Jackson
A national hero out of the West, a natural leader, and a nationalistic symbol, Andrew Jackson had most certainly proved himself to be the first "people's president." Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, and was the first to gain office by a direct appeal to the mass of voters. Focusing on both the highs and the lows of his two terms in office, from 1829-1837, the issues that are of main concern are states' rights, nullification, the tariff, and Indian removal and banking policies; these all are controversies that brought forth strong rivalry over his years of presidency. He was known for his iron will and fiery personality, and his strong use of the powers of his office that made his years of presidency to be known as the Jacksonian Democracy. Andrew Jackson grew up on the frontier. All the presidents who preceded him had come from the Eastern seaboard. The country was now expanding westward, and Jackson represented this movement. He was born in a log cabin on March 15, 1767, joined the army at age 13, and was orphaned at the age of 14. Young Jackson had an intense hatred for the English and a great loyalty to America. He fought in the American Revolution and was taken prisoner
Jackson supported Georgia in its effort to deprive the Cherokee nation of its land. Jackson claimed that he had no power to oppose the application of sovereignty of any state over all who may be within its limits. The Cherokee appealed to the Supreme Court, and in Worcester vs. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled against Georgia. He claimed that the federal government had exclusive control over Native American lands. This decision was ignored. Within a few years most of the Cherokee were removed in a 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. Because Jackson's Native American policy opened more land to settlement, most Westerners supported it with enthusiasm. In the election of 1832, the candidates were chosen by party conventions for the first time. Jackson had 219 electoral votes to Clay's 49. Martin Van Buren became vice president with Jackson. The history of the Democratic Party is outlined from this convention. The supporters of the bank called themselves the National Republicans. They nominated Henry Clay for president and John Sergeant, a member of the bank's legal staff, for vice president. The second election was centered on the bank issue. . He was still a boy of 16 when he was finally liberated from the British pen at Charleston. This sequence of tragic experiences fixed in Jackson's mind a lifelong hostility to Great Britain. After the end of the U.S. War of Independence, he studied law in an office in Salisbury, N.C., and was admitted to the bar of that state in 1787. There he became a member of a powerful political faction led by William Blount. He was married in 1791 to Rachel Donelson Robards. By 1836 Jackson was weak from tuberculosis and had no thought of seeking a third term. However, he continued to ensure that the party nominated Van Buren as his successor. 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. Andrew Jackson was in fact the first "peoples president." This comes from his youth in a frontier territory and his "people qualities" which helped him to be more in touch with the people of the United States. Therefore, the people of the United States took a more active role in the Government. Jackson's strengthening of the powers of the presidency is the biggest influence to this day. His policies, nonetheless, strengthened the new American nationalism. Jackson was a man of the people, and he strongly felt that the common man was the power behind governme
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1907
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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