All language subtitles for The.Men.Who.Built.America.Frontiersmen.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10.English

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.