Andrew Jackson Legacy Essay

Andrew Jackson by Robert V. Remini is a book, anyone ought to read if one needs to know about Andrew Jackson. While the book is forty-six years old, the 212 page book contains all that you have to know about the seventh President of the United States, from his time as a tyke to his ascent to notoriety as a hero in the Battle of New Orleans and to his retirement as President. Firstly, in 1765, Andrew his father who he was named after, Elizabeth his mother who was pregnant with him at the time and his two older brothers Hugh and Robert immigrated to America. “On arrival, the family headed straight for the Waxhaws”(Pg 15).

American lawyer, military, and politician, seventh president of the United States of America (1829-1837). He was born on March 15, 1767, at Waxhaw and died on June 8, 1845, at the Hermitage. Known by the nickname of Old Hickory, he was the first president-elect born in the territories located to the west of the Appalachians and also the first one to make public his presidential inauguration. His presidential election brought with it a profound transformation of the political class and a new form of governing and exercising power in the United States of America. Undoubtedly, Andrew Jackson was, of all the previous presidents, the one that enjoyed greater support and popularity on the part of the American people, by its humble origin and capacity

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson served as the 7th President of the United States of America from March 4, 1829 – March 4, 1837. Born on March 15th 1767 on the border of North and South Carolina, Although Jackson said he was from South Carolina. Before we get into Jackson actually Presidency let me first inform you on the crazy journey that led him there. Jackson was the son of Irish Immigrants, and didn’t receive much formal schooling growing up. When he was 13 the British invaded the Carolinas and in the battling of it his mother and 2 brothers died, as a result we see where Jackson got his unresolved indifference towards Great Britain.

Jackson wanted his country to have more land, which is a good thing. However, the Indians were unfamiliar with the land that they were forced to move to. They wanted to stay on “the land of their fathers.” This was shown in the Indian removal document 2. They had to leave their homes, their farms, their streams, and their forests.

Jackson believed that it was a duty from god that the US had to own land from sea to shining sea. This meant that anything or anyone that got in the way would soon be out of the way. Jackson decided to expand the US west towards their unsettled land. The Native Americans had already settled it but were not willing to give up their land so they went to court. The Natives won the case but Jackson refused to lose so he overruled the supreme court (because of his power) and expanded the US anyways.

One of the reasons Jackson is a hero is that he proposed the idea of  moving the Indians so they wouldn’t die out. “I suggest for your consideration...setting apart ample district west of the Mississippi, and(outside) the limits of any state or Territory now formed, to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes as long as they shall occupy it,

But at the time Jackson's position on the Bank was not antagonistic. He was concerned about the Bank's constitutionality and the general stability of paper money in place of gold and silver. But soon after that happened Jackson started to dislike the bank even more. He started by doing strong attacks against the Bank in the press. Then Jackson vetoed the Bank Recharter Bill.

What people also do not know is that he is in charge of triggering an economic depression by refusing to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States and the institution inflation control policies, that also triggered a panic. This is an example of how he was not a good person. One of many bad things that Andrew Jackson did was killing so many indians that he got the nickname “Indian killer”. He thought that the indians were taking up too much of the american land and he killed them instead of asking them without violence.

He wanted to move all the Native Americans for open land for settlement. “This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land. ”(Andrew Jackson’s message to Congress about Indian Removal, Source #7) Some may say that Andrew Jackson is a hero for opening land for settlement. Although Cherokees were recognized as an independent nation by the national government, Jackson ignored ruling and supported Georgia.

He gave his friends powerful positions instead of the best possible people. “He made most of his decisions with the help of trusted friends and political supporters (Hart 261). He would rather give his friends power than make the general population happy and in good hands. He is not a person for the people. He also angered people so much, that there was almost a state who left America.

He believed Jackson needed a reality check. The Indians were there first, it was their land. He force the Natives to move away from their homeland, with brute force. He believes Jackson could not justify his actions just because it was for America’s benefit. He also stated Jackson refused to listen to many people, and he refused to let Indians live.

One of the biggest thing that Jackson had done as a president was in 1832. Jackson vetoed a bill that would renew the second bank charter early. Jackson stated “I will kill it!”. He said this because he didn’t like the bank at all and he believed that it made the rich richer and the poor poorer. He said in his veto message “It is easy to conceive that great evils to our country and its institutions might flow from such a concentration of power in the hands of a few men irresponsible to the people.”

He favored the relocation of all eastern Indian tribes. Jackson only sought the whites to have more power and land he saw the Indians as a problem. Jackson claimed “removing the Indians to territory west of the Mississippi was the only way to save them.” (pg. 285 The American Promise).

Andrew Jackson was a villain because Jackson moved the Native Americans to an area that had little resources and was very hard for farmers to farm in. As expressed by a Cherokee Indian in the “Memorial of the Cherokee nation” from their own personal experiences, on August 21, 1830 “But if we are compelled to leave our country, we see nothing but ruin before us. The country west of the Arkansas territory is unknown to us... The far greater part of the region is beyond all the controversy, badly supplied with food and water, and no Indian tribe can live as agriculturalists without these articles” (DOC K). In other words, this means that President Andrew Jackson is sending the Native Americans to an unknown place with fewer resources which will give the Native Americans a hard time surviving.

He liked Swartwout because he had been an early supporter…and so he went ahead with the appointment.” Jackson ended up losing $1,222,70.09 to Swartwout. Jackson only chose him because he was a supporter thinking it would be beneficial to have someone already on his side in power. These actions were not democratic and do not stand for what Jackson speaks. He says one thing and goes with another.