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Andrew Jackson March 15, 1767-June 8, 1845 Political Party-Democratic Two Terms (1829-1837) Vice President-John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)

Andrew Jackson is viewed as great president from some and others as a bad president. People thought of him as the best president after the founding fathers. Others then thought of him as the one who destroyed the democratic system. But after close evaluation of these good and bad qualities, you can grade Andrew Jackson. Also you must consider the hard evidence showing Andrew Jackson as a common man’s president. I believe that Andrew Jackson deserves a grading of a B considering the good assets and decisions by Jackson outweigh the bad ones.

Going in to the Oval Office Jackson had goals that he believed full-heartedly would put the country off better than what it was when he entered his presidency. One of his main goals was to remove all the Indians from our land and then relocate them to land out west and let them settle there. This was also accomplished by Jackson by helping in the creation of the Indian Removal Act. This forced the Indians to leave American land and make them move out west to their new land.

Jackson believed that the President would be the leader and run the country not the Congress. In believing this he vetoed twelve bills from Congress which was more than any president before him. He didn’t want to have the Congress run the country when he was the President. The previous presidents didn’t use their powers to persuade powers of Congress like Jackson did. Jackson was very influential in the passing of the Indian Removal Act. Many accused him of interfering too much in on the legislatures.

Jackson had a good bit of good actions and outcomes from his presidency. His most notable action would be the dealings with the South Carolina tariff of 1828 nullifications. South Carolina was extremely upset and angered with this new tariff and was threatening to secede from the Union if this was not nullified. Jackson would have none of this foolish talk of secession; he would send threats of sending in military troops into South Carolina if they began to attempt to secede. This was done by Jackson to help nullify the rebellion acts of South Carolina. Then in 1832 Jackson wrote a proclamation against the nullification of the tariff. But on the other hand, Henry Clay created a compromise tariff that would lower the tariff on South Carolina. This bill was then passed and South Carolina was then pleased with the progress that they had achieved in this area.

On the opposing end Jackson had a few decisions that weren’t all positives for America in comparison to his better decisions. Jackson’s decision to remove the Indians was his biggest negative decision. This was not viewed as kindly in the North as the South. The North completely disagreed with this act. But as the south they enjoyed this act considering it was able for them to expand the cotton business. This was not a good decision on the behalf of Jackson because he forced every living Indian to leave there home which they had before the Americans were there. Also, when the Indians were on their trip to their new land they traveled on what is called the “Trail of Tears” which removed 15,000 Cherokees and by the time they reached their newly assigned land 4,000 of them died. They have done nothing to the Americans but yet they forced to leave their homes and they lost almost twenty-seven percent of their people. This act was to remove all Indians east of the Mississippi. This included more than 1000,000 Indians. This was not the greatest decision on behalf of Andrew Jackson.

Jackson had created the Two-party system which is still in place today. This made the two parties the Democrats and the Whigs. These two parties completely were opposing thoughts and ideals which were what was needed to make this work in America. This was beneficial for America as helping it make the democracy work for the young nation work.

I believe that the country was better off after Jackson was president considering that he did more beneficial things than he did negative. Also, considering he put in place the Two-Party System which is still prevalent in today’s politics. Jackson as a president did what he thought was right for the country and what was right for the majority of the people considering he was called the “common man’s” president.

After researching and analyzing Jackson as a president and the decisions he implemented and went through with I can conclusively give Andrew Jackson a grade of a B. I believe that his good decisions that benefited the country outweighed his worse decisions as president.

Work Cited "Andrew Jackson." //The White House//. White House U.S. Government, October 2009. Web. 10 Mar 2010. . "Andrew Jackson." //State Library of North Carolina//. ncdcr.gov, 7 July 2009. Web. 10 Mar 2010. .