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=Andrew Jackson= Birth/Death: March 15, 1767- June 8, 1845 Political Party: Democratic Terms: March 4, 1829 - March 4, 1837 Vice presidents: John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) Martin Van Buren (1832-1837)

Old Hickory, the famed nickname of the great Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. He was the peoples president, he went from poor to a famed, rich, Military hero. Jackson brought many great and poor decisions to his presidency, including the Spoils System seeing that anyone in the United states (mostly political supporters of Jackson) could become apart of the government being appointed as government officials, the decision to close the second bank of the United States of America both helped and hurt the nation, and the trail of tears which opened land but created more issues with the Native Americans. Overall based on these key decisions, Jackson's administration deserves a B- because he both hurt and helped the nation with the decisions of the Indian Removal act and the issue of the recharter of the second bank of the United States. The goals of President Jackson's Administration were to protect state rights, a restrained federal government, fair treatment of Native Americans, and reform of civil service laws. Jackson's other goals included westward expansion, making the nation better suited for farmers and bank reform. The administration accomplished these goals by not rechartering the bank and taking the federal bonds and putting them in wildcat and pet banks. This helped the bank reform and took away power from the bank to be federal power. He also helped with fair treatment of Native Americans with the Indian removal act, even though it was not wanted by the Native Americans it opened up new westward lands and created reservations for the Native Americans to live in. This opened millions of acres of land and also let Native Americans that wanted to stay in the United States stay as long as they followed the U.S. government. During Jacksons administration there was a split between the parties in both the house and the senate after the one party rule of the era of good feelings.Jackson's party the democrats gained most of the seats in both house and senate. In his first term there were 25 democrats and 22 national Republicans in the senate, and in the house there were 139 democrats and 58 national Republicans. In his second term ther were 20 democrats and 20 National republicans, while in the senate there were 147 democrats and 53 anti masons and 60 others. The house was most likely in favor with Jackson but there was a divide in the senate. Jackson did not agree with many of the issues dealing with the Bank of the United States. In 1832 Henry Clay and his National republicans/Whigs attempted to rechart the bank of the United states which Jackson vetoed. Mostly the acts and laws Jackson passed were suggested by him like the force bill, and the Indian removal act. He had a good relationship with most of the congress which was Democrats and a bad relationship with the Whig side of congress. The most positive outcome of Jackson's Presidency was how the administration dealt with the Nullification crisis in 1828. South Carolina had declared the Tariff of 1828 unconstitutional because it hurt their economy because it was a high tariff. They did everything they could to make sure that the tariff would not be enforced in the state of South Carolina. They even threatened to secede from the Union because of this. Jackson though he thought the tariff was high as well, he declared the Union indivisble and branded the nullification as treason. Jackson asked congress if he could use military force to put down the nullifiers. Congress passed the force bill which allowed the executive to use military power to enforce federal law. After this bill is passed in the house, Henry Clay and the senate pass the compromise tariff bill which reduces the tariff for ten years. This forces South carolina to revoke the ordinance of Nullification. Jackson's Method was very intelligent, it forced South Carolina into submission and it lead to the compromise tariff which ultimately ended the Nullification crisis. This intelligent act by Jackson and his administration lead to more executive authority. The most negative outcome of Jackson's presidency was the Bank war. In 1832 Henry Clay who would run against Jackson for president attempted to recharter the second bank of the United States. This was vetoed by Jackson who thought that the bank had to much federal power because it could control the government. When Jackson won a second term in 1832 he decided that in 1836 when the banks current charter was up he would not recharer the bank and let it die out. So in 1836 he took federal bonds out of the bank and put them in small western banks that were called pet banks or wildcat banks. These banks were unreliable and each banks money was different. When the second bank of the United States finally died out in 1836 the pet banks and wilcat banks poured out a lot of paper money which was so unreliable that it hurt many frontiersmen in the west. Jackson then authorized the tresury to declare a specie circular, which required all western lands to be paid in hard metallic money whcih very few people had. This ultimately lead to the finacial panic of 1837 and left many homes in the west foreclosed and many people poor. Jackson's administration had two very important decisions that influenced many other upcoming presidents and the nation. The spoils system brought more democratice ways to the government. It gave political positions to political supporters, where anyone either uneducated or farmer ect. could become a political official. This did have some ups and downs though as some corrupt people could be put into office that brought horrible ideas to the government. But it brought a new aspect to government and got rid of the aristotic ways of the past. Another huge decision by Jackson's administraion that influenced the nation was the Indian Removal Act. This took lands that the Native Americans in the southwest were moved to reservations in the west so the frontiers men could live on the land. This brought 10 million square miles of Native American lands to expand the states westward. Although this was a major gain for the United states it angered many Native Americans and killed many as well. This act was very cruel and inhumane but overall helped the Nation. Overall after his presidency the nation was better off except for the Financial crisis. This hurt many people in the western states and throughout the United States. But the Nation had gained more land, Had lost the federal authority of a National bank, had gained more state rights and less federal control, and gained more democracy throughout the government. Jackson would deserve a B - because allthough he helped the nation in many ways withthe bank war he further hurt the nation and created the Financial crisis of 1837.
 * Bibiliography:**

"American President: Andrew Jackson: A Life in Brief." //Miller Center of Public Affairs//. Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia, 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2009. [].

"Andrew Jackson." //The White House//. White House U.S. Government. Web. 14 Oct. 2009. .

Smith, Carter. __Presidents Every Question Answered.__ Irvington, New York: Hylas publishing, 2004.