President Jackson Essay, Research Paper
Andrew Jackson?s presidency beginning in 1829 began a whole new era in United States politics. Jackson came into his term as a common man unlike any of the wealthy presidents that served the previous terms. Through his goal of trying to provide for the needs of the common people Jackson was unsuccessful doing more harm than good. His presidency depicted a horrible example of the appropriate relationship between government officials and the president, caused economic downfall, and most of all exploited the Indian nations which was far from the good of the people.
Andrew Jackson?s relationships weren?t quite like the strong government relationships established by the presidents before him. As soon as he took office Jackson immediately fired nearly one thousand of the officials on the federal pay roll and replaced them with his own common people although some were already employed. It was nice of him for providing jobs for his own type of people although through this effort he left many others without jobs creating instability for them at the very beginning of his presidency. What was that saying for what he would do in the future if he just put hundreds of people out of work with hardly any consideration? When Andrew Jackson did this, he terminated several qualified officials who may have been able to help him do his job better than the common people that he hired. This was one of Jackson?s worst decisions. This showed his need to be more open minded before making such drastic moves. Because of his popular appeal, during disputes between congress and the supreme court with the president he used his popularity to get the people to side with the way he wanted things to go. If there wasn?t such a lack of communication between the branches with the president he would be able to make compromises with them instead of always using popular appeal to win his battles. By far Andrew Jackson relationships were much different and most likely caused him to make so many major mistakes.
Economically President Jackson hurt the economy more than he ever helped it. His first major economic downfall was a result of his strong personal resistance against the second bank. He let his own experiences interfere with what was best for the country because he?d previously had troubles with the bank and lost money he felt the need to have it closed down if at all possible. When considering his own desires before the peoples he intentionally abused his powers. In 1833 Attorney General Roger B. Taney who was appointed as Treasury Secretary was ordered by the president to withdraw all funds from the Second Bank. He was the first Secretary Treasury who would withdraw the funds, the two before him were dismissed as a result of refusing to withdraw the funds. When the economy was having troubled times Andrew Jackson refused to take the blame and told people to direct their concerns to the president of the Second Bank Nicholas Biddle. Jackson later caused economic problems again towards the end of his term when he declared the Spice Circular which made it impossible to purchase land without using gold or silver. This drastic change from easy credit to no credit led to the termination and bankruptcies of many businesses. If Jackson would have considered his options and made sound business decisions it is quite possible that America would have prospered under his influence.
Although Andrew Jackson claimed that he wanted to appeal to people and do what?s best for them he neglected to consider the well being of the Indians. They were mistreated even after making several sacrifices in order to live peacefully among whites without any help from Jackson. In the state of Georgia, after much conflict over the Indians right to keep their land state officials asked for help from the Supreme Court where Chief Justice John Marshall denied the petition. He made it clear to the Indians that the state law could not force them to give up there land. Regardless of this Andrew Jackson still allowed Georgia officials to take over the Indians land without their permission although legally only the federal government had the power to enforce the Indian removal. Jackson unfairly allowed this to happen to the Indians who were common people willing to cooperate parallel the common people Jackson was aiming to appeal to.
When both of Jackson?s terms were over in 1836 it was in the best interest of the citizens of the United States. Unfortunately his bad decisions proceeded to affect the office of the next president elected, Van Buren. One could say that Andrew Jackson had few successes and his presidency could possibly be rated as a failure.