FREE ESSAY ON PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON

PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON

Andrew Jackson was born in 1767, and grew up in the border of North and South Carolina. He
attended frontier schools and acquired the reputation of being fiery-tempered and willing
to fight all comers. He also learned to read, and he was often called on by the community
to read aloud the news from the Philadelphia papers. 
In 1775, with the beginning of the American Revolution, Andrew Jackson, then only 13
years old became an orderly and messenger. He took part in the Battle of Hanging Rock
against the British and in a few small skirmishes with British sympathizers known as
Loyalists or Tories. His brother Hugh was killed, and when the British raided Waxhaw,
both he and Robert were captured. Because Jackson refused to polish the boots of a
British officer, he was struck across the arm and face with a saber. The boys were put in
a British prison in Camden, South Carolina, where an epidemic of smallpox broke out. Mrs.
Jackson gained her boys' release, but Robert soon died. Mrs. Jackson then volunteered to
nurse other American prisoners, and she too caught smallpox and died. Andrew was now 14
years old and without any immediate family. With the war over, he took up saddle making
and school teaching. With a $300 inheritance from his grandfather, he went to Charleston,
South Carolina, then the biggest city in the South. There he cut a dashing figure in
society until his money ran out. 
In 1787, Andrew Jackson became a lawyer and he set his office up in McLeanville, North
Carolina. He quickly became successful lawyer and engaged himself in land speculation. He
soon moved his office to Nashville where he met and fell in love with Mrs. Rachel
Donelson Robard. Believing that Mr. Robards had obtained a divorce, they were married in
1791. Two years later they found that this was not so and the divorce had just then
become final. A second marriage ceremony was performed. However, this failed to prevent
gossips and political opponents from attempting to make a scandal out of the Jacksons'
happy marriage. Mrs. Jackson endured in silence the many slanders that followed. Jackson,
however, preferred to use dueling pistols to avenge his wife's honor. 
In 1796, Andrew Jackson was elected into the House of Representatives, representing
Tennessee. He soon allied with the Jeffersonian Party, criticizing Washington and his
administration. He claimed that Washington's program dealing with the Indians were not
strong enough and that Jay's Treaty dealing with foreign affairs with France was not in
America's interest. After one year in the, Jackson moved to the Senate, the other chamber
of the Congress of the United States. He served from September 1797 to April 1798 and
then retired to private life. 
During the years of 1804 to 1812, Jackson settled, with his wife in his home - retiring
indefinately. Although Jackson was active in local politics, he took little interest in
national affairs. The one exception was his brief involvement with the so-called Burr
conspiracy. Former Vice President Aaron Burr, determined to restore his personal
fortunes, convinced Jackson that he had government backing to lead a filibustering
expedition into Mexico. Jackson agreed to build him some boats, but when he realized that
Burr and his group were acting entirely on their own, he immediately dropped his
connection with the scheme. Jackson's hot temper involved him in a number of feuds and
duels. Many of them were caused by remarks made about his marriage. The duel with Charles
Dickinson in 1806 stands out as an example of Jackson's characteristic refusal even to
acknowledge the possibility of defeat. Jackson let his opponent fire first, because
Dickinson was a faster and better shot. Allowing himself time to take deliberate aim,
Jackson planned to kill his man with a single bullet, even if he had shot me through the
brain. Thus, Jackson took a bullet in the chest and, without flinching, calmly killed his
man. Jackson was also involved in a brawl with politician Thomas Hart Benton and his
brother Jesse Benton. Jackson was shot twice in the shoulder and arm by Jesse and was
seriously wounded. However, in later years, Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton became close
political allies. 
In 1815, Jackson became commander of the South District Army. Two years later, in 1817,
Jackson was ordered to quiet the Seminole Indian tribe who were raiding settlements in
Georgia and hiding under the Spanish flag by running to Florida. In 1818 Jackson pursued
the Seminole into Florida. He seized a military post at Saint Marks, and he executed two
British subjects, Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert Chrystie Ambrister, for inciting the
Seminole against American settlers. Then, learning that the Seminole had fled toward
Pensacola, Jackson made a forced march and captured the post a second time. Andrew
Jackson's actions were questionable. He had, in reality no right to execute British
subjects especially in Spanish territory. The British and Spanish were outraged. Many
congressmen wished Jackson reprimand his actions. Only Secretary of State, John Quincy
Adams, who was then negotiating with Spain for the purchase of Florida, defended Jackson.
He convinced Monroe to disregard the advice of those who argued that an apology was the
only way to avert war with Spain and Great Britain. Jackson's Florida campaign increased
his popularity, especially in the West, and it undoubtedly influenced Spain's decision to
sell the territory. In 1819 Adams concluded the purchase of Florida, and in 1821 Monroe
appointed Jackson governor of the newly organized Florida Territory. 
Jackson, the traditional westerner - pro-tariff and pro-internal improvement - became a
presidential candidate in 1824. Jackson received 99 electoral votes; Adams, 84; Crawford,
41; and Clay, 37. Jackson also won pluralities in the states where the electors were
chosen by the people, not by the legislature. The popular vote was 152,899 for Jackson,
105,321 for Adams, 47,265 for Clay, and 47,087 for Crawford. However, because none of the
candidates had a majority of the electoral votes, the election had to be decided by the
House of Representatives. Each state had one vote, and only the top three candidates were
eligible. On February 9, 1825, the House elected Adams president. He had 13 votes,
Jackson had 7, and Crawford had 4. Three Western states that had originally supported
Clay switched to Adams. Later, when president-elect Adams named Clay secretary of state,
Jackson's supporters accused them of making a corrupt bargain. Jackson was determined to
defeat Adams in the election of 1828, and now he felt he had an issue that would help him
win. 
Jackson, again running for the Presidency in 1828 was determined to win. His followers
attacked Adams (who was running too) of the corrupt bargaining he had allegedly made with
Henry Clay during the election of 1824. Adams responded by attacking Jackson with his
marriage affair (scroll up for more details) with Rachael Jackson. Soon thereafter, she
died of a heart attack.Andrew Jackson was convinced it was the fault of Adams and his
administration and never forgave them for it. 
Andrew Jackson, as president was very similar, in his ideals with those of Thomas
Jefferson. Both Jackson and Jefferson represented the common man. Both Jackson and
Jefferson hated a bank of the United States. However, there were some significant
differences. Thomas Jefferson believed the representation of the poor (the common man) by
the rule of the rich. That is, the rich, who were more educated and more suited for
politics were to run the government in favor for the poor. However, Jackson believed the
rule of the poor representing themselves. 
Jackson was the first president that practiced the spoil system to the fartest degree.
His cabinet, called the Kitchen Cabinet (it was alleged to have met in the kitchen)
comprised mostly of his friends - some having no experience in politics. At times, it was
not the loyality towards the party as a whole, but the loyalty towards Andrew Jackson
governed who was chosen or not. 
As president, Jackson supported Georgia in its effort to deprive the Cherokee nation of
its land. Jackson claimed that he had no power to oppose the exercise of sovereignty of
any state over all who may be within its limits. The Cherokee appealed to the Supreme
Court, and in Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled against Georgia.
Marshall stated that the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction over Native
American lands. To this Jackson is said to have replied, John Marshall has made his
decision. Now let him enforce it. Of course the court had no enforcement power of its
own, so the decision was ignored. Within a few years most of the Cherokee were removed in
a 1285-km (800-mi) forced march, during which thousands of them died. In 1834 the Indian
Territory (now Oklahoma) was created as a permanent homeland for the Native Americans who
lived east of the Mississippi River. By the end of Jackson's second administration the
army had forcefully moved most of these eastern tribes to their new home. The Black Hawk
War of 1832 and the Seminole War that was renewed in 1835 represented the last efforts of
the eastern Native Americans to retain their ancestral lands. Henry Clay called Jackson's
Native American policy a stain on the nation's honor. However, Jackson's antipathy toward
these peoples was typical of the frontier settler, and because this policy opened more
land to settlement, most Westerners supported it with enthusiasm. 
Jackson opposed renewal of the charter of the Second Bank of the United States. Jackson
objected to the existence of a bank that had a powerful voice in national affairs yet was
not responsive to the will of the people. He contended that the bank benefited only the
creditor, investor, and speculator at the expense of the working and agrarian classes
that produced the real wealth of the nation by their labor. The financial procedures of
the commercial or moneyed class, he said, created a boom-and-bust economic cycle. When
the economy was booming, the creditor was rewarded with a large financial return on his
investments. When depression came, credit became scarce. Workers and farmers, who were
usually debtors, had no money to pay their debts and went bankrupt. Their lands and
properties were then seized by their creditors. Thus, wealth became concentrated in the
hands of a few. With wealth came power and the opportunity to reinforce this beneficial
position by law. 
The election of 1832 was a landmark in American History because it was the first time the
candidates were chosen by party conventions. Among other issues, the Bank of the United
States was the most important. The National Republicans supportors the Bank elected Henry
Clay as a candidate while the Democratic Party elected Jackson to run for the presidency
and Martin Van Buren as Vice President. The election was centered on the bank issue, and
Jackson won a second term easily. He had 219 electoral votes to Clay's 49. William Wirt,
who ran on the Anti-Masonic Party ticket, received 7 votes, and South Carolina gave all
11 of its electoral votes to its states' rights candidate, John Floyd. The popular vote
was 687,502 for Jackson, 530,189 for Clay, and 33,108 for Wirt. 
Before even Jackson entered his second term, South Carolina threatened nullification from
the tariff of 1832. Jackson was a champion of states' rights. However, in a struggle that
placed the interests of a state above those of the Union, he always stood firm behind the
supreme powers of the federal government. Speaking out against nullification, Jackson
stated:I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one
State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter
of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on
which it was founded, and destructive of the great object to which it was formed. Jackson
also pushed through Congress a force bill that authorized the use of federal troops to
collect the tariff. The crisis was eased when, through the efforts of Henry Clay,
Congress passed a compromise tariff in 1833 along with the force bill. As a last defiant
gesture, South Carolina accepted the tariff but nullified the force bill. Jackson had
preserved the Union, but nullification remained a great question. 
By 1836 Jackson was weak from tuberculosis and had no thought of seeking a third term.
However, he stubbornly continued with affairs of state and party, including ensuring that
the party nominated Van Buren as his successor. Although he was eager to return to the
Hermitage after Van Buren's election, he grimly fulfilled the duties of his office until
the inauguration the following March. The last day of Jackson's presidency was as much a
personal triumph as his first. Thousands came, not to see the new president but to bid
good-bye to their beloved hero.
Bibliography
encarta