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Controversies of Andrew Jackson
Controversies of Andrew Jackson
How did andrew jackson influence the future of america
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Democracy is a system where society takes control of voting and chooses presidents to their liking; voting was based on the people’s interests. The Missouri Compromise, the Corrupt Bargain, and the Spoils System were all conferring factors in the rise of democracy. Democracy became a way for people to vote for their best interest. John Quincy Adams supported the “American System” created by Henry Clay, which looked to improve economic development. Andrew Jackson bombarded the public with attacks on Adams but his actions simply backfired Adam’s activism. The outcomes of the presidential election, however, resulted with a great victory in the electoral college for Jackson. His personality portraying as a man of the people made voters to choose him over Adams. Under Jackson’s Indian Removal Policy, he encountered many problems such as disrupting a well organized community and making them move thousands of miles from their home. He had to consider their involvement in government and the effectiveness of the Native Americans on the United States government. He found out that their opinion was limited and was only acknowledged by a few. Thus, he made his priorities clear and decided to get rid of the Native Americans so there would be more farm lands for the white man and they would be cheaper which would help him win the vote of …show more content…
the people and help him get reelected. The south as a whole disliked the protective tariff. Since the south is mainly a place full of farmers, they felt it favored the northern merchants as opposed to them. While the rest of the south gave up on Congress, South Carolina held a state convention. They felt the whole thing was unconstitutional and decided to protest it. John C. Calhoun, the leader against the bill, went off of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions to say that a state could nullify a law made by Congress. Calhoun saw this as perfect way to go against Jackson. The Depression of 1837 was caused by forces unrelated to Van Buren and his attempts to help were not very successful. Jackson’s issue of his specie circular curbed inflation and land speculation. Prices fell drastically and the sell of public lands also fell. Van Buren, in return, planned to establish a public depository of government funding called the Independent Subtreasury Bill. The Whigs, however, stalled the bill up until 1840 which caused Van Buren’s loss in the election of 1840. The conflict over the Bank’s recharter was taken over by political banter because the reason that the rechartering was stopped was due to the rivalry of Henry Clay versus Andrew Jackson. Henry thought that this was an opportunity for them to finally stop the popularity of Jackson, but his plan failed. Jackson responded with vetoing the bill and reasoned sympathy for the common people. The reason behind the rechartering being stopped was not due to economical reasons, but a play in politics. The Whigs were the opponents of the Jacksonians.
These were people who didn’t agree with Jackson’s laws/beliefs and wanted someone with a different view on the government in power. The Whigs saw Jackson as someone who abused his power and was on the verge of tyranny. This view came from Jackson’s seemingly unconstitutional withdrawal and deposit of federal money from the Bank of the United States into state banks. The Whigs were supporters of states rights which directly contrasted Jackson’s stand on nullification. They also believed in internal improvements and that the government had the duty to protect enterprises (with taxes, duties,
etc.)
Throughout Jackson's two terms as President, Jackson used his power unjustly. As a man from the Frontier State of Tennessee and a leader in the Indian wars, Jackson loathed the Native Americans. Keeping with consistency, Jackson found a way to use his power incorrectly to eliminate the Native Americans. In May 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law the Indian Removal Act. This act required all tribes east of the Mississippi River to leave their lands and travel to reservations in the Oklahoma Territory on the Great Plains. This was done because of the pressure of white settlers who wanted to take over the lands on which the Indians had lived. The white settlers were already emigrating to the Union, or America. The East Coast was burdened with new settlers and becoming vastly populated. President Andrew Jackson and the government had to find a way to move people to the West to make room. In 1830, a new state law said that the Cherokees would be under the jurisdiction of state rather than federal law. This meant that the Indians now had little, if any, protection against the white settlers that desired their land. However, when the Cherokees brought their case to the Supreme Court, they were told that they could not sue on the basis that they were not a foreign nation. In 1832, though, on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokees were a "domestic dependent nation," and therefore, eligible to receive federal protection against the state. However, Jackson essentially overruled the decision. By this, Jackson implied that he had more power than anyone else did and he could enforce the bill himself. This is yet another way in which Jackson abused his presidential power in order to produce a favorable result that complied with his own beliefs. The Indian Removal Act forced all Indians tribes be moved west of the Mississippi River. The Choctaw was the first tribe to leave from the southeast.
Under the Jackson Administration, the changes made shaped national Indian policy. Morally, Andrew Jackson dismissed prior ideas that natives would gradually assimilate into white culture, and believed that removing Indians from their homes was the best answer for both the natives and Americans. Politically, before Jackson treaties were in place that protected natives until he changed those policies, and broke those treaties, violating the United States Constitution. Under Jackson’s changes, the United States effectively gained an enormous amount of land. The removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River in the 1830’s changed the national policy in place when Jackson became President as evidenced by the moral, political, constitutional, and practical concerns of the National Indian Policy.
Jackson’s spoils system opened government positions to only his supporters and he had little tolerance for
At first, Andrew Jackson started off as a democrat, serving the people with his actions. For instance, in the document Indian Removal Document three, Jackson appeals to the indians and congress. He told them that the indians needed somewhere to go in an eloquent manner. To congress, it sounded like he was being morale for the indians, but in reality, he was still forcing the indians off their lands. Guarenting land for the indians is not as fair as letting them stay on their current ground and already beings to show his inner autocratic side.
He made the Native Americans feel unwelcomed in their own country by taking their land and shipping them off were they would not bother a white man. Jackson also changed the voting system to benefit his own needs while in office. He was also overwhelmed by the amount of power he possessed and eventually succumbed to the temptations of selfishness. Although President Andrew Jackson was certainly not democratic, he allowed future presidents to learn from his mistakes so that history does not repeat itself. His time as president offered guidance to the true democracy America uses today in its
The removal of the Native Americans was an egocentric move on Jackson’s part. Jackson was only able to see how our removal would benefit the government but was not concerned at all about our values and culture. “It puts an end to all possible danger of collision between the authorities of the general and state governments on account of the Indians” (91). This statement, included in the State of the Union Address, exhibits how Jackson was quick to place blame on the Indians. He was basically saying that if there were any disputes between the general and state governments, it would be because of the Indian’s choice to not leave the land. Jackson was attempting to hold the Indians accountable for a matter that they had no say in. It is evident that Jackson could have are less about the Indian’s home land, where we were birthed and raised our kids. It is clear that the sentimental value of the land did not concern Jackson at all. Jackson felt that he offered us an equitable exchange, but his family was not the one being forcefully removed from their birthland to go to an unfamiliar land. “What good m...
He was elected by popular vote. Jackson wanted to cater to the common people. Jackson was the first president to become a democrat. The other presidents before him were either a federalist, democratic-republican or a republican. He vetoed more than twelve bills than his six predecessors. He wanted to make sure his people were treated fairly. The first president, George Washington, to the sixth president, John Quincy Adams, only vetoed nine bills. The first six presidents before him were wealthy and educated. Andrew Jackson did not have much money and felt education was not really necessary. Overall, Jackson seemed to be a hero compared to the other presidents before him.
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...
Andrew Jackson was like no other president before him. The previous presidents had one thing in common, they were all part of the founding fathers or in John Quincy Adam’s case was the son of a founding father. However Jackson was a plantation owner from the west who had no connections with the government. He also had different views from other presidents that made his presidency unique. Two things that separated Andrew Jackson’s presidency from previous presidencies were he reached out to the common people and he was disapproving of the Bank of United States.
There were several motives for the removal of the Indians from their lands, to include racism and land lust. Since they first arrived, the white Americans hadn’t been too fond of the Native Americans. They were thought to be highly uncivilized and they had to go. In his letter to Congress addressing the removal of the Indian tribes, President Jackson states the following:
Andrew Jackson, who characterized the Jacksonian Era, was known widely as a “common man.” He resembled the people who were the majority of nation, which explains why he was admired by them. He also believed in benefiting the whole nation, and not one specific group of people. After the War of 1812, he was known as a hero and later developed his political career. He was determined to develop the nation, and create social equality, Jackson made changes to the country’s economy and politics. He was the symbol for the Democratic Party. Some changes produced negative outcomes, but Jackson’s alterations supported the lower and unprivileged people of the nation. Andrew Jackson defined the era. Economic and political developments defined by Jackson,
The 1820’s and 1830’s mark an era when the Jacksonian Democrats reigned supreme in American government. Led by President Andrew Jackson, the Democrats appealed to the common man and worked towards helping the general populace. The Jacksonians regarded themselves as the guardians of the Constitution and individual liberties, however, the Jacksonian Democrats did not act accordingly. They infringed upon the Constitution, exploited political democracy, tainted individual liberties, but at times defended economic opportunities.
The Jacksonian Democrats had at least one misconception about themselves; they did not strive to guard the individual liberty of all Americans. They were yet to break away completely from the old beliefs that one race was superior to another. However, they did have some clear perceptions of the purpose they served. They protected the Constitution and the rights it gave to Americans by promoting equality of economic opportunity and by advancing political democracy.
Both Jackson's and Jefferson's actions and words are very similar and support the same beliefs. Thomas Jefferson was a strong supporter and spokesman for the common man and self-government. He strongly believed that the purpose of American government is to look after and support the common interests of the people. He was against anything that he felt would hurt the common man, such as the Bank of the U.S. and big government. Jefferson believed the Bank was hurting the common man and becoming a damaging monopoly.
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.