Andrew Jackson: The Most Controversial American President

History to us is set in stone, but throughout our everyday lives, one of history’s most loved president can become one of the most hated men in America or vise versa. One of history’s most controversial presidents to date is our seventh president whose name is Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson served as president from March 4th, 1829 to March 4th, 1837, but before he was president Jackson was born to a Scottish-Irish immigrant family who moved to South Carolina when immigrated to America. Andrew Jackson was orphaned at the age of 14 and raised by his uncle shorty after. His uncle was a very wealthy slave owner who had a lot of political influence in the south and the west. By the age of twenty, Andrew Jackson became a lawyer in the state of Tennessee and continued to be the first elected congressman in Tennessee. He soon became the judge of the supreme court of Tennessee. Jackson felt the need to help out the nation even more, so he decided to join the military. His most notable victory in his military career is the battle in New Orleans. He single-handedly lead a small army to defeat a large veteran English army. After his military career there were many people who believed he would make a great president, and Andrew Jackson decided to take that chance. Although people may argue that Andrew Jackson was a rather unsuccessful president with the justification of the trail of tears and the bank veto, but because Jackson was able to relate to the common man, he was able to advert a national tariff crisis, and he exercised forceful leadership in his relations with foreign nations (Andrew jackson , Gale, a Cengage Company, (2017), https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631003305/UHIC?u=overland&sid=UHIC&xid=806abd79).

Around this time the common man was being given the right to vote and the ability to have a voice within political terms, which is something that made helped Andrew jackson to become a successful president.t. His presidency was widely wanted by the population due to the fact that he wanted to limit federal power over the people and give more power to the state governments. As stated in Andrew Jackson: Man of the People “Jackson became president in 1828 after campaigning on behalf of democracy and the ordinary citizen, on the importance of states’ rights, and on the need to limit federal power.” This is relevant because it truly portrays how his whole presidency was won on the back of preaching for the “common man”. Another way he was the president of the “common man” was he constantly fought for white male suffrage. The Jacksonian Democracy allowed for the common white male to vote no matter his political stance or wealth. “…the beginning of the movement that became known as Jacksonian democracy—marked the emergence of a new, much broader electorate on the American political scene due to the elimination of property and other qualifications for white men to vote.”a quote from a biography written about Jackson and his accomplishments as president. He allowed for your everyday white man to choose who represents them in the White House. Finally, he represented the “common man” by creating the “spoils system”. The spoils system was a way to give the everyday man a job in politics instead of politicians and wealthy men. In the article Jacksonian Democracy it states, “Jackson applied his populist principles throughout his two terms as president. For instance, by creating the spoils system, he bolstered the influence of his fledgling Democratic party and expanded the opportunity for ordinary citizens to work in the federal government.” this is a small representation as to how Jackson’s presidency was able to appeal to the common man by giving them jobs they wouldn’t normally be able to hold. Jackson wanted to represent the common white man rather then what he saw as a “corrupt leader”. Being able to win the vote of the common man is was a big factor as to why he was a successful president.

Before Andrew Jackson relationships with foreign affairs were a very touchy subject, but what made Andrew Jackson successful was his ability to regain old foreign affairs with many countries America was not great allies with. In the age of Jacksonian Democracy, he was able to regain old foreign trading deals and transportation deals. Most importantly he asserted himself in a strong leadership role against other nations. One of the first things he did was initiate many new foreign affairs, in the article named Andrew Jackson it states all of the different countries he becomes allies with like, “Turkey, Cochin-China, and Siam (the first United States treaties with Asiatic powers), and he was also able to reopen American trade with West Indies.” In this we see the leaps he takes to assure allies with other nations. He was also able to force France into paying back the debt that America owed after the Napoleonic War. In the same article named Andrew Jackson, it states that, “he forced France into agreeing to pay the debts owed to American citizens for the destruction of American property during the Napoleonic Wars.” This represents how Jackson was a good president because he was able to make deals with countries no other president was able to accomplish. (Andrew Jackson, Gale, a Cengage Company, (2017), https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/K1631003305/UHIC?u=overland&sid=UHIC&xid=806abd79).

Just like every other president Andrew Jackson made some decisions that caused a lot of controversy and disagreement within the nation. The trail of tears and vetoing the bank of the united states are a couple of arguments historians use to justify Jackson being unsuccessful. A president often very compared to Jackson because of his treatment to Indians is current president Donald Trump. A race that Jackson was often very hostile towards the American Indians. A very specific event that represents this great dislike is the trail of tears. The trail of tears was a “part of Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma.” The distance traveled caused many of these travelers to die because of the little they had to prepare. The Indians hardly had food, clothes, or even basic necessities to live throughout their journey. Another very controversial topic revolving around Jackson is the veto of the 2nd bank of the U.S. Because, Jackson though it was a very unconstitutional bank he that only helped out politicians he decided to set the order to take it down. Jackson saw this bank as a place for politics to put all of their money. As a solution, he set up state banks for people’s money, but these state banks truly disrupted the pace and cause a depressed and economic crisis of the time.

As every president does Jackson had his moments, but he came back and stopped another crisis form rising and forming a bigger mess. Andrew Jackson was able to restrain South Carolina from nullifying themselves from the tariff of 1832. The initial tariff was put in place after the War of 1812. It was put in place to raise money for the federal government, but the south didn’t like the tariff because it made their products more expensive so the other nations stopped purchasing them and costing the southern farmers a ton of money. Jackson was able to slow down the aggression of South Carolina was by signing the new tariff of 1832 on July 14, 1832. In the article Nullification Crisis, it states, “Jackson’s administration finally took action on the tariff in 1832. On July 14, 1832, Jackson signed the Tariff Act of 1832, slightly lowering tariff rates.” He truly believed that if he lowered the tariff South Carolina would live it alone, but they didn’t. So he had no other choice but to declare a proclamation that told South Carolina that they needed to stop trying to seperate from the union or he would use military force. A direct quote from his proclamation about the tariff nullification is, ‘prescribes to the people of South Carolina a course of conduct in direct violation of their duty as citizens of the United States, contrary to the laws of their country, subversive of its Constitution, and having for its object the destruction of the Union.’ In this proclamation, he is clearly showing his great presidential skills by showing his assertiveness. All during the whole tariff of 1832 and the nullification of 1832 and his reaction shows how good president Andrew Jackson was.

Although Andrew Jackson did do things that are seen as successful and straight-up wrong like his hate for Indians and the takedown of the bank, Jackson was able to show how he was a strong leader of the county. Jackson stopped a national crisis from breaking out with the south, he rebuilt foreign relationships (which not many presidents were able to do), and he was able to relate to a big group of people which shows that he knows what a lot of these people needs and wants were. Andrew Jackson is also a very controversial president because he was very democratic and he was very upsetting to the rich white elites of the North-East. In the end, Andrew Jackson was an overall successful president who tried his very hardest to keep America in a good state during his presidency, and for the years after to come.