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// Political Party: Democratic- Republicans // // Dates of Presidential Terms: March 4, 1829 – March 3, 1837 // //Vice Presidents: John C. Calhoun (1829- 1833) and Martin Van Buren (1833- 1837)// A wealthy planter, Andrew Jackson, the now seventh president of the United States, was swept into the presidential office by Western and Southern support. The new president, however, was a man of no morals or restraints and a man of exceeding selfishness. Because of his development and establishment of the Spoils System, rigidity in the Tariff of Abominations, careless and unwilling intervenings with South Carolina, the heartless removal of Native Americans and his thoughtless and vindictive burial of the Bank of America, President Jackson’s presidency deserves an F+.
 * Andrew Jackson **

As president, Jackson’s two main goals were to continue westwardly expanding the US and to severely reduce the power of the Bank of the United States. Through force and manipulation, Jackson did accomplish his goals. In 1830, following Jackson’s policy of bodily removal of the remaining Native American eastern tribes, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which provided for the transportation of all Indian tribes, then resident east of the Mississippi, to the newly established Indian Territory, where they were to be permanently free of white infringements. In 1833, Jackson set into motion, his plans for not only reducing the Bank of America’s power, but closing its doors forever. He removed federal deposits from the vaults and moreover proposed the cessation of depositing more funds and gradually shrinking existing deposits by using them to finance the day-to-day expenses of the government. By slowly draining off the government’s funds, Jackson ran the bank dry, ensuring its demise.

Andrew Jackson’s relationship with Congress was a weak one. The emergence of new political parties was a largely contributing factor. By 1828, Jackson’s Democratic- Republicans had unashamedly adopted the name Democrats while Jackson’s opponents began to merge together as the Whigs. The Whigs, mostly centered on their hatred for Andrew Jackson, attracted numerous other groups that had been alienated by the president, such as supporters of Henry Clay’s American System, the southerners who stood for state rights and had been offended by Jackson’s stand on nullification, the larger northern industrialists and merchants, and, eventually, many of the evangelical Protestants associated with the Anti- Masonic party. By absorbing the Anti- Masonic party, the Whigs took away much of the Democratic appeal to the common man. The more egalitarian Anti- Masons further portrayed Jackson as an imperious aristocrat, claiming that Whigs were the defenders of the common man and claiming that the Democrats were, in fact, the party of condescension and corruption.

Although painfully abused by Jackson, the Spoils System brought about the most positive outcome one will be able to find in his presidency. An important element of the emerging two- party order, the Spoils System brought about the solidifying of loyalty to party over competing claims based on economic class or geographic region.

Among countless others, the action with the most negative outcome falls between Native American Removal and the burial of the Bank of the United States. Native American Removal was brought into being even after the Supreme Court upheld Indian rights three times! Jackson, apparently convincing himself with the notion that the Indians could preserve their native cultures in the wide- open West, refused to recognize the Court’s decisions and introduced the Indian Removal Act, which led to the forced uprooting of over 100,000 Indians. Countless thousands died on their way to the newly established Indian Territory, which was an area declared permanently free of white infringements. Ironically, not only did the “permanent” aspect last for fifteen years, the tribes hardest hit were the Five Civilized Tribes. These tribes had made especially remarkable efforts to learn the ways of the whites and were most accommodating. Jackson’s decision with the bank additionally brought about another depression. By killing the Bank of the United States, a financial vacuum was left in the American economy. Surplus federal funds were then placed in several state institutions, which flooded the country with paper money and, because of the money’s unreliability, Jackson authorized the Treasury to issue a Specie Circular, or a decree that required all public lands to be purchased with hard, or metallic, money. This led to a financial panic and the eventual crash in 1837.

One of Andrew Jackson’s, perhaps only, decisions that impacted future generations was his expansion of the power of the Executive Branch. Upon attempts to pass a Recharter Bill through Congress, for Biddle’s Bank of the United States, Jackson’s veto not only squashed the bill but vastly amplified presidential powers in the aspect that all previous vetoes had almost exclusively rested on questions of constitutionality. Essentially, Jackson’s argument for vetoing the bill was because he, personally, found it harmful to the nation, which, effectively, was claiming presidential power to be equivalent to two- thirds of the votes in Congress. While this was wrong, it did result in a strengthened Executive Branch.

During Jackson’s entire presidency, the influence he had and the decisions he made that resulted in the deterioration of the entire country is almost mindboggling. From crashing the American economy to nearly exterminating a people, the American people and country were without a doubt better off before Jackson’s presidency. Because of his overall abuse of presidential power, Jackson’s presidency deserves an F+.

Works Cited Patty, Joshua. "U.S. History: Andrew Jackson." //U.S. History//. AllExperts, 2008. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. . Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas A. Bailey. //The American Pageant//. 12th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Print.