Andrew Jackson: Not for the People

Andrew Jackson, our seventh president, is often called “The People’s President”. However, history has remembered the popular things he did but ignored the horrific deeds he committed. He should not deserve his title as “The People’s President” as his strongly biased opposition to the national bank and his aggressive action and supposed “solution” in the Nullification Crisis had widespread harmful effects throughout America.

The Indian Removal Acts of 1830 are some of the darkest moments in out country’s history. Andrew Jackson was known as the sharp knife among the Native Americans for his brutality toward Indians. He wanted to aggressively remove the Indians from the land that were on. He passed an act that allowed him to trade land that the natives were on for land far off past the Mississippi River. Many tribes disagreed and one Cherokee tribe challenged the state of Georgia to their rights to the land and won in the Supreme Court. Although they ruled that the Cherokee people had a right to their land, the state of Georgia and Jackson blatantly ignored the ruling. Jackson is quoted to have said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” This is unconstitutional, and is even an impeachable offense. Jackson sent his troops to brutally transport the Cherokee people to new lands. Many of them were barefoot and died from the cold, walking in the dead of winter. Most of the rest died of smallpox. Jackson is said to have adopted a three-year-old Cherokee boy after killing his parents when pillaging a village. He also slaughtered the Seminole tribes in Florida as they resisted movement. Thousands of Americans were ashamed at this and surprised at how savage Jackson had been when he handled the Nati...

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...e passed the Force Bill, which said that he had the right to us the United States army against its own people. South Carolina decided to step down, as with all of these threats as well as that they were willing to accept the compromise. As that Jackson was willing to use the United States army against its own people is shocking. Due to this, much of the south began to despise Jackson for willing to fight the people as well as indirectly cutting off a major source of trade for them.

Based on these three premises, we can conclude that much of America disliked Andrew Jackson for one reason of another. Andrew Jackson was popular before his presidency, but the Indian Removal Acts, his opposition to the national bank and his aggressive handling of the Nullification Crisis demonstrate how he was not “The People’s President” but a president on his own agenda.