
Fremont was the one
who made the expansion real.
His partner is legendary
frontiersman, Kit Carson.
Before there were
all the cliches of the west
there was Kit Carson.
Brutally honest, very violent
but lived true to a code.
His legacy in many ways is
kind of the ultimate Westerner.
Together, they start
a revolution
on the Pacific coast..
Let's go!
...battling new enemies..
...to realize a long-held dream
a nation
stretching from sea to sea.