Andrew_Jackson_Research

The People’s President What Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States of America, did during his term in office is one of the most significant accomplishments in the history of American government. Most historians do not consider his policies and decisions as president outstanding but he changed how the American government is run and enhanced the image of the American dream. Because of his frontiersman background, work ethic, and belief in universal rights Jackson was able to reform the American government system to help every citizen instead of just the rich and educated. Jackson was not a very admirable man but he devoted his life to fight for all Americans and make sure everybody had a place in government. Andy Dixon explained it best when he said, “Jackson made farmers feel like diplomats and diplomats mad to feel like farmers” Unlike the previous six presidents, Andrew Jackson was born in a humble backwoods settlement. Jackson was born in the Waxsaws, an area close to the border of North Carolina and South Carolina, in 1767 (Whitehouse 1). He was the first president to be born in a log cabin. Jackson grew up in a bad region compared to the norm in America at that time. He was raised on a farm by his mother (his father died only two weeks before his birth) and four older siblings. In this small town is where Jackson’s natural intelligence first was discovered. After only two years of schooling, at age eleven, at a low end frontier school, where it is well known that Jackson spent more time fighting and gambling on horse races, he became one of two people in his area to read and write. The other person with that ability was the teacher who taught him. The rest of the town often relied on Jackson to read the newspaper to them (eNCyclopedia 1). It is because of these humble beginnings that when Jackson finally was elected president all the other Americans in his situation immediately embraced him. However at age thirteen he decided to stop going to school and do what he thought was a much better choice, join the army. At the young age of 13 Jackson joined the American army to help his country during the American Revolution. Many kids his age had joined the army to work as drummer boys or messengers but what he did while in service is what displayed his bravery. He and his brother were taken prisoner in a British P.O.W. camp after only a month of enlisting. While in the camp, the lead British officer ordered young Jackson to shine his boots but Jackson refused. The officer beat his head with his sword leaving him with a permanent scar on his face and a dent in his skull (American History 2). In the camp, Jackson and his brother contracted smallpox and unknowingly passed it to his entire family after he was released back to his family. The Smallpox killed off his entire interior family and Jackson was the only one to survive. When he returned to his farm town to live with his aunt he opted to not continue school and perused a career in farming. After a short time with farming he realized that it wasn’t for him and left for Nashville to find a job in the city. Jackson, although he could read and write, received a sub par education but with his hard working attitude and natural intelligence he was able to become a lawyer in two years without any proper schooling. Jackson decided to approach a successful Nashville lawyer Spruce McKay to ask if she could teach him how to become a lawyer himself. She agreed to let him observe her and after just two years of watching Jackson was able to pass the BAR test and become a public persecutor (World Book Advanced 2). Robert Remini once wrote in his article, “Andrew Jackson is the beginning of the classic American story, born into poverty and eventually rising to the highest level.” Andrew Jackson was very hard working and had a very proud persistent personality. This caused him to get into many fights throughout his life. Jackson was not afraid to stand up for his beliefs and because of his small stature (six feet and one hundred sixty pounds) he was often targeted and forced to defend those beliefs. Throughout his life Jackson was recorded to have gotten into many fights and duals but his most memorable and costly altercation was his dual against Charles Dickenson. Jackson’s wife was still married when she first started seeing him so later in his life many of his enemies would insult her. Jackson challenged Dickenson to a dual once he heard that he had aimed slanders towards his wife and the two men met later that day. Dickenson was regarded as the best shot in town and as Sam Smith states, “Jackson knew he was out skilled, but he would make sure he was the braver man.” So instead of trying to fire first Jackson let Dickenson shoot first and he was hit right in the chest with a bullet. Without flinching Jackson drew a steady aim at Dickenson and killed him (Feller 3). Of course, this gave Jackson a lot of respect within his area however the bullet that he took was too close to his heart to be removed and it eventually lead to his death years later. As a result of Jackson’s stubbornness, when it came to deciding which party to run with he decided to make his own. Until Andrew Jackson ran for presidency there were only two political parties in American government, the Whigs and the Democratic-Republicans. Jackson didn’t think either party fully went with his belief system so he decided to just make his own new party, the Democrats. Many politicians at the time were not open to making changes in such a new government and this caused him to lose a lot of support in Washington. Because of the little amount of support he received from Washington many thought he had no chance to win the race for presidency so he had to use tactics never before used while campaigning for presidency. Jackson campaigned all throughout the south where he was raised and tried to campaign to every citizen he could individually instead of just crowds. This benefited him greatly because a new amendment had just passed allowing all white men to vote changing the previous law that only landowners could. This brought a large new group of poor southern voters that related to Jackson and liked the way he made them part of the government. Previous presidents had only campaigned to the northerners and the rich hoping to win just off the Electoral College rather than the popular vote. Although it was effective enough to get him elected some of his campaign strategies came back to haunt him. He made everybody he met feel like family and promised jobs to many poor southerners if they voted for him so when he was elected they came to Washington to see if he would honor these agreements. After His inauguration in Washington all of his supporters were invited to a party at the Whitehouse. Although the idea was nice and thoughtful it turned out to be a horrible choice. The Whitehouse was raided and over $50,000 in damage was done (keep in mind how much that would be in the 1700’s) (Whitehouse 1). Jackson felt obligated to invite everybody because of how close he got to his supporters on his campaign trail and felt like he needed to honor his promises. He owed up to all of his promises he made on that campaign and this was only one time where that hurt him. In his first term, Jackson replaced over 30% of all government jobs in his “misuse” of the spoils system (World Book Advanced 5). The spoils system allows the president to pick all of his advisors and workers around him. Because Jackson promised so many jobs to people while campaigning he could not deny them when they came to the Whitehouse asking for jobs. Jackson believed that a government could not truly be democratic when there were officials serving life tenure (American History 3). This again was a good idea but he carried it out badly by appointing unqualified officials and ruined the government. Even though Jackson’s loyalty got him in trouble a lot, it was one of his most admirable qualities. Andrew Jackson’s loyalty to his loved ones is best shown in the way he treated life friend and political advisor Martin Van Buren. Jackson did a lot for his supporters and voters who didn’t do much for him. Van Buren was one of the main reasons Jackson became president so Jackson made sure he returned the favor as much as he could. Van Buren was always a close friend and political advisor from New York so while Jackson got all the votes in the South Van Buren campaigned in the north and was his “ambassador” to the politicians in Washington. To pay him back for this Jackson wanted to make Van Buren his ambassador to Britain but Congress rejected his nomination. Instead of giving him a smaller job or giving up he decided to make him his vice president where Congress had no control (Smith 1). Jackson was always trying to help his friends and peers, which was easily seen in his presidential policies. His most famous move in office was his opposition to the bank of the USA. When Jackson was in office he protected the lower class by taking on what he saw was an injustice in the Monopoly on banks by the bank of the USA. The bank of the USA was given powers by congress to regulate all the banks underneath it and had a monopoly on the banking system. The bank of the USA was very exclusive with whom they granted loans to and especially would not loan money to poor southerners. Those policies also were administered to the lower banks making it hard for anybody to get a loan unless they were white northern landowners. Jackson tried to abolish the bank’s powers but Congress wouldn’t pass his bill. Because he couldn’t get congress to do it he took matters into his own hands. Currently all the Government’s money was being held in the Bank of the USA so by taking all of the money out of the bank Jackson caused the bank to go bankrupt and close (Feller 3). Even though this was a great move for the American people some people thought there were more important things to worry about. Historian Herman Brands criticized Jackson by saying, “Jackson spent eight years in the Whitehouse and all he did was close a bank.” Historians don’t consider Jackson as one of the best presidents and definitely not one of the most moral people. Robert Remini states in his book, “By 21rst century standards, Jackson appears a deeply flawed personality.” However what he did to the whole system of government is what he will be remembered by. He always stuck to his values and never let anybody else choose for him as one can see in his personality and persistence. He made every American feel as if they were part of the government by the way he treated the rich and poor alike. Still today Andrew Jackson is a role model to many American politicians. Works Cited "Andrew Jackson." ENCyclepedia. 22 Jan. 2009. North Carolina State Library. 16 Feb. 2009 . "Andrew Jackson." 2009. American History. ABC-CLIO. 16 Feb. 2009 . "Andrew Jackson." Whitehouse. The white house. 16 Feb. 2009 . Brands, H. W., ed. "Jackson, Andrew." 2009. World Book Advanced. 16 Feb. 2009 . Daniel, Feller. "King Andrew and the Bank." 2 Mar. 2009 . Smith, Sam B. "Andrew Jackson." Biographical Dictionary of the US congress. University of Tennessee. 2 Mar. 2009 .