Andrew Jackson was an influential political figure and a major American army general. Jackson led the United States of America to victory twice; once in the War of 1812, and again in the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson emerged on the political foreground as “Old Hickory,” a representative for the average white American man. Andrew Jackson was clearly a favorite of the public. However, in the election of 1824, Jackson lost the presidency to John Quincy Adams. Adams beat Jackson winning over the house of representatives. Four years later, Andrew Jackson was finally elected president. Jackson was elected because people could relate to him. Andrew Jackson, was much less educated than previous, aristocratic candidates. Jackson briefly stated …show more content…
First off, after Jackson was elected, voting restrictions for women and African Americans increased; in some instances voting rights were nullified completely. A map of the United States, shows the various voting qualifications proceeding Jackson’s election. A quote paired with the map recalls “but although voting was democratized for white men, restrictions for free African American male voters grew tighter, and women were excluded completely.” The voting qualification map, illustrates the overwhelming increase in voting restrictions across the nation. Andrew Jackson was solely an advocate for the white American male. Secondly, Jackson pitted the poor Americans against the wealthy. Daniel Webster, a member of congress in 1832, conveys how Jackson's intentions were simply not democratic . In a message from Daniel Webster to Andrew Jackson, Webster states “president Jackson’s message extends the grasp of the chief executive over every power of the government...It manifestly seeks to inflame the poor against the rich, it wantonly attacks whole classes of people.” This message describes how Andrew Jackson was dividing the public and going against the principles of democracy. The quote also interprets the means of how Jackson was causing tension between the poor and the wealthy. Furthermore, Andrew Jackson forced the Native Americans off of their sacred land. The Cherokee Nation gave their statements of despair, as they were unwillingly exiled from their homes. In a letter to congress from the Cherokee Nation, the Cherokee state the excruciating and painful situation as “we wish to remain on the land of our fathers. “We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation… The far greater part of our Nation is badly supplied with food and water. All our neighbors would speak a totally different language than
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.
As the author of Andrew Jackson and the Search for Vindication, James C. Curtis seems to greatly admire Andrew Jackson. Curtis pointed out that Jackson was a great American general who was well liked by the people. As history shows, Andrew Jackson had his flaws; for example, he thought the National Bank of the United States was going to kill him but he was determined to kill it first. He resented the Bank because he thought it was the reason for the Panic of 1819. Andrew Jackson was elected to the presidency in 1824 after first being nominated in 1822. He was sixty-one when he was elected the seventh president of the United States.
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
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 amazed the country with his sharp strategy in battle. His go-getter attitude also seemed to amaze the American people since he was a common man with no formal military training. The win over New Orleans put Andrew onto the map politically for his road to the White
The generalization that, “The decision of the Jackson administration to remove the Cherokee Indians to lands west of the Mississippi River in the 1830s was more a reformulation of the national policy that had been in effect since the 1790s than a change in that policy,” is valid. Ever since the American people arrived at the New World they have continually driven the Native Americans out of their native lands. Many people wanted to contribute to this removal of the Cherokees and their society. Knox proposed a “civilization” of the Indians. President Monroe continued Knox’s plan by developing ways to rid of the Indians, claiming it would be beneficial to all. Andrew Jackson ultimately fulfilled the plan. First of all, the map [Document A] indicates the relationship between time, land, and policies, which affected the Indians. The Indian Tribes have been forced to give up their land as early as the 1720s. Between the years of 1721 and 1785, the Colonial and Confederation treaties forced the Indians to give up huge portions of their land. During Washington's, Monroe's, and Jefferson's administration, more and more Indian land was being commandeered by the colonists. The Washington administration signed the Treaty of Holston and other supplements between the time periods of 1791 until 1798 that made the Native Americans give up more of their homeland land. The administrations during the 1790's to the 1830's had gradually acquired more and more land from the Cherokee Indians. Jackson followed that precedent by the acquisition of more Cherokee lands. In later years, those speaking on behalf of the United States government believed that teaching the Indians how to live a more civilized life would only benefit them. Rather than only thinking of benefiting the Indians, we were also trying to benefit ourselves. We were looking to acquire the Indians’ land. In a letter to George Washington, Knox says we should first is to destroy the Indians with an army, and the second is to make peace with them. The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1793 began to put Knox’s plan into effect. The federal government’s promise of supplying the Indians with animals, agricultural tool...
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.
The Age of Jackson, from the 1820's to the 1830's, was a period of American history full of contradictions, especially in regard to democracy. The period saw an increase in voter participation, nominating committees replaced caucuses, and electors began to be popularly elected. Yet, all of these voting changes affected only a minority of the American people: White, Anglo-Saxon males. So, though one can easily tell that White, Anglo-Saxon males were gaining
One man, Andrew Jackson, changed the role of the presidency in The United States of America forever. Andrew Jackson was the voice of the people in America. Jackson fought in the War of 1812 and led the country with a strong arm. However, Jackson had a barbaric way of life about himself. Jackson was the reason for many tragic events in America that were beneficial had a major effect on the country. Andrew Jackson achieved two terms from 1829-1837. Andrew Jackson was one of the most controversial presidents in the nation's history.
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.
Jackson stated that democracy should offer “equal protection and equal benefits to all white male citizens and favor no region or class over another. In addition, Jackson used the Spoils System, to target the officeholders who had been in place for a generation or more. He dismissed about 1/5th of the federal office holders. Jackson and his administrations helped make the right of elected officials to appoint their own followers to public office an established feature of American politics. Jackson also resented the congressional caucus because he believed it favored elites. In 1832, Jackson’s followers staged a national party convention to renominate Jackson for president. They believed power would rise directly from the people and not aristocratic political conventions. Socially, this resulted in a continuation of the suppression of African Americans, Indians, and women, which was an effort to preserve the white-male democracy. On the other hand, this spread opportunities to whites in the West and South. Economically, the middle class received an economic advantage. Politically, this resulted in those who were in the electoral college to be more similar to the average American person, or “common man”. This relates to the common day economic struggle of the disappearing of the middle class. However, this is more due to the fact that the financially top 10% of American citizens own 90% of the American wealth. This is more of an economic struggle, rather than a political struggle as it was in the
A tyrant can be defined as a cruel and oppressive ruler. Andrew Jackson was president from 1829-1837,and it is still a controversial topic today on whether Jackson was a man of the people or a autocrat. Jackson’s power has been put to the test, dealing with the bank war, nullification in South Carolina, indian removal and the trail of tears. Jackson promised the United States to be a fair and humane president, history has proved otherwise. Overall with the destroying of so many native lives and the Force Bill, Jackson was a brutal president, he said he would be a ruler that led for the people, but he only listened to some Americans.
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...