Andrew Jackson was regarded by most as a war hero and extremely popular with the people of America. I propose, however, that President Andrew Jackson was nothing more than a bully who caused some one of the worst atrocities in American history, and several of the policies he had enacted changed the country for the worse. The War with the Banks, the Creation of the Spoils System, and the Indian Removal Act which caused the dark and brutal movement known as the Trail of Tears are all reasons why King Andrew should be regarded with disfavor rather than praise. The first policy that changed the country for the worse thanks to President Andrew Jackson would be the War with the Banks. The War with the Banks, or the elimination of the Second Bank …show more content…
The president of the bank, Thomas Biddle, fought back, but when everything was said and done the bank was dismantled and liquidated. The immediate effect of Jackson’s personal war on the bank was that interest rates were sky high, but it was the after effect of his crusade that is the real reason this is one of his worst policies. The War on the Banks created the Great Panic of 1837. The Panic of 1837 was caused by both Thomas Biddle’s action to fight back against Jackson by calling in loans as well as Andrew Jackson’s Specie Circular, which stated that people could only pay for land with gold and silver. The Panic of 1837 created a serious depression in the United States. Many were unemployed, there seemed to be no help from the government to help …show more content…
It is one of the many brutalities our country has committed against Native Americans. This would be the Indian Removal Act. The act was disturbingly inspired by the idea of Manifest Destiny. It gave Jackson the power to order the numerous Native tribes that inhabited the land east of the Mississippi River out. This order also stated deemed it appropriate for Jackson or anyone to use force if necessary. Jackson, thus, took it upon himself to use military force to against tribes that heavily resisted the order, like the Sauks. Jackson was not the only person to attack the natives, though. Bands of militias in the mountains also took the opportunity to take native land. President Jackson’s administration then forced most of the Five Civilized Tribes west, to the land across the Mississippi River. This great forced migration became what is known as The Trail of Tears. Thousands did not survive the journey westward. Then more insults came to the Native American people as the land they were moved to and promised, over time, began to be invaded once more by American settlers. Native lands just shrank and shrank and shrank over time until the government established reservations. The reservations remained and the Native lands became what we know them as today. The idea of Manifest destiny and one President who saw these peoples, who lived on this continent for thousands of
Andrew Jackson was considered both an American hero and scoundrel who led our nation in creating a new system of government. After the War of 1812, Jackson was praised as a courageous leader for his victory at the Battle of New Orleans. Andrew Jackson was part of the common people, which means he wasn’t born into a rich or “well-born” family. This is significant because once he was inaugurated as president, he was claimed to be the first “self made man.” Because the common people received the right to vote in the 1820s, Andrew Jackson won the election and promised that the government would finally be returned to the people.
The man many Americans adored and followed has been taking his presidency too lightly. Andrew Jackson was a vision of a common man, a stubborn one. He never listens to anyone in his cabinets or any of his secretaries, and instead seeks the advice from local friends. Jackson brought nothing but death,stress, and corruption to America. The Indian Removal Act caused death and proved Andrew’s ignorance, as the Spoil System brought corruption and the Panic of 1837 caused depression throughout common people(study.com).
Although some of Andrew Jackson’s actions were questionable, he always had good intentions for the people. Known as the “Champion of the Common Man” (ushistory.org) , Jackson was loved by the majority. For example, in the Election of 1824, he had more popular votes than his candidates and during his inauguration, the American people had acted like he had “rescued them from a disaster” (Hart 186). Andrew Jackson made sure that the rich did not get any special privileges and had done many things, that he believed, would create peace and equality among the people. The Campaign of 1828, his selection of cabinet members, the Spoils System, the expulsion of the Bank of the United States and the Indian Removal could be considered questionable and
Andrew Jackson is a man who has traits that are good or evil. The Trail of Tears happened because of him, he killed many famous men in duels, he bought and sold slaves in bulk, and he denied the national bank because it was against his beliefs. Andrew Jackson was loved by some citizens, but he was despised by many more. His tough life as a kid does not excuse him for any of the awful things he did as an adult. Treaties that promised land to the Native Americans were ignored and thrown away.
Congress failed to override the veto. In 1836, the Bank was reduced and the government’s money was put into “pet banks” (state banks controlled by Democrats). The Panic of 1837 occurred when debt increased. Bank panic brought down the entire economy. Jackson issued the Specie Circular of 1836 (public land could only be bought with gold or silver).
While in presidency Jackson made many bad decisions like removing indians and pushing them West, vetoed a national bank, and invited a drunken mob of people into the White House. Andrew Jackson was a king-like tyrant. Andrew Jackson was a tyrant because of how he treated the indians in Georgia and then the Seminoles in Florida. According to Jackson’s letter to the Seminoles,“You will be resisted, punished, perhaps killed” (Source 5). This shows that Andrew would badly treat the native americans while they travel west of the Mississippi River.
However, the final nail in the coffin in Jackson’s case for innocence was his treatment of the Native Americans. Jackson said that his priority would be to get the Natives off of their land, and he did so in an extremely gruesome way: after allowing white settlers to encroach onto natives’ land, with the Indian Removal Act, Jackson outright refused to enforce a Supreme Court decision, and forced the Natives to take a snow-ridden several-hundred-mile trek towards the West, without anything but what they could carry on them. In fact, the actions committed by Jackson’s government were so atrocious that they have been compared to the Holocaust by several
The Native Americans were angry about this act. Jackson forced them to leave, some were taken away in carriages, and others tried to run, but were shot. Along their journey, over two thousand of the ten thousand died. They died due to cold, hunger, and sicknesses.
Is Andrew Jackson a hero or a villain? Throughout history Jackson has been viewed as both. Some see him as a war hero and the people’s president. Others see him as a racist and a political tyrant. To me, Andrew Jackson is more of a hero.
However, president Jackson made it unpeaceful. Native Americans could migrate or stay under some conditions which later were not respected by the president. According to www.pbs.org, <>. In addition, many Native Americans lost their lives from the Trail of Tears.
The time has come to make a judgement of the great Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States from 1829~1837. Although some people didn’t like Jackson very well due to very few of his decisions, he made many good decisions during his presidency. Andrew Jackson should be remembered as a hero of the common man due to his unifying leadership, generous approach of governing, and concern for economic equality. The first reason that Andrew Jackson should be remembered as a hero is because of his unifying leadership.
Andrew Jackson , the seventh president of the United States, won the hearts of Americans. He cared for his country, but not the outsiders who lived on the land. Andrew Jackson was elected to the office in 1828. He originally lost and election to John Quincy Adams in Congress, but won the popular vote (Background Essay). At the time, the question “Is our government democratic?
While making this gruesome travel more than 4,000 Indians died from disease, starvation and treacherous conditions. This travel became known as the “trails of tears”. These Native Americans were not how white settlement described them. Many of the tribes adopted Euro-american practices and created their own communities with schools and churches, even developed their own languages and created bilingual newspapers.
Jackson: Good or Evil Andrew Jackson had a negative impact on the formation of our country. Opinions are very disputed over Jackson, whether he is liked or disliked. On one hand, some believe he was a great president and contributed to our country remarkably. On the other hand, he murdered men in duels, went against the Supreme Court, and forced hundreds of Native Americans to leave their homeland just because of a gold rush. Although Jackson did many things for our country, his atrocious actions outnumber his positive impacts staining this “great” president’s legacy.
Born into a non-aristocratic poor family, somewhere in the Carolina’s on March 14, 1767, was a man named Andrew Jackson. Jackson, also called “Old Hickory” was a very bold proactive man in American history. From being a military hero and founding the democratic party to enacting the trail of tears and dismantling the of the Bank of the United States, the man and his legacy are a prominent topic for scholarly debate. Some believe he was a great president and some believe he was the worse president. But if you look at it from a moral perceptive or in the eyes of a foreigner, Jackson’s legacy was far more villainous than heroic.