Reflect on Chapter Seven, "As Long as Grass Grows of Water Runs," in Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

Chapter
Seven of deals with the troubled relationship between the United States
and Native peoples. Its specific topic is, as Zinn writes, "Indian removal, as it has been
politely called." Analytically, Zinn wants to show how the removal of Native peoples east
of the Mississippi was essential to American expansion. Thus the growth of the United States and
the development of Jacksonian Democracy that accompanied it was contingent upon the oppression
of other peoples. This policy had the support of both ordinary whites and wealthy Southern
planters, both of whom benefited from it. The focal point of the chapter is the removal of the
Southeastern Indians, especially the Cherokee. These peoples, who had in many cases adopted some
cultural and political practices of white society, were nevertheless forced off of their lands
by Jackson and his followers, who Zinn portrays as relentless in their greed and racism. The
consequences for the Cherokee, in particular were tragic, as thousands perished on the
"Trail of Tears" to Indian Country in modern Oklahoma. Zinn cites estimates that over
4,000 died, and sums up Indian policy in the following way:

The Indian, not needed--indeed, sometimes an obstacle--could be dealt with by sheer
force, except that sometimes the language of paternalism preceded the burning of
villages.