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Andrew Jackson

(March 15th, 1767- June 8th, 1845) Political Party: Democrat Terms: March 4th, 1829- March 3rd, 1837 Vice Presidents- John C. Calhoun (1829-1832) and Martin Van Buren (1833-1837)

As a president and a man Andrew Jackson was far from ordinary, by the time Jackson would leave the White House 8 years after starting his administration the country would never be the same. Jackson ’s actions did not always have the best interests of human rights in mind, the spoil system and Indian removal. His vetoes were mostly not based on constitutionality but personal opinion and many of his actions had severe consequences such as the veto of the national bank, use of the spoils system, and removal of the Indians. Jackson did have one action that did not hurt the country, which was the Nullification Crisis, where he prevented war. Accounting for all of these actions and decisions, I give Andrew Jackson a D for his presidency.

Andrew Jackson outlines his goals for his presidency in his inaugural addressees. In his first speech Jackson preached that he would not increase the size of the standing army, that the military would be "held subordinate to the civil power", and defending the "rights of person and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press”. In regards to his goals of his first term, I would have to say he failed. During his first administration, he vetoed the Maysville Road bill that would give federal funds for a highway in Kentucky . He also signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which removed Indians from their southern land and forcibly moved then west of the Mississippi . His main goal of his second term was to maintain the Union ; his 2nd inaugural speech exemplified this. "Without the Union our independence and liberty would have never been achieved" and "The loss of Liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union ". He was more successful with this goal; he did manage to keep the union together during with the passage of the Tariff of 1833, which ended the nullification crisis in South Carolina, a serious threat to national unity.

Andrew Jackson and congress had a roller coaster ride of a relationship, up and down. Jackson was very stubborn and unyielding as a president. He had his thoughts and values, and if he did not agree with a bill, he would veto it. Jackson vetoed the Maysville Road act even though it was for something he supported, internal improvements but he vetoed it because it only would help one state and not the whole Union. Then Jackson reeled off a string of vetoes blocking all federal internal improvements. Sometimes Jackson and Congress would play nice and get along, for example, Congress did not overturn Jackson 's veto of the recharter of the National Bank. When Jackson asked Congress for a bill removing the Southern Indians, to lower the tariff, and a bill to give the President the power to use force to collect revenue from states Congress complied. Had Jackson not been facing a Democratic Majority in Congress may not have put up with Jackson 's antics and vetoes and overruled many of his decisions.

The most positive action of Andrew Jackson's presidency would have to be the emergence of the Nullification Crisis. South Carolina challenged the power of the federal government by saying the state government may nullify laws passed by Congress. South Carolina nullified a moderate tariff signed into law by Jackson in 1832. Jackson asked Congress for a bill, the Force Bill, which allowed the president to use the military to collect revenue from the states, which they provided. South Carolina was more fighting for the principal of states right over the federal government because they believed if federal government could forcibly take their money then they might be able to take the foundation of their economy, slaves. In the end, a compromise prevailed war was avoided and South Carolina rescinded their nullification of the tariff but in an act of principal the nullified the Force Bill.

The most negative action during Andrew Jackson's presidency was the Spoils system. The idea of giving political office to supports was not new during Jackson 's era but the scale at which he did it was unprecedented. Jackson claimed he was purging the corruption of the Adams administration, but this was not the case, he simply replaced bad choices with worse. Jackson did not always choose the best people for the job, sometimes even illiterate, often only supporters of him. This caused people to be in positions that they should not be in. The best example is Samuel Swartwout, an old comrade of Jackson, he was made collector of the New York City customhouse and stole all together over 1 million dollars. Overall, the spoils system had no positive outcome for the general population as Jackson had claimed, just selected individuals benefited while the masses suffered from their incompetence.

The action that had the greatest affect on future generations and administrations was the veto and destruction of the National bank. Jackson hated the national bank because he thought it was monopolistic and was out to make a profit before serving the public. Jackson vetoed the reacharter of the National Bank but he did not stop there, he took all the money from the band and put it into smaller pet banks. There is only one problem with this, Jackson had no authority to move the funds, and only the secretary of the treasury can. States then extended easy credit and issued paper money at will; this caused over speculation of land in the West and increased inflation. Then Jackson saw the problem he created tried to fix it by issuing the Specie Circular, which said all buyers of public land had to pay in gold and silver, this ended the over speculation but also lead to the panic of 1837, which landed in the lap of Van Buren. Van Buren was forced to deal with the panic of 1837, which cause a depression that lasted until 1843.

Overall Jackson 's presidency was filled with controversy, unhealthy precedents being formed and stubbornness. The country was not better off after Jackson's presidency, the Indians have been forcibly removed from their homelands, governmental positions were filled based on support not credentials or merit and the National Bank was destroyed and economic panic was just on the horizon. The only reason I raise Jackson 's grade to a D from an F is because the way he handled the Nullification Crisis holding the Union together and still asserting the strength of the federal government. Works Cited "Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency . Education . Andrew Jackson: An American President . Domestic Policy |." PBS. Web. 12 Mar. 2010. . DeGregorio, William A. The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents. Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade, 2005. Print. Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, Thomas Andrew Bailey, and Thomas Andrew Bailey. The American Pageant: a History of the Republic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Print.