Have you ever thought about what if one of the most influential presidents of the United States was taken off of currency because of controversial topics? This is the dilemma facing the government as they choose to take Andrew Jackson off of the $20 bill. Though Jackson was revolutionary in politics and ideas, that’s not necessarily a good thing. Andrew Jackson became president in the election of 1828. Jackson started the spoils system and he relied on the help of trusted friends rather than the presidential cabinet. He started the mass removal of Native Americans and despised the banking system. Andrew Jackson should not stay on the $20 bill because though he did a lot of good, his bad outweighs it. Andrew Jackson handled the “Nullification …show more content…
Jackson didn’t handle the Nullification Crisis very well. The Nullification Crisis started when Congress raised the taxes on imported goods. The southern states protested, but most of them accepted it. South Carolina opposed these taxes more than the other states. South Carolina tried to nullify the taxes. Nullification is a right that the states have that lets them nullify laws passed by the federal government that they have deemed unconstitutional. They threatened to secede from the United States and be their own country if the taxes were not removed. When Andrew Jackson heard about this, he was outraged. At first he slightly lowered the taxes, but when South Carolina didn’t stop he got Congress to pass the Force Act. This allowed him to use the federal army to collect taxes. At the same time of this bill, Congress was lowering the taxes. South Carolina chose to stop protesting and accept the taxes. This is important because it shows that if things aren’t going well, Jackson would resort to violence rather than find a peaceful agreement. Though he started peacefully, he would switch to violence …show more content…
Jackson had no sympathy for the Native Americans and during his presidency, it became a national policy to remove them by force. After independence, the United States created treaties with the tribes so there would be less conflict. Despite these treaties, Native Americans were still being pushed off. “The law did not say that Indians should be removed by force, and in 1831 the Supreme Court ruled that Indians have a right to their land. An angry Jackson disagreed. Groups that refused to move west voluntarily were met with military force, usually with tragic results.”(Hart, 2005) This quote shows that Jackson would do what he wants even if it isn’t right. When the Native Americans tried to defend their land cruelty occurred. Under president Martin Van Buren, more than 17,000 Cherokee were taken from their homes in Georgia and were sent west. “A soldier who took part in the Cherokee removal called it ‘the cruelest work I ever knew.’”(Hart, 2005) This shows that even some of the people that took part in it thought that it was cruel. Though this was not while Jackson was president, he was the one that started the mass removal of Native Americans so he was to blame for the cruelty that ensued after his presidency. Some might argue that Jackson was only trying to get more land for the settlers and that the Native Americans had a long time to
Andrew Jackson has gone down as one of the best presidents in United States history and that’s because he did many great things to improve the United States. Throughout his presidency he constantly abused his power as the president and did many things that expanded the powers of the president. One of the biggest things that President Jackson did while in office was pass the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was when Jackson forced all the Indians to move to the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, while the Supreme Court declared this unconstitutional. Many of the Indians went peacefully, but many of the Indians also decided to protest and take it to the Supreme Court (Darrenkamp). While the court did side with the Indians Jackson and Congress forced the Indians to give up their land. The federal troops were called in to escort the Indians to their new land. Fifteen thousand Indians were forced to move and while on their way about a third of the Indians died, and this event became to be known as the Trail of Tears (Darrenkamp). Jackson had
Although he thought that the people should have a say in government he didn 't fight for slaves, women, or Native Americans to have their opinions heard. In fact he signed the Indian Removal Act, which moved Cherokee tribe out of Georgia into an Indian reservation in the West. Actually the Supreme Court ruled this unlawful in the case of Worcester v. Georgia in 1832, but when Georgia ignored the ruling Jackson didn 't complain. Jackson had a chance to stop the trail of tears from happening and saving about four thousand Cherokee Indians. Jackson believe the people in charge of the bank of the US were crooked and the bank would needed to be crushed. So, when the bill for the charter for the Second Bank of the United States came up he immediately vetoed it. He then decided to deposit the federal fund of the United States in pet 23 pet banks. Nicholas Biddle the head of the back fought back as hard as he could but Jackson was determined and frankly he didn 't listen to anyone but the people. Jackson issued his own form of paper currency (banknotes) that were backed by Specie Circular, which was usually silver or gold coins. The extreme inflation of the economy started after Jackson dismantled the Second bank of the US. The inflation was caused by the banks issuing banknotes that were unbacked by the Specie Circular. This was a big part of starting the Panic of 1837, it wasn 't the only reason but one of the biggest. When building our country the founding
America has been shaped and reshaped in various instances throughout its history; some of the men that played vital roles in achieving the status we now possess have been immortalized in our currency. President Andrew Jackson, is one of the few American leaders that was chosen to live on forever; however, many now argue whether or not Jackson truly deserves the honor to be represented in the 20 dollar bill--- arguing that there are other better qualified people to take his place; an example being Harriet Tubman. I believe that President Andrew Jackson should stay on the 20 dollar bill. Although many of his personal beliefs contradict many of our current beliefs and values, we shouldn’t judge him on them; rather, we should judge President Jackson on his actions as a president and how he impacted the nation as a leader. Thanks to the hard decisions that President Jackson had to take America was able to advance the way it did. We wouldn’t be the United States of America we are today without President Jackson.
Andrew Jackson was a self-proclaimed advocate of the common man, and his terms as president from 1828 to 1836 were characterized by many positive and negative changes, often concurrently. The Jacksonian period marked both an economic recession and opportunity, and simultaneously an attempt to champion the rights of the common man, with the concrete evidence of greater voter percentage, but less political rights regarding those officeholders. The economy changed when a relatively stable economy was plunged into the Panic of 1837 and the recession, while the west opened up to white settlement after the Indian’s forced removal. The political rights of the common man largely stayed the same from before to after the period (though rights decreased
Andrew Jackson is an american president that has been surrounded by controversy since the late 1820s. And though he may have meant well with his actions as president, those actions had consequences that affected many and benefited few.
Many lower to middle class men voted for Jackson in the hopes of him extending democracy and fighting for the average man. He was the first president to ride on a train, almost get assassinated, and also to serve in both the revolutionary war and the war of 1812. His presidency included the creation of the Whig party following the demise of the federalists and also the ending of the charter of the first national bank. During the Jackson administration from 1829 to 1837, democracy extended primarily due to work on shrinking the wage gap. Meanwhile, democracy seemed to take steps backwards due to Jackson’s interactions with Native Americans.
Andrew Jackson was definitely not your average, normal president. He was very informal and dressed as a common man. The question really is “Was Andrew Jackson a good enough president to be on our 20 dollar bill?”. My answer to this question is yes.
It is clear from the documents that Andrew Jackson acted like he was a king. One reason that Andrew Jackson acted like a king was because he was unconstitutional. Document 4 stated that Jackson didn’t listen to the supreme court when they said the Indian Removal Act violated the Constitution, so he tried to give himself more power by doing this. This supports that Andrew Jackson acted like a king because ignored those who were meant to keep his power in check (the supreme court). By ignoring the supreme court, he took away power from them and gave it to himself because he didn’t like their opinion and wanted to do what he wanted, just like how a king does what he want. Mr. Moore taught us that President Jackson gave president more power over
“Scott threatened to use force if the Cherokee did not leave.” (Appleby, 2000). This proves that Andrew Jackson had no right to remove the Natives from their land like that. It was already ruled by Supreme Court that the land was rightfully the Natives and Georgia could not interfere, but Jackson literally said he will ignore it. The Trail of Tears was torture for the Natives and it was filled with cold, hunger, pain, and tears.
As a result, he created the democratic party, though he also created a spoil system. This was a system of rewarding political supporters with government jobs. The term came from the saying that “to the victor belong the spoils [prizes] of the war.” (TCI textbook; 14.4, page 189) Ergo, he dismissed a number of Republicans and replaced only 10% of the civil servants. Still, these “loyal democrats” were mainly his “yes men” or some of his trusted friends. This made him a weak leader because he didn’t follow the rules during his administration. Granted, sometimes rules have to be broken to get things done. Though, he didn’t have the right to choose or fire people from his administration without an opinion from the people. By doing so, he had simply taken the people’s right to their political views. Afterwards, he creates tariffs on imported goods, which caused trouble with South Carolina. By taxing items being imported to the South, South Carolina refused to pay the taxes. In result, Jackson was infuriated and threatened to destroy them if they didn’t follow. To show Carolina how serious Jackson was, he was willing to lead an army to hang Southerners. This led Congress to write a force bill for them to pay their taxes. Nonetheless, “force bills” were wrong, it’s not right to force people to pay taxes. However, he continues by removing the National bank and vetoed the charter bill, even when the Supreme Court said the bank was constitutional. This demonstrated how unprofessional and unconstitutional he
South Carolina's act of nullification made Andrew Jackson pass a military Force Bill, which authorized the president to compel South Carolina's obedience to national laws by threatening military force. All of these things changed the way that the presidential position behaved and the powers it was allowed to
From George Washington, America’s first president, to Benjamin Franklin, the discoverer of electricity, America’s most esteemed and important presidents and figures grace its dollar bills. Today’s twenty-dollar bill depicts a profile of Andrew Jackson, the controversial seventh president of the United States of America. Jackson’s upbringing in a lower class western family significantly differed from the upbringing and social class of his preceding presidents resulting in new ideas and perspectives from the oval office. Many of Jackson’s decisions and policies had roots in prejudice and racism, instead of factual justification, such as the Indian Removal Act. Furthermore, Jackson, in pursuit of achieving his goals of Indian removal, neglected
The Indian Removal Act stands as one of the greatest mistreatments of the Native population in American history. Jackson supported the Indian Removal Act because he wanted to see Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi settled by white Southerners. He thought they would make better use of the land and help strengthen the Southern border of the United States with large plantations.for example “In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. It gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west”. moreover, Jackson even ignored a Supreme Court decision which had been made on the side of Indians against the state of Georgia. By passing and affecting The Indian Removal Act the homelands of many Native-American tribes were swiftly and brutally vacated. In Particular, the eviction of the Cherokee tribe to “Indian territory” was so vicious, it earned the nickname “trail of tears.” This single congressional act destroyed the lives of many people, an uncommon consequence for an act of the American government.
After Jackson's removal, with the bank gone the country went into a depression in 1837. This bank removal was selfish and helped Jackson win and get reelected in 1832. Secondly, Jackson used force to try and keep the country together, almost causing a war. This happened during what was called the Nullification Crisis in 1832, during Jackson's presidency. South Carolina wanted Jackson to remove the tariff that was placed on them believing it helped industry in the North and severely hurt the south. South Carolina believed it was unconstitutional because it favored manufacturing over agriculture and commerce, the tariff was unfair because it favored the north and the people of a state had the power to veto any law which violated the Constitution. South Carolina said that if they were forced to pay the tax they would threaten to secede from the Union. This was led by Jackson’s Vice President John C. Calhoun. Jackson refused to listen and declared the U.S., “...a nation by a joint, not by several acts” (Nullification Proclamation,
The year is 1838. You have been forced to leave the land your family has lived on for hundreds of years by the president of a nation that has only existed for 50 years. Your people are dying from starvation and exposure. On a daily basis, you face racism and violence from the soldiers escorting you. The government promised your people the right to stay on their land, but now they make you leave. This is what happened to the thousands of Native Americans forced to relocate during Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Andrew Jackson’s presidency should not be admired by our current generation because he dehumanized multiple ethnic groups and he showed disregard for American laws. Jackson proved himself to be the kind of man who didn’t care how things got done, as long as they were done. He ignored other government officials, dehumanized thousands of Americans, and broke the law. Over the course of his two terms as president, Andrew Jackson attempted to tear away the rights of anyone who was not a white man.