Andrew Jackson Toughness

Andrew Jackson can be considered to be one of History's best and worst people. Jackson was born in 1767 and died in 1845. Before he was a president, he was a military leader who served to protect the people of America. Because of his toughness and heroic military leadership his troops respectfully nicknamed Jackson, “Old Hickory” to show how tough he is. He later ran for president and lost to John Quincy Adams. However, he won the following election of 1828 and the land requirement to vote was eliminated. This made it so that more common people could vote for a president; it was the most democratic election the United States had had at the time. Jackson would then go on to eliminate further conflicts with Native Americans, get rid of the 2nd

National Bank, and establish power for the Federal Government. Andrew Jackson was a dangerous man and one with a temper, but despite this, he still managed to be one of America's greatest presidents.
Andrew Jackson grew up as a common man and worked his way up in life despite lacking formal education. Jackson became a military leader and protected people against British troops during the invasion on New Orleans during the War of 1812. Jackson had a beautiful victory against the British with only thirteen Americans dead and over 2,000 British soldiers killed in the battle. Jackson rightfully gained a lot of fame across America for his huge military success (“Andrew Jackson” 2-3).
Many people believe that Andrew Jackson was an immoral person because he killed Indians during his military career. However, Jackson had to battle with Indians because they killed many white settlers during the Fort Mims massacre. Jackson fought these Indians, who were known as the Creek, in Alabama during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, in 1814. Due to
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Jackson being such a great military general, he permanently destroyed the Creek’s power to go to war.

By doing this he potentially saved many people from further attacks from the Creek tribe. Because of this battle against the Creek, Jackson's men honored his perseverance to not accept defeat and his toughness by nicknaming him “Old Hickory” (“Andrew Jackson” 2-3). After the War of 1812, Jackson went to his plantation but soon went back to the military after Indians were performing raids along the southern frontier. The name of the tribe that performed these raids from Florida were called the Seminole Indians. Jackson decided that to stop the raids for good he must invade Florida (a Spanish colony at the time) and stop the Seminole Indians. Jackson invaded Florida and got rid of Spanish authority. Due to Jackson’s actions, Spain sold Florida to the United States. This was truly significant for the United States, as Jackson played a huge role in gaining Florida for the United States. Spain agreed to sell Florida to the United States for $5 million, a price well worth the effort. Jackson served as the governor of Florida for a few months then left (“Andrew Jackson” 3). It was because of Jackson’s great military career that the United States has Florida today (Lindsey

240).
Jackson later became a United States Senator in 1823 and would continue to have a growing political career. He later ran for president in 1824 won the popular vote but lost the electoral vote in a close race against John Quincy Adams. Jackson later won the election of 1828 by a landslide (“Andrew Jackson” 3). This was because the election system became more democratic because many states got rid of the land requirement to vote. This meant that voting became more open to common people so a lot more people could vote. In the election of 1824
only about 355,000 people voted. During the election of 1828 1.1 million people voted. This was Veno 2
a huge step in the right direction for the democratic system in America. Jackson himself was also a huge advocate for making the political system more democratic and wanted it so common people could have more power instead of power being restricted to the elite. During the time Jackson was first elected the United States used the caucus system to elect the next president. The caucus system is when members of congress met to elect their party's nominee.
Jackson felt that the system gave too much power to the elite. To replace the caucus system Jackson introduced the national nominating convention. With the national nominating system, delegates from the state gathered to decide who the party's nominee should be. Jackson believed that this system would give more power to the people rather than the elite. Jackson believed that the people should be the ones who hold the power in a democracy and gave power to the common folk (Appleby 267-268).
Andrew Jackson had to address many difficult problems during his presidency however, one of the most difficult problems was with Indians. Many Indians had died from having contact with white settlers. Native American populations had been devastated by diseases they're not able to handle by coming into contact with white settlers. To remove the Native Americans from being in close proximity to white settlers was in everyone's best interest to protect people on both sides from further casualties. When talking about the Indians Jackson noted that (Nester 8) “Humanity and national honor demand that every effort should be made be to avert so a great calamity” (Nester 8). Jackson believed that the remaining Indian were being endangered by growing white populations. To save the Indians it was crucial that he separated them, to prolong their survival. Jackson also said, “It will separate the Indians from immediate contract with Veno 3
settlement if whites,free them from the power of the state, enable them to pursue happiness in their own way under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of decay.” (Nester 12). Jackson knew this was not a permanent solution to the problem but it was the best plausible solution to the Indians problem. Jackson gave the Indians land that was good for farming in the Great Plains in exchange for the land they would lose during the Indian Removal Act (“Andrew Jackson” 5).
When Jackson became president for his second term, he wanted to get rid of the 2nd National Bank, because it had too much power and was unconstitutional. When Jackson vetoed the bank bill from congress he responded with “the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of the government to their selfish purposes.” (“Andrew Jackson” 4). Jackson did not like the bank because he felt it was just another way to make the rich richer by taking advantage of the government. The Bank was privately owned and had a tremendous amount of power over the government money. The bank held government deposits, was in charge of federal funds and handled payment for the Federal government, which involved taxes, too (Wilentz 75-76). The bank had so much power that when Biddle, the bank’s president, found out that Jackson was getting rid of the bank Biddle was able to cause a sort financial panic in 1833 and 1834. This showed that the bank had too much power that could lead to many problems in the future, so Jackson closed the bank in 1836. Jackson was able to get rid of the 2nd National Bank by taking all of the Federal deposits and putting them into state banks (“Andrew Jackson 5”). This marked an end to the 2nd National Bank which got rid of an unconstitutional amount of unchecked
power (Wilentz 104-106).
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Jackson was one of the presidents able to establish who had more power in government. Jackson established that the federal government had more power over state government. In
1832 a tariff was passed in South Carolina. The people were very unhappy with the tariff, so the state decided to nullify the tariff claiming it to be unconstitutional. South Carolina even threatened to secede Veno 4
from the Union if military force was used to operate this law (“Andrew Jackson” 6).

Jackson responded to the people of South Carolina, “The law of the United States must be executed… disunion by armed force us treason.” (“Andrew Jackson” 6). Jackson was given permission by congress to use military force in South Carolina because they refused to obey the law. A compromise was also made to the tariff that South Carolina nullified. South Carolina accepted compromise and repealed the nullification. Jackson prevented a crisis and established that federal law ruled over state law. The question of whether federal government had more power than state government would cause more problems in the future for the United States with slavery, and more recently gay marriage. However Andrew Jackson tried to establish early on in American history that the federal government had more power, and if people accepted this, many problems could have been avoided with the advice of Jackson (“Andrew Jackson” 6).
Jackson also had many other notable achievements that are not mentioned as often. Jackson was the first President to make treaties in Asia with Cochin-China, Siam, and Turkey. Jackson reopened trade to the British West Indies. Jackson was also able to get France to pay off the debt they owed America for destroying American property in the Napoleonic Wars (“Andrew Jackson” 6). One of Jackson’s most notable accomplishments when he was in office was that, he Veno

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was able to get rid of the United State’s $49 million dollar debt (Nester 8). Jackson was able to pay off the debt by selling government-owned real estate out in the West and also block most bill that spent government money without any vindication. Also, it is good to keep in mind that it is always a choice to go into debt by spending money that is not present (Smith 3). Jackson paid off the debt and had a growing surplus of cash. Politician thought they should give the extra money to the states, but Jackson said that would only make states reliant on government handouts. Jackson has made many great achievements establishing him as one of America’s greatest presidents (Nester 8).
Andrew Jackson was a man who never backed down from a fight and was always willing to stand up for what he believes in. Jackson was an incredible person who helped his country by keeping the country under control during the nullification crisis and prevented a state from seceding from the Union. Jackson also helped gain a state for the United States by obtaining Florida from Spain. He was a brilliant military leader, decisively defeating the British at the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson was one of history's greatest people because of his ability to never accept defeat and for his toughness. Andrew Jackson was a dangerous man and one with a temper, but despite this, he still managed to be one of America's greatest presidents.