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Andrew Jackson |
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“I cannot be intimidated from doing that which my judgment and conscience tell
me is right by any earthly power.”
This quote by Jackson underlies the fact the he was a selfish, tyrannical
ruler. He did not make decisions based on the interests of the whole nation but
on his own personal benefit, in search of self- achievement. Although he was
portrayed or possibly manipulated the citizens to believe that he was a
president for the common man, that was simply not the way he acted. As
president, he purposely ignored the power of the Judicial branch to judge laws,
and strengthened the power of the Executive branch above the limits in the
Constitution. He was also said to be rude and uneducated, which might have led
to the reasons why he was such a power hungry tyrant; but before one makes this
harsh judgment they must first realize the type of life that Andrew Jackson lived.
It almost certainly was the main reason why his thought process was so
different from the regular wealthy, educated earlier presidents.
The third child of Irish immigrants, he joined the Army when he was only
thirteen years old. Although he was young he had already developed hatred
towards the British, because his oldest brother was killed fighting in the
Revolution. Even though Jackson was an exceptional soldier, both him and his
middle brother were captured by British troops. After their mother pleaded for
their release, the boys were set free, but due to the poor living conditions of
the army camp, Jackson’s family was overcome by the smallpox disease. Leaving
him all alone in life. This traumatic time in his life could have been the
start of all his psychological problems.
It seems that trouble almost always found Jackson. After being a lawyer for
only a few years, an argument with another lawyer in the town led to an insult.
Eventually Jackson challenged the man to a duel. Things did not look good for
Jackson\'s opponent because Jackson was a notoriously good shot, but at the
last minute Jackson offered his enemy some bacon and a joke, and they laughed
together. This shows Jackson had the power to manipulate people. In just a few
years of law Jackson, now eighteen met his soon to be wife, Rachel Robards.
There was a small problem though…Rachel was married. But Jackson being the
terrifying man that he was, played with a huge knife during the divorce trial;
this petrified her first husband, and after a short trail the case was thrown
out and Rachel was divorced. Jackson and Rachel were married in August of 1791;
this brought his spirits up very much. Proof of this is in how he says,
“Heaven will be no heaven to me if I do not meet my wife there.”
Even though Andrew Jackson had matured a lot by the early eighteen hundreds,
his temper was still blazing. In October 1803, He came across a Tennessee\'s
governor, whom happened to be an old rival; reportedly the governor said
something about Rachel Jackson. Without delay Jackson challenged the governor
to a duel, he refused and Jackson put an announcement in a local paper, calling
the man a coward. The humiliated governor then persuaded a young marksman named
Charles Dickinson to offend Rachel and challenge her husband to a duel. Jackson
then met Dickinson in a Kentucky meadow at dawn. Dickinson being a faster draw,
fired first. He hit Jackson in the chest, a bad wound; but Jackson\'s soon
retaliated with a shot to the stomach that instantly killed his opponent.
Dickinson’s bullet was too close to Jackson\'s heart to be removed by the
surgeons back then, and it stayed there for the rest of his life.
Jackson, getting bored with the farm life and politics decided he wanted to
command an army once again; he led a small volunteer group south down the
Mississippi River. But when the government got wind of this they sent him back
to Nashville, where Jackson promptly got in another brawl with a rival. This
one exploded into a shoot-out among quite a few men, and Jackson took a bullet
to the shoulder. Doctors recommended it be amputated, but Jackson refused; this
bullet, too, remained in him.
These are just a few examples of how Jackson’s past may have contributed
greatly to his presidency; he had hatred towards many rivals and not to mention
the British. Another soon to be rival on Jackson’s list was John Quincy Adams;
this was because in the election of 1824, Adams and Henry Clay made what
Jackson called “a corrupt bargain” And this caused Jackson to lose the 1824 election
which he believed he had rightfully earned.
But the election of 1828 was much different; from the beginning it was
personal. Jackson was convinced that he was the winning candidate for
president, and Adams\' backers were horrified at the thought of a vulgar
frontiersman in the White House. The year 1828 brought a complete and
everlasting change to the way presidential elections were done. This was an
extremely offensive election in which Adams\' followers took the name National
Republicans. They published in papers across the country this filthy and
hateful report:
General Jackson’s mother was a COMMON PROSTITUTE brought to this country by
British soldiers! She afterward married a MULATTO MAN, with whom she had
several children, of which number General Jackson IS ONE!!
Although Adams and his supporters tried there hardest to corrupt Jackson’s
chances at becoming president, Jackson received three times the amount of
electoral votes that Adams did, thus making him the President of the United
States.
Once in office Jackson immediately showed signs of bad leadership by using the
Spoils System, which is where his put his friends into his Cabinet. In his 1st
Inaugural Address he says,
”In the performance of a task thus generally delineated I shall endeavor to
select men whose diligence and talents will insure in their respective stations
able and faithful cooperation.”
This shows that right from the start Jackson was perhaps lying, this is to be
believed because Jackson put his friends in office to override the Democrats
rather than to equal the two parties out. Then the next big issue, the Bank War
came. In which he destroyed the national bank, and again due to much evidence,
Andrew Jackson’s actions as president were mainly based on his personal feelings.
Jackson already hated the national bank before his presidency. As a former,
wealthy land entrepreneur, he had lost huge amounts of money because of the
national bank in the 1790’s. As a result, he refused to recharter the bank when
Henry Clay proposed it in 1832. Even though it was passed through Congress,
Jackson vetoed it claiming that it was unconstitutional when it had already
been declared constitutional by the Marshall in 1819 during the McCulloch vs.
Maryland case. This was one of many vetoes made by Jackson under the executive
branch. The National Republicans, who were now called the Whigs, thought they
could use the issue of vetoes against Jackson in the election of 1832, but
their plan backfired and Jackson won the election by a huge margin.
In his 2nd Inaugural Address, Jackson states,
“So many events have occurred within the last four years which have necessarily
called forth- sometimes under circumstances the most delicate and painful- my
views of the principles and policy which ought to be pursued by the General
Government that I need on this occasion but allude to a few leading
considerations connected with some of them.”
This again shows that he feels he has the ability to overpower the rest of the
United States Government. In his second term Jackson faced many issues such as
the Tariff of Abominations and nullification acts, which he forced Congress to
pass acts, again proving he felt he had a higher power over the rest of the
government, and abusing his power by forcing Congress to pass acts. But by far
the main issue during Jackson’s second term was the Indian issue, in which
Jackson used his power to support the removal of the Cherokee Indians. This was
a foolish move on Jackson’s part because his reputation rested upon his
cold-blooded slaughter of Native Americans at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend,
where Jackson\'s militia killed over 800 Creeks, shooting them down \"like
dogs,\" in the Creek War of 1814. Many Americans started to believe that
Jackson was prejudice.
Even before the removal issue, there was already much conflict between
Americans and the Indians. As America was expanding and settlers were moving
west, they were intruding the Indians’ land. Before these invasions; however,
treaties were made not permitting anyone to push the Indians out of their land
in Georgia. Jackson completely agreed with the treaties but when Georgia
disobeyed the government and invaded the Indians, he denied and ignored what
was taking place. The Indians who had been guaranteed land by the United States
even appealed in court. And even though the ruling was in favor of the Indians,
Georgia continued to defy the ruling. But Jackson did not put in an effort to
mend this dilemma. In fact Georgia and Jackson even ignored the Supreme Court
ruling, Jackson made the United States army gather roughly 15,000 soldiers and
forced the Cherokee Indians to move westward. This lengthy and horrific journey
was what the Cherokees called the Trail of Tears. During this about one out of
every four Indians died due to disease or lack of food. Another thing that
outraged the Indians were that the American government, mainly Jackson promised
the Indians nine million dollars for their relocation, but after the torturous
journey was completed Jackson and his government took six million dollars out
for the relocation costs.
Jackson abused his power as president by exceeding his limits and allowing his
personal happiness and emotions influence his decisions that may have affected
him positively but affected the rest of the United States in a negative way;
which was unbelievably selfish. He left the nation with confusion and failures
instead of contributing to it, achievements. Jackson once said,
“I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am
not fit to be President.”
I do not think he realized how right he was.
Bibliography
1. Cayton, Andrew, Perry, Elisabeth I. and Allan M. Winkler. American Pathways
to the Present. Needham: Prentice Hall, 1995
2. Kunhardt, Phillip B, Phillip III and Paul. “Andrew Jackson the 7th
president.” The American President. (April 9, 2000): Online. Internet. May 2,
2001
3. Jackson, Andrew. “First Inaugural Address.” Inaugural addresses of the
Presidents of the United States. (1989): p.3
4. Jackson, Andrew. “Second Inaugural Address.” Inaugural addresses of the
Presidents of the United States. (1989): p.2
5. Zinn, Howard. ”As Long as the Grass Grows or Water Runs ” A Peoples History
of the United States: 1492 to Present. New York City: Harper Collins, 1999