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(March 15, 1767 - June 8, 1845) Democratic Party Term I: 1828-1832 Vice President John C. Calhoun Term II: 1832-1836 Vice President Martin Van Buren
 * __Andrew Jackson__ [[image:andrew-jackson-picture.jpg width="281" height="250" align="left"]]

Judging by Jackson's decisions as president, it is safe to say that he deserves a grade no higher than a C-. Although many know him as "the people's president", not many of his actions ended up being good for "the people". He was well-liked by his countrymen in the beginning, but had inherited many enemies by the end of his second term as president. By this time, the country was in a worsened state and a financial crisis was impending. Many controversial, if not wrong, decisions landed Andrew Jackson with this low grade.

Jackson's goals from the very beginning involved providing the country with a workable protective tariff and making internal improvements to the country. While working on the tariff, he encountered a problem with secession and in turn made preserving the Union one of his main goals. He was also determined to completely remove the Bank of the United States. He aspired to move the indians westward to make room for white settlements. With the exception of internal improvements, he accomplished all of these goals. He began by smothering defiance and talk of secession by the "nullies" in South Carolina with the Force Bill and a compromise tariff in 1833. These actions accomplished both his goal of creating an acceptable tariff and preserving the Union. He succeeded in removing the indians with the Indian Removal Act, and marched them westward on the "trial of tears". With these problems out of the way, he started in on removing the national bank. Jackson vetoed the bank's renewal charter in 1832 and began removing money from the bank, spreading it out among smaller "pet banks". Although it is seen later that this wasn't the wisest decision, it did accomplish Jackson's goal of destroying the bank. Jackson hindered his goal of internal improvements when vetoing the Maysville Road Bill in 1830. He claimed that building such a road would be only for the good of Kentucky, not the entire country, and therefore the bill was unconstitutional. In the end, Jackson accomplished three of his four main goals.

Although Jackson had the majority of supporters in Congress, his relationship with this important government body was not exactly a pleasant one. Jackson vetoed a dozen bills, more than all of other presidents combined. He was also the first to implement the "pocket veto" which said that if a bill was not passed within ten days of Congress' adjourn, then it did not become law without his signature. His actions were quite frustrating to Congress, and it was difficult to get any new legislation passed. It is said that Jackson over used his "executive authority" to put only his policies into practice, and set out to thwart all of his opponents. His power in office grew as his presidency continued, taking power away from Congress. This made for a bad relationship, especially with those who did not support him whole heartedly. He attempted to counteract this hatred with the use of the spoils system, but only ended up replacing about 15% of government offices with his supporters. This allowed for many enemies to be made, and lots of hatred to arise between Jackson and his administration.

Jackson made several wise decisions when dealing with the aftermath of Adam's "Tariff of Abominations". These decisions together had the most positive outcomes among all of Jackson's actions. After Adam's had increased the general tariff significantly, the South had fallen on hard times. They believed that this "Yankee Tariff" discriminated against them. Southerners, most prominent in South Carolina, took this as reason enough to stand up to the national government and declare a void of the tariff in their state. Jackson first tried to deal with these "nullies" by decreasing the tariff in 1832. Still not satisfied, South Carolina went even further as to threaten secession if the tariff was attempted in the state. Jackson next decided to gather the military and take action against the state's defiance. Before taking action, however, Henry Clay proposed a tariff that Jackson and the south both agreed upon. It called for reduction of the tariff by 10% over eight years. Along with the passing of this bill, Jackson also passed the Force Bill, allowing the government to take military action to collect federal tariffs. This ensured that all federal tariffs were enforced, and warned states against the power of the federal government. With all conflicts smoothed over, and talk of secession smothered, the country could breath easy once again. Jackson dealt with this situation well, and it had a lasting positive outcome.

There is no doubt that destroying the Bank of the United States was a bad decision on Jackson's part. One might even say it had the most negative outcome of all his decisions. Jackson distrusted the bank, and thought of it as a monopolistic, over-big business. It held all of the government funds and was only accountable to a small, elite circle of investors. The bank president, Biddle, held an immense amount of power, which worried Jackson. When the issue of renewal of the bank's charter came up during the election of 1832, Jackson was faced with a difficult decision; veto the renewal, or approve it? Jackson decided to veto the renewal, to the dismay of the eastern part of the country and began removing money from the Bank of the U.S., spending some and putting the rest into smaller "pet banks". These "pet banks", seeming to benefit from the added funds, began printing paper money and giving out loans. Soon, though, they overextended themselves and the loans they gave out were worthless. Speculation was rampant. Jackson tried to curb this with the Specie Circular, but a large amount of damage had already been done. The country was soon to be in the midst of a financial panic because of Jackson's poorly made decisions.

If there is one person that was influenced most heavily by Jackson's decisions during his presidency, it was his predecessor, Martin Van Buren. He inherited all of Jackson's problems, and was left to pick up the pieces of the crumbling nation. He inherited countless enemies, especially those of the Whig party. Van Buren also had to deal with the financial depression that was lurking in the background, thanks to Jackson's choices involving the Bank of the United States. The Panic of 1837 was caused in large part by Jackson, which obviously did not only affect Van Buren, but the country as a whole.

Jackson quite obviously left the country worse off than at the start of his presidency, which contributes to his grade of a C-. He did succeed in smoothing over talk of secession in South Carolina with his tariff of 1833, however, which keeps him from receiving a lower grade. Much more harm was done to the country in his second term, though. He left the country in a state of financial panic, a time known as the Panic of 1837. This was caused by his incautious actions involving the Bank of the United States. The economic and moral state of the country was greatly lowered at this time, mostly because of Jackson.

** __** Sources: **__ **Bailey, Thomas, Lizabeth Cohen, and David M. Kennedy. // The American Pageant: A History of the American People // . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2009. Print.

Degregorio, William. "Andrew Jackson."  // The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents--6th Edition: Includes Material through 2005 (Complete Book of Us Presidents) // . 6 Updated ed. Fort Lee: Barricade Books, 2005. 105-120. Print.

"U.S. Senate: Art & History Home > Origins & Development > Party Division."  // U.S. Senate // . N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010. . **