How Did Andrew Jackson Impact Society

Andrew Jackson was arguably the first “Average Joe” to be coined as President of the United States. His impact on the nation’s history is one that will never be forgotten since he brought about new fashions to approaching government, and new ways to view the country and its actions. This entire era was deemed “The Age of Jackson”, a deserving title for the man and the time period he was involved in, due to the way he approached and altered government and other decisions that changed American life. In the presidential election of 1824 Jackson won the popular vote of the American citizens, but he did not win the electoral vote; therefore, John Quincy Adams won the election. Afterwards, Jackson accused the election of being corrupt, yet there

He was a hot-tempered man who was interested in fighting, dueling, and not education as he was hardly educated himself. In reality, Jackson was not a “common man”, but he still pretended to be. At his inauguration, many came to view, and Jackson actually opened up the White House to the people and a party erupted inside. Andrew was also associated with the spoils system during his presidency, which basically claimed those who received jobs in the government had a loyalty to Jackson which made some angry because they felt that was unfair, but others liked the system because they would get jobs for their loyalty. Eventually, tariffs were set into place that angered the south. South Carolina threatened to succeed from the nation due to tariffs they did not agree with. Jackson actually did not support the tariff, but he still was not okay with the defiance from South Carolina. To halt the rebellious behavior from going any further, Henry Clay created a compromise to reduce the tariff over eight years. Jackson then had the authority to use troops to enforce federal law through the Force

Jackson despised the Second Bank of the United States, as he believed it favored the wealthy, it was privately owned, and he lost his own money once with a bank. He thought his hatred for the bank would be used against him in the next election, which was the plan, but it did not work out in the way Clay expected it to. As Jackson was attempting to end the bank, Clay tried to recharter the it, hoping that when Americans saw Jackson’s veto, they would be furious and he would lose the election. While Clay thought this plan was foolproof, the bank was never a legitimate concern for most citizens, so Jackson won the election for the second time. Once he had been re-elected, Jackson killed the bank by taking federal money out of it and giving power back to the states, but this inflated the price when the money is not backed. Pet banks, or state banks, were approved by Jackson and scattered throughout the nation. Eventually, land had to be purchased with metallic money, which ended in the financial crash of 1837, but Jackson was already out of office when this occurred. Though this may have been seen as a major negative in Jackson’s career, without him depleting the complete control of money by the national government, the states may not have as much power and control as they do