Original subtitles

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..

[clamoring]

...the frontier is again a battleground..

[grunting]

...and America's survival..

...is once more in peril.

[grunting]

[Zayde Wolf singing "Born Ready"]

♪ I've been the last one standin' ♪

♪ When all the giants fell ♪ Whoa-oa-oa whoa-oa-oa

♪ Whoa-oa-oa whoa-oa-oa

♪ I won't shiver I won't shake

♪ I'm made of stone I don't break ♪

♪ Staring at the pressure now

♪ I won't quit not backing down ♪

♪ I was born

♪ Born ready

♪ I was born

♪ Born ready

♪ Open my eyes turn me loose

♪ And you'll see why

♪ I was born

♪ Born ready ♪

[men screaming]

[male narrator] 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.

[men screaming]

[men screaming]

[dramatic music]

[screaming]

[screaming]

Aah!

[music continues]

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.

[Eisenbach] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Amy] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[screaming]

[gunshot]

They destroy an American outpost

killing 500 men, women and children..

...in what becomes known

as the Fort Mims Massacre.

[Brands] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Brands] 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.

[dramatic music]

[Amy] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[speaking in foreign language]

He says, "If your men can hold the line

our men can take care of the rest."

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[Donald] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[instrumental music]

On the banks of the Thames River

Tecumseh and 500 warriors from half a dozen tribes

wait to attack US forces.

[dramatic music]

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.

[speaking in foreign language]

[indistinct yelling]

[gunshots in distance]

[male narrator] Suddenly, the British enter the woods..

...but they're not attacking.

[gunshot]

They're retreating.

[men screaming]

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.

[shouts in foreign language]

[gun firing]

[men screaming]

[male narrator] William Henry Harrison has his bitter rival pinned down

caught between the Thames River

and the American troops.

[dramatic music]

[grunting]

[gunshot]

[grunts]

[intense music]

[Amy] Tecumseh's forces held

and they held as long as they possibly could.

But without the British, it was a slaughter.

[men yelling]

[gunshot]

[male narrator] When Tecumseh is killed by Harrison's forces..

...his Native American confederacy dies with him.

[shallow breathing]

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.

[Donald] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Inskeep] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

[Buddy] 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.

[gunshot]

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.

[male narrator] With just six months of formal schooling

young Crockett's real education

comes from the frontier itself.

[Buddy] 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.

[gunshot]

[male narrator] Now, Crockett uses his frontier skills

to track the Creek Tribe for General Jackson.

[dramatic music]

[Rinella] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] In just two weeks, Crockett finds their village

and the Americans prepare for revenge.

[male narrator] 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.

[crows crowing]

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.

[Jackson] '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.'

[Coffee] 'Yes, sir.'

Not a single one of them makes it out.

Prepare the men.

[Coffee] 'Scouts!'

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] In the early morning hours

nine hundred Tennessee militia

including Davy Crockett, surround the village.

[dramatic music]

[music continues]

[gunshots]

[screaming]

[indistinct yelling]

[grunting]

[screaming]

[grunting]

[screaming]

[grunting]

[breathing heavily]

[breathing heavily]

[screaming]

[dramatic music]

[screaming]

[groaning]

[gunshot]

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

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.

[instrumental music]

[screaming]

Tallushatchee is called the Battle of Tallushatchee

but it was really more like the Massacre of Tallushatchee.

They burned 46 people to death.

[Buddy] It was bedlam.

[instrumental music]

As Crockett phrased it later, "We shot them like dogs."

[Eisenbach] 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.

[instrumental music]

[male narrator] After the battle

Crockett is sickened by the massacre..

...and chooses to leave the volunteer militia.

[horse neighing]

[Jackson] 'Morning.'

'Where are you men off to this morning?'

[Crockett] '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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Brands] 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.

[guns cocking]

[dramatic music]

I will not ask again.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] Crockett stands down..

...and grudgingly stays in camp.

[Buddy] 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.

[Crockett sighs]

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.

[dramatic music]

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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] Jackson doesn't stop at avenging Fort Mims.

He launches a series of brutal attacks on the Red Sticks..

[dramatic music]

...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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Inskeep] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[cannons firing]

[Petraeus] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] Knowing Britain will attack New Orleans..

...the US turns to its new war hero

Andrew Jackson.

[Inskeep] Here emerged from Tennessee

this general who organized an army

managed to keep it together by force of will

and crushed the Creek Nation.

[male narrator] 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.

[male #1] 'On your feet.'

[grunts]

[dramatic music]

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

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.

[Mykel] 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.

[male narrator] Jackson works his men around the clock..

Park down here. We gotta go.

...improvising bridges to haul a two-ton cannon

through the bog.

[Jackson] 'Up, up!'

[Jackson grunts]

'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!'

[Coffee] 'One, two, pull!'

[male narrator] Under Jackson's command

they maintain a pace of 25 miles a day.

[Brands] 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.

[Jackson] 'Push, boys, push!'

Put your backs into it!

[male narrator] Finally...

Come on, men!

...after two weeks of grueling work..

...Jackson arrives in New Orleans..

...knowing the British could land any minute.

[grunting]

[instrumental music]

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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Inskeep] 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.

[male narrator] 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?

[male narrator] 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.

[Francois] 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.

[dramatic music]

Prepare to fire!

Hold!

[male narrator] 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!

[guns firing]

Fire!

Reload!

[Inskeep] 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.

[gunshots]

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.

[male narrator] Over ten days of ferocious battle..

[indistinct yelling]

Fire!

[cannons firing]

...Jackson and his men

push back every unrelenting wave

of British assault.

[gunshots]

Finally, after devastating losses

British forces withdraw.

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Walter] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

After his victory at the Battle of New Orleans

a grateful government assigns Andrew Jackson

the job of surveying this new territory.

[music continues]

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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Jackson] Gentlemen.

[sighs]

Everything we discussed..

...is in this contract, if you'd like to look it over.

[Inskeep] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

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.

[Brands] 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.

[glasses clinking]

[male narrator] 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.

[instrumental music]

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.

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] Determined to protect the way of life he believes in

the frontiersman who grew up without formal education

decides to run for Congress.

[dramatic music]

[Crockett] 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.'

[crowd applauding]

Hi. Good to meet you.

[male narrator] 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.

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Jackson chuckles]

Mr. President.

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] Jackson introduces a plan

called the Indian Removal Act

to the horror of his old rival, Davy Crockett.

[Jackson] 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..

[screaming]

...beyond the white settlements

by... fair exchange..

[screaming]

...is approaching a happy consummation.

[dramatic music]

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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[Buddy] 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.

[applause]

[male narrator] The plan has widespread support

but Crockett stands against it.

And whoever wins..

...will help decide the future of the American frontier.

[dramatic music]

[Jackson] 'This government'

will purchase Indian lands

and give them new expensive territory.

[male narrator] 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.

[applause]

But one man is taking a stand against the president..

...Congressman Davy Crockett.

[indistinct chatter]

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.

[applause]

[Bill] 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.

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male #2] 'To you, Mr. President.'

[male narrator] The measure passes by only four votes

and is signed in to law by President Jackson

two days later.

[Jackson] 'It's only beginning, gentlemen.'

[male narrator] 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.

[Brands] 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.

[Eisenbach] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] For President Jackson

the legislative win isn't enough.

The president is out for revenge on Davy Crockett.

[Amy] 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.

[male narrator] 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..

[knock on the door]

...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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[Sam] 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.

[sighs]

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] 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."

[dramatic music]

I suggest you leave.

[Fitzgerald] So in addition to his moral flaws

it would appear that Mr. Crockett

is not quite as tough as he claims.

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[Brands] 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.

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

[male narrator] 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.

[Miller] 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.

[male narrator] By 1836, 45,000 Americans move here.

Davy Crockett is one of them.

Unsure what awaits him.

[instrumental music]

[Buddy] 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.

[male narrator] Jackson may have destroyed Crockett's career in Washington

but in Texas, he's hailed as a frontier legend.

[crowd cheering]

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.

[instrumental music]

And you spent time, uh, in the militia, as well?

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] In response, Santa Anna sends 500 troops

to confiscate weapons and quell unrest.

When Texans refuse to give in

he makes plans to retaliate.

[Sam] 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.

[male narrator] Crockett arrives in Texas at the same time

as news of Santa Anna's counter-attack.

[Buddy] 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.

[indistinct chatter]

We could use somebody like you, Crockett.

Oh, yeah?

[male narrator] To remove the stain

on his character

Crockett finds himself drawn into war.

Hell, I'll join you boys.

[cheering]

Hell or Texas, right?

[all] Hell or Texas!

Hell or Texas!

[all] Hell or Texas!

[male narrator] What began as a fresh start in Texas

is now a call to arms.

[dramatic music]

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.

[Brands] 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?"

[male narrator] 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.

[dramatic music]

In February 1836

two hundred and sixty men move towards San Antonio..

[marching band music]

...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.

[male narrator] Next time, on the conclusion

of "The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen.."

[indistinct chatter]

...Davy Crockett makes a valiant last stand.

[screaming]

A new president plots a covert war

to gain California and Texas.

[Walter] Polk isn't content to just look at Texas.

He's going to look broader, beyond that.

Polk wants the entire continent.

[male narrator] Famed explorer, John Fremont..

We made it!

...opens the Oregon Trail.

[Brands] He was known as the Great Pathfinder.

Fremont was the one

who made the expansion real.

[male narrator] 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.

[male narrator] Together, they start a revolution

on the Pacific coast..

Let's go!

[male narrator] ...battling new enemies..

[gunshot]

...to realize a long-held dream

a nation stretching from sea to sea.

[screaming]