AGE OF PRESIDENT JACKSON
By definition a president is defined as the highest executive officer and chief of the united states. President Jackson was the seventh president of the united states and was also called the “ common man’s president.” President Jackson was not a normal president. Unlike all presidents before him Jackson was not interested in balls or fancy suits or anything. Jackson’s main concern was about restoring the peoples government, bringing it back the way it should be. Regardless of the fact that Jackson lost his first election, when Jackson was finally elected his first decision was to remove about 700 hundred clerks and replace them with loyal democrats and campaign workers. Jackson could have done whatever he wanted and it would have been approved by anyone. Jackson was voted in by popularity and no matter what his decision was, the common people always agreed to it. Andrew Jackson’s opinion on government was the same as Thomas Jefferson’s theory, which was that a government is best which governs least. Since the government had seem to fallen into the hands of bankers, owners of corporations, and wealthy people. One of his first acts of being president was changing the rules of voting. Before his time the only people that were allowed to vote were wealthy people with land. As the common people’s president Jackson wanted everyone to be able to vote, which indeed he did now any American citizen that owns even a little bit of land was able to vote. Jackson also had a strange but strong view against the national bank. When Congress passed the bill renewing the bank’s charter in July 1831, Jackson vetoed it. Jackson felt that getting rid of such things in the government would restore the government back to a simple republic. After Jackson’s reelection Jackson withdrew all of the government deposits and placed them into several dozen state banks. As a result of these transactions state banks were able to print paper money, then as a result the price of land increased and to lower the price Jackson was forced to introduce the Specie Circular which made people pay for public land in gold and silver which also resulted in many land owners going bankrupt. Another Jackson was greatly remembered for was the Indian removal act. As the demand for cotton grew southern farmers requested more land. The only problem was that the land belonged to many different Indian tribes.
Throughout his presidency, Andrew Jackson was regarded as both a tyrant (Document E) as well a democratic rembrandt. However, by the conclusion of his rule, Andrew Jackson’s America had emerged as a pseudo democracy, strongly supported and advocated for, but falling short and ultimately failing. The drastic reforms during the Age of Jackson brought about radical changes to the young nation that would be felt throughout the country and would set the foundation for politics today. President Andrew Jackson reformed the American voting system, made significant moves against the National Bank, sparked the beginning of democratic reform movements, and most importantly gave the Common Man a voice in the government. These democratic initiatives, however, were not seen everywhere as America was slowly divided by differing views on contentious topics and individualistic ideals. Jacksonian America, did not promote the democratic
Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of America who had a very unique time in office. Jackson advertised as being for the people of the United States but then his actions proved otherwise at later times. While Jackson did things for the people, he was as much of an autocrat as he was a democrat based upon the documents that were formed during his time in office.
Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of the United States and represented the common people. He did many things that he believed helped the people of the United States, but in fact were unconstitutional. In my opinion Andrew Jackson acted like a king. Some of the damaging events of his presidency include the bank war, the trail of tears and the nullification crisis.
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."
The Jacksonian Period from 1824 to 1848 has been characterized as the era of the “common man.” Jackson’s election to presidency was based on the fact that he himself did not come from a wealthy background so in return, during his presidency he openly advocated for the rights of the “common man”. Although the era did not always stay true to its name, both economic aspects and reform movements caused the Jacksonian period to mostly live up to its characterization as "the era of the common man.”
He was conceited and very closed minded when it came to his and others opinions, he always thought he was right and that what he said goes no matter the end result. Jackson was ruthless but he had his loyalties. “His deepest loyalties were not to friends and relations, except for Rachel, or even to his Tennessee neighbors,” (Andrew Jackson p.555). The loyalty was to protecting the American people, “whatever endangered them- designs of the British, weakness of the Spanish, resistance of Indians, disloyalty of Hartford Federalist or the corruption of the Whigs - retaliate with an immediate response, and sometimes not a intemperate one,” (Andrew Jackson p.555). The people that agreed with him and his opinions about the growing democracy are the people he showed a standing loyalty for. With his leadership the people followed him out west even though he vetoed the national bank at the end of his second term, the people agreed with him because at the time they believed that he knew what was best for them. Jackson’s personal struggle made the people of the country feel connected to him in a way that he was their leader and he has proved himself to them time and time
Jackson believed that the National Bank system was corrupt and unjust, so it was justifiable to withdraw federal funds. The National Bank was only useful for the rich, which were a minority in the United States. As a representer of the entire country, he needed to ensure that all systems were in favor of the general people, not just the elite. He “destroyed” the national bank by vetoing the charter that was approved by the senate. When he vetoed the charter, he lost a few of his wealthy voters, but Jackson gained votes from the common people in the election of 1832 (King Andrew and the Bank). Then, Jackson withdrew federal funds and created pet banks. This was an attempt to help the common man become equal individual of the US. Jackson’s efforts failed because these banks raised the demand of paper money, leading to inflation and an unstable economy. Even though this idea resulted in an economic downfall, it was a neither a crime nor treasonous; it was merely a poor decision. Jackso...
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
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 began a whole new era in American history. Amongst his greatest accomplishments were evoking the "common man" to be interested in government and tailoring democracy to satisfy the same "common man's" needs. Of course, Jackson could not go about making such radical changes without supporters, but that never surfaced as a problem. Jacksonian Democrats, as they came to be called, were great in number during the 1820's and 1830's. They advocated all of the issues that President Jackson did, and did so with great vigor. They thought of themselves very highly because they recognized their responsibilities as American citizens. They realized that as political leaders they had a true purpose- to protect and serve the American people. The Jacksonians justified their view of themselves in their sincere attempts to guard the United States Constitution by both promoting equality of economic opportunity and increasing political democracy, but they had their downfalls with issues of individual liberties.
From 1812-1828, the political parties (Democrat and Republican) did not matter, because presidential elections were chosen by congress, without consulting the popular opinion. At this time, rapid expansion caused the banks to loan lots of money, and the banks hurt many people who were unable to pay their debt. People got involved in politics to fight the banks. Due to the banks hurting people, Jackson, too, wanted to fight them in politics. Striving for an end to corruption, in the famous “Jacksonian Democracy”, he became president in
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 was the seventh president of the United States and was, arguably, the president that caused the most controversy. History shows Andrew Jackson overused his power yet, despite this, he was still well liked by the common men that elected him. Andrew Jackson used more veto power than all of his predecessors combined. He used his law making and veto power according to how he wanted the government to be perceived. At the time, Andrew Jackson was admired by many people. His laws represented the common man and were in line with what the citizens of America wanted, regardless of the actual effect on the economy and government. Despite the voter views, Andrew Jackson only acted according to his wants and how he thought government should
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
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.