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Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was a hero and he was idolized by many during his lifetime. However, looking back historically, from a modern perspective, I have concluded that Andrew Jackson is someone for whom we should apologize for.
Due to events of his childhood and youth, including the death of his parents and brother, Jackson was alone in the world at an early age. Alone and with little education, Jackson moved to the western frontier town of Nashville. With the help of others, he became a lawyer and later a judge. He was appointed as Congressional Representative for the State of Tennessee in 1796 and was eventually elected to the Senate. The “Washington Elite,” including Thomas Jefferson, were unimpressed by him. Jackson saw
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the government as corrupt and resigned after one year. He courted Rachel Donelson Robards who was a married woman. They eventually married and this relationship was one of the many scandals of his lifetime. He was known to have a violent temper, participated frequently in duels, and vowed to avenge all who he felt had done him harm, including Native Americans, corrupt politicians, and especially the British. Jackson became a southern plantation owner who used and exploited slaves to help who build his fortune.
He once offered a reward to anyone that would whip one of his slaves, who had escaped, 300 times. This was basically a death sentence for that slave and proved that he was a brutal man and that he had a violent temper. Having visited his Tennessee home, known as “The Hermitage,” I saw the dilapidated shacks that he kept his slaves in. His prized horses were housed and treated more humanely than his slaves. The slave trade ended and many states began to abolish slavery but Jackson remained a slave owner until the end of his life.
Jackson served in the military in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. He became a military leader and recruited Native Americans and slaves to help him win his battles. He fought alongside of Cherokee Indians in the “Battle of Horseshoe Bend” and emerged victorious after slaughtering thousands of Creek Indians. He used guerilla warfare tactics to defeat his enemies. Indians, slaves and pirates helped him win the “Battle of New
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Orleans.” Jackson retired from the military and went home to his plantation and became a very wealthy man. He decided to re-enter the political arena in the 1824 Presidential Election. Jackson won the popular election but not the majority of electoral votes and the election had to be sent to the House of Representatives for a final decision. The House decided to elect John Quincy Adams as President and Jackson felt that he was again the victim; this time of the corrupt bargain between Henry Clay and Adams. He felt that the election was stolen from him. In 1828, Jackson decided to run for President again.
Jackson sent pamphlets, depicting himself as the “victor of New Orleans,” all over the country and began the political campaigning that is familiar today. It was one of the most vicious, mudslinging campaigns in political history. A friend of Henry Clay reported that Jackson’s wife Rachel was an adulterer to the newspapers and a Jackson supporter fired back claiming that Adams had once procured a prostitute for the Czar of Russia. Jackson won the Presidency in 1828. His wife, Rachel, died shortly after the election and her death was seen as a ‘political godsend” by many. However, Jackson believed that his political enemies had killed his wife.
Soon after taking office, Jackson started what is now known as the “spoils system”. He got rid of many federal employees and appointed many of his loyal supporters to these vacancies, even though many were not qualified to perform the duties of the positions. He also was involved in another political scandal “The Petticoat Affair” and wasted nearly the first two years of his Presidency trying to uphold the honor of a wife of one of his cabinet members. He ended up firing his entire Cabinet and replaced them with what was known as his “Kitchen
Cabinet.” During his Presidency he vetoed more bills than all of the previous six Presidents combined. He chose to support the will of the Federal Government over the rights of the states during the Nullification Crisis. Jackson and his Vice President John Calhoun stopped talking to each other and Calhoun eventually resigned over Jackson’s position. This crisis almost led to civil war. However, Jackson sided with the rights of the states when he decided to get rid of the 2nd Bank of the United States. Jackson hated the bank, it’s President Nicholas Biddle and Henry Clay, a supporter of the bank. He eventually killed the US Bank and turned over federal monies to various state banks that were owned by his political supporters. He also tampered with the US Mail destroying a mass mailing by abolitionists. His most heinous act by far was his involvement with removing all Native Americans living in the eastern states to areas west of the Mississippi. This was nothing more than “ethnic cleansing.” Jackson sought the help of the Indians to help him eventually rise to the Presidency and then turned his back on them. He was a hero for the “common white man”, not a hero for women’s rights, civil rights, or even basic human rights.
Jackson was very loyal to his friends especially those who helped him get into office. To reward his friends, he removed experienced officeholders and replaced them with his political friends or followers. This system is known as the spoils system. By Jackson using this system, he is guilty for undermining the economy and politically motivated action. By Jackson putting his friends in the office, meant that he had chance of winning the next election. Using this system also put the economy in danger because of the corruption and inefficiency in the office. Jackson is guilty of this charge because he replaced good working men for his party friends who do nothing to benefit the
Jackson’s spoils system opened government positions to only his supporters and he had little tolerance for
defeat the British in the war, but he did more than that. That is what
Jackson was always ready to fight for his country. When he was young he went to train at West Point to become a soldier and leader. He wasn’t as bright as some of the other students, but he worked hard pushing to succeed. In the end he ended up 17th in his class, giving him the chance to become 2nd Lieutenant of Artillery in the Mexican War. He lived through the war with no problems. He was admired by the army for his courage, he never backed down. After the Mexican War he went to VMI (Virginia Military Institute) to teach. He had two classes, Natural & Experimental Philosophy and Artillery tactics. He was no professor but a great artillery instructor.
Andrew Jackson was born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1776. His parents, who were Scotch-Irish people. They came to America two years before Andrew was born. His mother was widowed while pregnant with him. At age thirteen, Andrew joined the patriotic cause and volunteered to fight the British. He and his brother were both captured and imprisoned together by the British. Their mother got them released by a prisoner exchange, but his brother died on the long trip home from smallpox. During his independent days, he lived in a tavern with other students.
Jackson used his power as President to further his belief in a limited federal government. He accomplished this by vetoing any bill which he deemed to be either hindering the common man's rights, or expanding the federal government's power. Ironically though, in trying to limit governmental control, Jackson increased the President's power by vetoing more bills than the previous six presidents combined. These vetoes helped earn him the nickname "King Andrew I."
Carolina. His father died before the war, and his mother and siblings all died during the war from disease or other causes, leaving him an orphan at the age of 14. When he was a kid he only received sporadic education, and education back then was just simply not enough. But he did well and eventually went on to study law. After he graduated from college, he served as a judge in the Tennessee state district. He was also on the committee that formed the Tennessee state constitution (“Andrew Jackson,” 2014). His war career really started his teenage years when he served as a courier during the war of 1812. His hate for the British also started at a young age. It was said that a British officer broke into Andrews house and demanded that he shine his shoes, when Andrew refused The drunk soldier slashed him across the face leaving him with scars that would last forever. Due to his fiery temper, he often engaged himself in many duels with his enemies, all of which he won. In his adulthood, because of all the s...
Andrew Jackson has been described as a great hero of his time and a man who was atrocious and would destroy the Union. Andrew Jackson accomplished a great number of things during his life but some of his actions were quite questionable. Looking from the present to the past gives insight into areas where the events can be examined more objectively. However, it is vital when examining past events to keep in mind the mindsets of the past. People had a different point of view and a different perspective than the current one. This must be kept in the forward part of the mind to understand the actions of those in the past. This paper will serve as a guide into the life of Andrew Jackson, his trials and tribulations, decisions and contradictions. From the beginning of his life, he was headstrong and that would lead him straight into the history books.
Shortly after the American Revolution, the United States entered an era of profound economic and social change that was dominated first by the Market Revolution and subsequently by Andrew Jackson’s skillful use of the power of the presidency to crack down on capitalist exploitation. Jackson’s first biographer, James Parton, however, describes the legacy of the seventh President’s administration as one fraught with controversy, “Andrew Jackson was a patriot, and a traitor. He was the greatest of generals, and wholly ignorant of the art of war. He was the most candid of men, and capable of the profoundest dissimulation. He was a democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint.” Many people argue that Jackson, having turned the federal
Andrew Jackson had many significant contributions to the democratic state of the country. One of those contributions, as stated in document B, was Jackson’s victory of the 1928 Presidential election. What this election did was accelerate the transfer of power from the national elite to the common-man; the universal-white-men now had a larger role in the government. As the graph in document A shows, the methods of electing Presidential electors before Jackson’s Presidency was for-the-most-part dominated by state legislature, it was during Jackson’s administration by which the people were electing Presidential electors. As President, Jackson sought to rid the government of all its corrupt officials. This is backed up by the information in document D, which states that Jackson believed that the offices should be rotated every four years and filled by the people. The same document states that Jackson believed the president should serve a single term of no more than four or six years; the senators should have similar constraints with subjection to removal. All of this was fueled by his theory that there was more to be gained with the rotation of office holders that the long continuance of them and that office were not created to give certain men support rather than help the people, as ex...
Growing up on the North/South Carolina border, Jackson’s exact state of birth is debatable. Unlike most historians, Jacksons ascertained that he was from South Carolina. Wherever he actually grew up, it is unequivocal that it was a truculent and violent place to be raised. During his childhood, Jackson became accustomed to the social imperatives of the land; hard work, and military spirit. Specifically, in his hometown, one used “[their ]military spirit to defend yourself, and [their] hands to pull something out of the soil”. Here, Meachem believes the constant exhaustion and threat of violence was “one of the many reasons Jackson became a man who was so prone to violence. He grew up with it, he didn’t know anything else”.
An orphan and hardened veteran at the age of fifteen. Jackson drifted, he taught at a school for a little amount of time. Then he started to read into law while in north Carolina. After admission to the bar in 1787, he accepted an offer to server as a public prosecutor in the new mero district of north Carolina, west o...
Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States of America. His terms were served from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837. He was a very religious person. Jackson attended church regularly. The president opened his cabinet meetings with a prayer. When he was general, he would say a prayer before battle to his men. Jackson was the first President elected hailing west of the Appalachians. At the time he was the oldest President to be elected into office. Jackson's presidency defined itself in two central points: the “nullification crisis” and the "Bank War." Jackson took office, The "American System" program helped economic development through utilizing transportation subsidies, and through protective tariffs on imports to aid American manufacturers. A lot of Southerners believed these policies promoted Northern growth and that this was at their expense. Jackson slowed down the American System by vetoing road, and canal bills starting with the Maysville Road in 1830. In1832 South Carolina declared the tariff unconstitutional which made it null and void. The state took steps to block tariff collections within its radius. Even though Jackson favored lower tariffs, Jackson acted swiftly to uphold federal supremacy by force, or any means necessary. He declared the Union indivisible. He then branded nullification as treason. Congress reduced the tariff in 1833, defusing the crisis.
Andrew Jackson is one of the most controversial presidents. Many regard him as a war hero, the father of the Democratic Party, an inspiring leader, and a spokesman for the common man. While there is plenty to praise about the seventh president, his legacy is tarnished by his racism, disregard for the law of the land, cruelty towards the Native Americans, and ruthless temper. Jackson was an intriguing man who was multi-faceted. One must not look at a singular dimension, and cast judgment on him as a whole. To accurately evaluate one of the most complex presidents, it is crucial to observe Jackson from all possible angles. Prior lifestyle, hardships in life, political ideology, lifestyle of the time, political developments, and his character
Defender, . "Andrew Jackson: A Life The Defender of the Union." PBS. Red Hill Productions and Community Television of Southern California, 11 Aug 2007. Web. 16 Jan 2014. .