Editing Thomas Jefferson (section)

===Native American affairs===
{{Main|Thomas Jefferson and Native Americans}}
[[File:Black Hoof.jpg|thumb|left|[[Black Hoof]], leader of the [[Shawnee]], accepted Jefferson's Indian assimilation policies.]]

Jefferson refuted the contemporary notion that Indians were inferior and maintained that they were equal in body and mind to people of European descent,<ref>[[#TJF:Indians|TJF: American Indians]]</ref> although he believed them to be inferior in terms of culture and technology.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/thomas-jeffersons-enlightenment-and-american-indians|title=Thomas Jefferson's Enlightenment and American Indians|publisher=Thomas Jefferson Foundation|access-date=July 10, 2024}}/</ref> As governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War, Jefferson recommended moving the [[Cherokee]] and [[Shawnee]] tribes, who had allied with the British, to west of the Mississippi River. But when he took office as president, he quickly took measures to avert another major conflict, as American and Indian societies were in collision and the British were inciting Indian tribes from Canada.<ref name="Miller2008">[[#Miller08|Miller, 2008]], p. 90.</ref><ref name=Sheehan1974>[[#Sheehan74|Sheehan, 1974]], pp. 120–121.</ref> In Georgia, he stipulated that the state would release its legal claims for lands to its west in exchange for military support in expelling the Cherokee from Georgia. This facilitated his policy of western expansion, to "advance compactly as we multiply".<ref>[[#Peterson70|Peterson, 1970]], ch. 9.</ref>

In keeping with his [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] thinking, President Jefferson adopted an assimilation policy toward American Indians known as his "civilization program" which included securing peaceful U.S.–Indian treaty alliances and encouraging agriculture. Jefferson advocated that Indian tribes should make federal purchases by credit holding their lands as collateral. Various tribes accepted Jefferson's policies, including the Shawnees led by [[Black Hoof]], the [[Muscogee]], and the Cherokee. However, some Shawnees, led by [[Tecumseh]], broke off from Black Hoof, and opposed Jefferson's assimilation policies.<ref>[[#TJFIndian Nations|TJF: President Jefferson and the Indian Nations]]</ref>

Historian Bernard Sheehan argues that Jefferson believed that assimilation was best for American Indians, and next-best was removal to the west; he felt that the worst outcome of the conflict would be their attacking the whites.<ref name=Sheehan1974/> Jefferson told [[United States Secretary of War|U.S. Secretary of War]] [[Henry Dearborn]], who then oversaw Indian affairs, "If we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never lay it down until that tribe is exterminated or driven beyond the Mississippi."<ref>[[#morals|The Life and Writings of Thomas Jefferson]], pp. 265–266.</ref> Miller agrees that Jefferson believed that Indians should assimilate to American customs and agriculture. Historians such as [[Peter S. Onuf]] and Merrill D. Peterson argue that Jefferson's actual Indian policies did little to promote assimilation and were a pretext to seize lands.<ref>[[#Miller08|Miller, 2008]], p. 94.</ref>