Andrew Jackson A Tyrant

Andrew Jackson became the seventh president of the United States when he won the Election of 1828. Throughout the years, almost every president changed the United States in some way. Some changed it for the better, and some changed it for the worse, but that all depends on your own personal perspectives. During Andrew Jackson’s term, he managed to change the country in many ways but also brought up some controversy. As in 1800, when Jefferson had won over the Federalist incumbent John Adams, the presidency passed to a new political party, the Democrats. The election was the climax of several decades of expanding democracy in the United States and the end of the older politics of deference.During his two-term presidency, he expanded executive

The rewarding of party loyalist with government jobs resulted badly in spectacular instances of corruption. For example, in New York where a Jackson appointee made off with over $1 million. This was considered the most notorious instance of corruption. Such examples seemed proof positive that the Democrats were disregarding merit, education, and respectability in decisions about the governing of the nation. Another reason as to why people considered Jackson a tyrant is because the Jackson administration became embroiled in a personal scandal known as the Petticoat affair. This affair revolved around a woman named Margaret (“Peggy”) O’Neal, a well-known socialite in Washington D.C. She had connections to the republic’s most powerful men. She married John Timberlake, a naval officer, and they had three children. But rumors later came up that she was having an affair with John Eaton, a U.S. senator from Tennessee. Timberlake soon committed suicide after he heard about the affair, setting off a flurry of rumors that he had been distraught over his wife’s reputed infidelities. Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake married soon after, with full approval of President Jackson. This Petticoat affair divided the Washington society. Some people disagreed with Jackson and said that Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake should not be

This brought up the theory of nullification, or the voiding of unwelcome federal laws, provided wealthy slaveholders, who were a minority in the country, with an argument for resisting the national government if it acted contrary to their interests. To deal with the crisis, Jackson advocated a reduction in tariff rates. The Tariff of 1832 lowered the rates on imported goods, a move designed to calm southerners. This did not