FREE ESSAY ON PRESIDENT JACKSON

PRESIDENT JACKSON

Andrew Jackson's presidency beginning in 1829 began a whole new era in United States
politics. Jackson came into his term as a common man unlike any of the wealthy presidents
that served the previous terms. Through his goal of trying to provide for the needs of
the common people Jackson was unsuccessful doing more harm than good. His presidency
depicted a horrible example of the appropriate relationship between government officials
and the president, caused economic downfall, and most of all exploited the Indian nations
which was far from the good of the people.
Andrew Jackson's relationships weren't quite like the strong government relationships
established by the presidents before him. As soon as he took office Jackson immediately
fired nearly one thousand of the officials on the federal pay roll and replaced them with
his own common people although some were already employed. It was nice of him for
providing jobs for his own type of people although through this effort he left many
others without jobs creating instability for them at the very beginning of his
presidency. What was that saying for what he would do in the future if he just put
hundreds of people out of work with hardly any consideration? When Andrew Jackson did
this, he terminated several qualified officials who may have been able to help him do his
job better than the common people that he hired. This was one of Jackson's worst
decisions. This showed his need to be more open minded before making such drastic moves.
Because of his popular appeal, during disputes between congress and the supreme court
with the president he used his popularity to get the people to side with the way he
wanted things to go. If there wasn't such a lack of communication between the branches
with the president he would be able to make compromises with them instead of always using
popular appeal to win his battles. By far Andrew Jackson relationships were much
different and most likely caused him to make so many major mistakes.
Economically President Jackson hurt the economy more than he ever helped it. His first
major economic downfall was a result of his strong personal resistance against the second
bank. He let his own experiences interfere with what was best for the country because
he'd previously had troubles with the bank and lost money he felt the need to have it
closed down if at all possible. When considering his own desires before the peoples he
intentionally abused his powers. In 1833 Attorney General Roger B. Taney who was
appointed as Treasury Secretary was ordered by the president to withdraw all funds from
the Second Bank. He was the first Secretary Treasury who would withdraw the funds, the
two before him were dismissed as a result of refusing to withdraw the funds. When the
economy was having troubled times Andrew Jackson refused to take the blame and told
people to direct their concerns to the president of the Second Bank Nicholas Biddle.
Jackson later caused economic problems again towards the end of his term when he declared
the Spice Circular which made it impossible to purchase land without using gold or
silver. This drastic change from easy credit to no credit led to the termination and
bankruptcies of many businesses. If Jackson would have considered his options and made
sound business decisions it is quite possible that America would have prospered under his
influence.
Although Andrew Jackson claimed that he wanted to appeal to people and do what's best for
them he neglected to consider the well being of the Indians. They were mistreated even
after making several sacrifices in order to live peacefully among whites without any help
from Jackson. In the state of Georgia, after much conflict over the Indians right to keep
their land state officials asked for help from the Supreme Court where Chief Justice John
Marshall denied the petition. He made it clear to the Indians that the state law could
not force them to give up there land. Regardless of this Andrew Jackson still allowed
Georgia officials to take over the Indians land without their permission although legally
only the federal government had the power to enforce the Indian removal. Jackson unfairly
allowed this to happen to the Indians who were common people willing to cooperate
parallel the common people Jackson was aiming to appeal to.
When both of Jackson's terms were over in 1836 it was in the best interest of the
citizens of the United States. Unfortunately his bad decisions proceeded to affect the
office of the next president elected, Van Buren. One could say that Andrew Jackson had
few successes and his presidency could possibly be rated as a failure.