After the War of 1812, Americans began to cease looking eastward, to Europe, and began to look westward. While some of this "west" is indeed the West as we know it today, what Americans then meant by "the West" was the trans-Appalachian West: that region between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Discussion #5 looks at this first round of western expansion, especially its consequences for indigenous peoples like the Cherokee Nation. How did Nationalist Republicans (later the Whig Party) like Henry Clay carry the ideas of the Hamilton and the extinct Federalist Party into the 1820s and 1830s?

How did Americans in general, but Democratic-Republicans (later the Democratic Party) in particular, view the place of American Indians in the body politic of the United States? How do the actions of Andrew Jackson square with a commitment to the Rule of Law?