Medal (Peace medal)

Description

Andrew Jackson’s administration employed the established practice of having silver medals created for distribution to Native Americans with diplomatic or treaty negotiations and this is the smallest of three sizes created for that purpose. His profile and the date of 1829 on the obverse are paired with the classical motif of a handshake on the reverse. This indicates agreement to establish peaceful and friendly relations, also symbolized by the crossed tomahawk and peace pipe or callumet above the hands. The medals were designed in 1829 and distributed in 1832, just as the pressures on Native American communities from the Indian Removal Act of 1830 were intensifying.