Today in class we studied Andrew Jackson his reputation as "the people's president." We looked at three key events he is most known for and decided of he deserves this reputation. The first even we looked at was the Bank War. The Bank War was started when Jackson vetoed the renewal of the Charter of the Second National Bank. He believed that the bank held too much power over economy and trade, and wanted the lower classes to have more of a say. But, this ended up leading to a sort of class war between the rich and the poor and did not improve the economy in any way. The Spoils System is another act Jackson is known for. The Spoils System was the act of a political party giving government jobs to supporters after an election victory to encourage people to vote for them. After Jackson was elected he gave jobs to supporters of his, which ended up filling the government jobs with people unfit for the positions. The goal of the Spoils System was to bring in new opinions and give more people opportunities to participate in government, but it did nothing to improve the system. The last event was looked at was the Indian Removal Act in which Jackson forced 100,000 Indians from their native land to make room for white settlement. He forced them to walk to their new land on what is now known as "The Trail of Tears." Thousands of Indians died on the march.
Looking at all of to the evidence, I believe that Andrew Jackson's reputation as "the people's president" is not deserved. Although he acted with the well-being of his country in mind, everything ended up leading to more harm than good. After the Bank War the American economy crashed, the Spoils System did nothing to improve the government, and the Indian Removal Act killed thousands of Indians. These outcomes prove that Jackson does not deserve his reputation as the "people's president."
See our presentation on the Bank War here:
