I'm having a hard time understanding this passage, can anyone help?

Question

what exactly does Andrew Jackson mean when he says: "No act of the General Government has ever been deemed necessary to give the States jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians. That they possess by virtue of their sovereign power within their own limits in as full a manner before as after the purchase of the Indian lands; nor can this Government add to or diminish it.."

Answer 1

"Indian Removal"
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Andrew Jackson's presidency was his policy regarding American Indians.[9] Jackson was a leading advocate of a policy known as "Indian Removal," signing the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830. The Act authorized the President to negotiate treaties to purchase tribal lands in the east in exchange for lands further west, outside of existing U.S. state borders.

According to biographer Robert V. Remini, Jackson promoted this policy primarily for reasons of national security, seeing that Great Britain and Spain had recruited Native Americans within U.S. borders in previous wars with the United States. According to historian Anthony Wallace, Jackson never publicly advocated removing American Indians by force. Instead, Jackson made the negotiation of treaties priority: nearly seventy Indian treaties—many of them land sales—were ratified during his presidency, more than in any other administration.


Statue of Andrew Jackson in Nashville, Tennessee.The Removal Act was especially popular in the South, where population growth and the discovery of gold on Cherokee land had increased pressure on tribal lands. The state of Georgia became involved in a contentious jurisdictional dispute with the Cherokees, culminating in the 1832 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Worcester v. Georgia) that ruled that Georgia could not impose its laws upon Cherokee tribal lands. About this case, Jackson is often quoted as having said, "John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!" Jackson probably never said this; the popular story that Jackson defied the Supreme Court in carrying out Indian Removal is untrue.[10] Instead, Jackson used the Georgia crisis to pressure Cherokee leaders to sign a removal treaty. A faction of Cherokees led by Jackson's old ally Major Ridge negotiated the Treaty of New Echota with Jackson's administration, a document which was rejected by most Cherokees. The terms of the treaty were strictly enforced by Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren, which resulted in the the deaths of over 4000 Cherokee on the "Trail of Tears."

In all, more than 45,000 American Indians were relocated to the West during Jackson's administration. During this time, the administration purchased about 100 million acres (400,000 km²) of Indian land for about $68 million and 32 million acres (130,000 km²) of western land. Jackson was criticized at the time for his role in these events, and the criticism has grown over the years. Remini characterizes the Indian Removal era as "one of the unhappiest chapters in American history."[11]

Answer 2

Sounds like the Indians have the same freedom as everyone and the government doesn't control them.

Answer 3

that indians have same freedom as everyone else and they have there own limits too.