Essay On Should Andrew Jackson Stay On The $ 20 Bill

One question that has been looming over the Treasury Department of the United States for the past few years is whether Andrew Jackson should remain on the $20 dollar bill or if he should be replaced. And quite frankly its not looking to good for Jackson as the debate was switched over to him after supporters of Alexander Hamilton did not want Hamilton to be removed from the $10 dollar bill. Jackson also has a very questionable history with everything that he had done, good and bad. However, before I begin here is some background information on President Jackson. Andrew Jackson was born in the year of 1767 into poverty and lived in Waxhaws, which is located in between the Carolinas. He was a common man that worked his way up the government ladder.

In the year 1830, Andrew Jackson and congress passed the Indian Removal Act with little opposition within the government. The result was the death of thousands of Native Americans as well as skirmishes between Native Americans and the United States Military. The end result of the Indian Removal Act was the Trail of Tears, which was the path that the Native Americans took to move west. While taking this path, the Native Americans placed a marker for every person that died, because of the lack of food and harsh conditions, creating a trail of markers for the dead, hence the name Trail of Tears. In Document A, the text states,” He imposed a cruel policy of Indian removal, forcing tribes of the Southeast across a brutal march to the Oklahoma territory.” This piece of text shows that Jackson made a cruel decision in forcing the Indians to march west, and he did not take in the fact that the march was going to be so brutal and harsh for them. Additionally, in Document B, the text stated,” Andrew Jackson has a pretty checkered history. He was a rugged mountain man to say the least but he was also the one that relocated Native American tribes out of all of the south east part of the United States and did forcible removal and tens of thousands of Native Americans died on the trail of tears and other things.” As shown by

This is because of Jackson’s support of slavery and his dislike towards people who oppose slavery. There were other presidents that owned slaves as well, and I know that, but most of them released their slaves before or after they died. However, Andrew Jackson never released his slaves and his will never mentioned it either. To begin with in Document A, the text stated,” He was a slave owner, hostile to the forces of abolitionism that were rising in America.” This shows that Jackson owned slaves and he was very belligerent to people that wanted to end slavery or completely abolish it. Moreover, Document A says,” Jackson’s maintenance of a salve-operated cotton plantation at the Hermitage is odious enough without characterizing him as an advocate of slavery...” The Hermitage was the home and plantation of Andrew Jackson where he lived as an adult and where he had slaves work on fields. The second part of the evidence states that Jackson treated his slaves in a bad way and did not take good care of the slaves as well as the plantation. On the contrary, Document A also states,”As a congressman and then a senator from the new state, he held a radical spot on the spectrum, casting a stern eye on corruption and any deal-making that seemed to favor the rich or the insiders.” Although, Jackson mistreated his slaves and heavily opposed people that wanted to end