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Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767- June 8, 1845)

Party: Democrat

Terms: March 4, 1829- March 3, 1837 (2 Terms)

Vice President: John C. Calhoun (1829-1832), Marin Van Buren (1833-1837)

Andrew Jackson was the people's president. After his campaign in the election of 1824 with Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams and the "Corrupt Bargain", Jackson rallied his people and his newly formed party of the Jacksonian-Democrats and took over in the White House in 1829. He proved to be an able president and accomplished many things in his time in office. His accomplishments were mainly positive and had the betterment of the country as a whole at heart. Therefore, he deserves the grade of a high A for his presidency.

Jackson's goals for his presidency were, first and foremost, to represent the common man as this is what he based his campaign on. Although some people's opinions may differ, he did accomplish this in office. Previous presidents had been highly educated individuals who did not necessarily think on the same page as the everyday American of this time. Jackson however showed his relation to them through his youth background and upbringing especially of being a poor orphan, his war and military experience (the Battle of New Orleans, which he was renowned for), and his political party and ideas. Additionally, he wanted to build a stronger and united union in a time when sectionalism was continuing to grow and become prevalent. He accomplished this by successfully masking the "nullies" in the Nullification Crisis and did the best he could do to pull the nation back together. Although not one of his set goals, Jackson attained more power for the executive branch almost to the extent of being tyrannical. Some anti-Jackson Whigs even went to the extreme of calling him King Andrew I. He also resisted corruption as he vetoed Clay and Webster's attempt at re-chartering the Second Bank of the U.S. Although in the end it benefited the United States expansion west, the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears were things that predominantly hurt Jackson's reputation, especially with the Indians. Because Jackson was so well liked by the people, he was able to accomplish the majority of his goals and helped lead him to his overall grade a B plus.

Jackson clearly had a terrible relationship with Congress. Given his consistent, underlying scheme to attain more power for the executive branch, essentially for himself, he continued to push executive authority and even advocated that the executive branch have supremacy over Congress. This never went over well with the congressmen and led to constant disagreements. That being said he constantly reshuffled his Cabinet frequently getting rid of members and adding new ones. He would abandon regular cabinet meetings because of what he considered bad behavior and instead held policy meetings with a group of advisors in the White House. Additionally he vetoed more bills than any of his predecessors at twelve, including the bill to re-charter the bank of the U.S. and some bills regarding improving internal roads and canals and introduced the pocket veto giving yet even more power to the president. He also changed his vice president as he went into his second term. Overall Jackson did not get along well with Congress and had a horrible relationship with them.

The most positive outcome of Jackson's presidency is his authoritive measure in the Nullification Crisis. He confronted head-on the growing crisis of sectionalism. When the "nullies" of the South decided that the tariff on manufactured goods was discriminatory and should not apply to them they were outraged and tried to nullify the bill, President Jackson tore them down stating that it was "uncompatible with the existence of the Union" meaning that he would not allow one group to father deter the unity of the nation as a whole. This really helped to make his stance and show that he wasn't going to allow this kind of behavior. In doing this, he helped to unite this nation when sectionalism was beginning to take its toll.

The most negative outcome of Jackson's presidency is the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears. These actions exiled the Native Americans out of their homelands in a march westward to the area now in Oklahoma. They were treacherous to the thousands that had to endure it. A great many never made it alive, and many others had to continue with sickness. The conditions were horrible and it was just overall cruelty towards the Native Americans that had inhabited the soil before the Europeans had arrived. Although it eventually benefitted the nation by continuing expansion westward, Jackson ultimately turned his back on the ones he once considered allies and caused great sorrow in the hearts of many. This was by far the worst action of Jackson's presidency.

President Jackson definitely made decisions that impacted future generations to come. To begin with, he added the spoils system, which allows the elected political party to reward its supporters with positions in office and is still in effect today. He also included the pocket veto, which similarly is still in effect today. Jackson greatly broadened the power of the executive branch while he was in office and stretched his powers to their absolute limit, if not a bit beyond. Equally because of his more negative actions with the Native Americans he was able to expand our territory and expansion west. Without that our geographical makeup might be slightly altered from what it is today. His heavy stance with the Bank of the U.S. impacted the decisions of future generations of presidents to also not have a Bank of the U.S. which consequently impacted our stance on the question today. Jackson made some vital contributions by his decisions and they are still impacting this country to this day (including his face on the $20 bill).

Overall America was better off after Jackson's two terms as president. This is a controversial issue, as some claim he was tyrannical, however, he proved to be an able leader and he got the job done. He had many accomplishments in office both positive and negative but most are still impacting our country today and that has to go for something. Even though he did not have the greatest relationship with Congress, he had the hearts of the people and was known as the "common man's" president. All of these more positive things lead to why he is graded a high B overall.

Works Cited "American President: Andrew Jackson: A Life in Brief." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. . "August 2009." //Ask Sister Mary Martha//. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. . DeGregorio, William A. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents//. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books Inc., 2009. Print. "OCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"Biography of Andrew Jackson." //OCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"Welcome to the White House//. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. .