Was Andrew Jackson a good president? Many people can argue that he was or was not. Serving as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, Jackson made decision about the national debt, the issue of nullification, and Indian removal. Jackson was a complicated president because he did some really great things, but he also did bad things. Andrew Jackson represented himself in both good and bad ways.
Andrew Jackson made the right decision by paying off the national debt. He was the only president to do so. Jackson did not like the National Bank because he thought it was corrupt and he did not like the way they ran things. Andrew Jackson got rid of the bank in his second term. “He also thought that people should not be using paper money because many states did not value the money the same, but instead he should be using ‘hard money’ or silver and gold.” This was one of Jackson’s biggest accomplishments and
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Thousands of Indians were forced out of their own homes to find new land to live on. “Of some 11,500 Cherokees moved in 1838, about 4,000 died along the way.” “That any person or persons, whatsoever, who shall chose to emigrate to the Arkansas country and shall sell the improvements he or they shall be in possession of.” Everything that the Indians owned was either taken away or sold. Many people thought that the Indians were treated unfairly. He believed that the colonists and the Indians could not live together, peacefully. To many people this was not a good decision Andrew Jackson could have made. This action can help support the opinion of him being a bad president. Overall, one person must define the criteria of what makes a good leader or president. Andrew Jackson was a complicated president. He did not make the best decisions for the country, regarding the South and Native Americans, yet he did many great things, like pay off the country’s national
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.
Andrew Jackson was undoubtedly a man of the people. He was the first president to be chosen by the people and his background was not that of a typical president. He was not born into a rich family. Jackson's favored the general public rather than the wealthy. His election shifted the balance of power from the wealthy East Coast, to farmers and small businesspeople in the west. Jackson vetoed more bills than all previous presidents did in an attempt to help the common man.
Born March 15, 1767 on the Carolina frontier, Andrew Jackson would eventually rise from poverty to politics after the War of 1812 where he earned national fame as a military hero. Jackson won the popular vote in the 1829 election and became the seventh United States President. As President, Jackson sought out to be a representative of the common man. Jackson remarks in his veto message of July 10, 1832 that, “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes.” Andrew Jackson put in place the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act forced Natives off their homelands and onto the lands west of the Mississippi River. They encountered a journey, called the Trail of Tears, where they traveled by foot to what would be their new homes, which transformed the lives of thousands of Native Americans. The President’s intentions were to move all Natives west of the Mississippi River to open up the land to American settlers.
In conclusion Andrew Jackson was not a good president.The things he did during his presidency it all led to bad things happening to the country. These are all reasons why Jackson was and never will be, a president who is remembered for the good things Jackson did during his presidency. He even forced the natives to move out west to steal their
Andrew Jackson was a good president. He helped shaped the United States to the way it is today. Andrew Jackson had his up and downs as any president would. Jackson did what he thought was good for the common man. He was a common man who brought himself up all the way from he bottom.
Andrew Jackson was elected by popular vote and became the seventh president of the United States in March 4, 1829.[1] In his presidency, I have known and perceived that he has done few of great actions. But in my opinion, I would not claim that he was either a good or bad president because I learned about his attainments in life, being a president, a fighter in wars, etc.; however, I have also learned some of his unimpressive performance that led to some people who did not find it convenient.
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...
One reason why Andrew Jackson was not democratic was because of his mistreatment of the Native American. Today, the population of Native Americans are significantly less than when Jackson served as the leader of the free world. From the early 1830’s until 1840, Jackson forced 5 separate Indian tribes onto a small piece of land (Doc L). A likely reason for this sudden move
Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and was one of the most controversial presidents ever. Jackson initially gained national fame through his role in the War of 1812, where he led a victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans. Three year laters, Jackson invaded the Spanish-Florida territory which directed to the Adams-Onis Treaty. Although Andrew Jackson proved to be a great military strategist, his unneeded hostility, which was brought out in the Spoils System, the Indian Removal Act, and the ongoing feud with the National Bank, ultimately classify him as poor president.
He was the first president to be born in a log cabin, to be an orphan by the age of fifteen, and to be hardened by decades of military campaigns (195). In his first term he exercised the use of veto power more than all previous presidents combined (196). He ran the government the same way he ran his army (196). Andrew Jackson resolved the issue of breaking up the Union and was able to postpone it for another 30 years (197). He also moved all of the United States deposits from the Second National Bank and put them into state and local banks (198). Another thing he did while in office was to begin to move the Indians to Oklahoma (199). In 1830, the General Removal Act was passed (199). The next act passed was the Removal Act against the Choctaws (200). By 1833 nearly 11,000 were removed, and in 1838 nearly all Chickasaws were removed (200). In December 1985 the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty to move west, and in 1838 they walked the Trail of Tears, where 4,000 out of 18,000 died (201). Andrew Jackson’s policies moved 45,690 Indians across the Mississippi (201). This was his most controversial legacy
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, held power from 1829 to 1837. During this time, Jackson launched a new era in which he claimed to value and represent the common man. A shameless opportunist, Jackson, pandered to the masses for support by claiming to be a man of the people and thus rose above previous president John Quincy Adams in the 1828 election. However, how can a Jackson be considered a man of the people when he is responsible for hurting more people than he helped? Andrew Jackson should be considered a villain who abused his power based upon his inadequate choices as president in regards to the Bank War, spoils system, and the Indian Removal Act.
Jackson was a self-centered, violent, and ruthless man who paid no attention to what was morally correct, only what he believed in. This man was a notorious gambler who was known to fight at the drop of a hat, and then drop the hat himself! And because he shut down the Central Bank, we entered into the Panic of 1837. Ironically, the same man who opposed paper money ended up on the 20-dollar bill! He completely ignored the Constitution, and the Supreme court on many occasions. And when he was elected into office, he replaced many smart able-bodied officials for unintelligent Jacksonian supporters. This was the kind of man that Jackson was. A man who made more than 4,000 Native Americans die on the Trail of Tears. Jackson was just an unintelligent common-man who managed to win the Presidency. And with it, he brought damage and death to many other people through his
Throughout Andrew Jackson’s time in office, he showed his country many undemocratic actions. He made some great changes and some not-so-great friendships. How democratic was Andrew Jackson? In the eyes of some, Jackson was not democratic. In many of his actions, he is shown to take one side of two things and do anything to make sure that side in the end gets the best.
To some people Andrew Jackson is remembered as the, metaphorically speaking, “People’s King” and is accused of dictator-like political moves. However, Andrew Jackson was quite the contrary, he was exalted amongst the people for being the new era of democracy: instilling a political revolution, the protection of the American people, and social equality among the masses. Therefore, Andrew Jackson was a precedent of democratic rule in the United States.
At the time Andrew Jackson was president, there was a fast growing population and a desire for more land. Because of this, expansion was inevitable. To the west, many native Indian tribes were settled. Andrew Jackson spent a good deal of his presidency dealing with the removal of the Indians in western land. Throughout the 1800’s, westward expansion harmed the natives, was an invasion of their land, which led to war and tension between the natives and America, specifically the Cherokee Nation.