Alex Ott
American Studies B-Period Exam
11/17/14
Guardians of American Citizens In the early 1800’s Jacksonian Democrats dominated United States politics. Jacksonian Democrats viewed themselves as the guardians of the United States Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and the equality of economic possibility for American citizens. With a few exceptions, Jacksonian Democrats did indeed live up to this epithet. Jacksonian Democrats followed Thomas Jefferson’s values; in that they were more interested in the wellbeing of farmers and commoners. Jacksonian Democrats kept the country together through the 1800’s, and successfully protected the rights stated in the United States Constitution with the exception of the Indian Removal Act.
The issue of Native Americans living in the South was one of utmost importance to current president Andrew Jackson. Jackson failed to protect the rights of Native Americans. The Native Americans were forcibly driven to Oklahoma on a path known as the Trail of Tears. Didn’t Native
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Apparently Jackson did not even trouble himself with the question. Upon issuing the Indian Removal Act, Jacksonian Democrats failed to protect the Constitution. Because of the Indian Removal Act, Andrew Jackson violated the Constitution yet again. Andrew Jackson ignored John Marshal and the Supreme Court’s ruling that Georgia’s extension of state law over the Cherokee land was unconstitutional.
Politically, Jackson’s domestic policy was focused on building a better government for the common people. Jackson demonstrated this through his institution of the Spoils System and his veto of the National Bank. Jackson’s veto of the Bank of the United States showed his desire to abide by the regulations laid out in the Constitution. The introduction of Jackson’s Bank Veto provides a clear reason as to
The Jacksonian Democracy in the strictest sense refers to the ascendancy of Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party. It expanded the suffrage to restructuring federal institutions. The Jacksonian
In an article entitled “Indian-KIller Andrew Jackson Deserves Top Spot On List of Worst U.S. Presidents” by Gale Toensing, it is described that the infamous Indian Removal event known as the “trail of tears” involved more than 4,000 Native Cherokee deaths.(Doc 4 Par 3) With this number in mind, it is apparent that the amount of fatalities was a planned result and could easily be classified as a type of War Crime today. Along with this, it was later discovered that Jackson and his cabinet had not even followed the guidelines nor the regulations when dealing with “the Indian problem”. In history.com’s “Basic History of Indian Removal Policy”, it is explained that “It did not permit the president[…] to coerce Native nations into giving up their land. [...] The law required the government to negotiate removal treaties fairly, voluntarily and peacefully.
During the 1820 's and 1830 's, American political life was transformed as more and more working men were allowed to vote and hold office. Jacksonian Democrats expanded economic opportunity and political participation for the "common man" (white factory workers, craftsmen, and mechanics, small farmers, and land-hungry frontiersmen). Jackson was the first president to view himself as a representative of "the people". As such, he expected to exercise expanded executive powers as the expense of the legislative and judicial branches. The ruling political and economic elite must be removed, he said for "the people" are "the government, the sovereign power" in the United States, and they had elected him president.
In addition, everyone was supporting the Bank of the United States back then, but Jackson did not like it, so he vetoed the bill. Again, he did not listen to everyone around him, he went by what he thought was right. In the political cartoon in Document 3, Jackson
Without question Andrew Jackson hd all the power and acted as he was the king. This form of monarchy makes one individual too strong and does not follow the Democrat way. Furthermore Jackson likes to do things independently without any help showing more of anti democrat views. Where a democrat would share power. According to the map in document 10 it shows the Indians being removed from their own land and home.
Document 2 explains why President Jackson was so popular among the people. He directly expresses his concern of benefiting the people, stating that repealing the central bank is beneficial to him but the majority of his reforms were for the benefit of the nation. The Bank of the United States was accountable to the elite class and the president of the bank held a tremendous amount of power which contradicted President Jackson’s idea of a democracy. Because of this, he decides to veto this bill in order to emphasize his interest of giving rise to the common
This can be seen in the 1832 Supreme Court majority opinion on the Worcester v. Georgia case favored the Indian’s side displaying them as their own country and were not subject to the rule of the United States. Jackson would go on to ignore Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester v. Georgia and continue to remove Indians, pushing them towards the West. This was a direct violation of the Constitution, but through it Jackson opened lands for the common man aiding them (Document E). In context, Andrew Jackson approved the creation of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which enabled for money to be spent on expediting federal negotiations with Indians to remove them. Additionally, the Black Hawk War which lasted from 1831 to 1832 displayed to American’s the hostility go the Indians and the need for their removal.
Accessed October 12, 2015. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm? smtID=3&psid=3923. “President Jackson 's Veto Message Regarding the Bank of the United States; July 10, 1832.” Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library The Avalon Project.
Manifest Destiny was the 19th-century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable. Of course there were already Native Americans living in the area. The new people in the U.S. wanted to push the Native Americans out and make room for their new settlements. Not all of the Native Americans were very happy about being pushed out of their homes. The Native Americans were affected greatly by Manifest Destiny.
Furthermore, when he created the spoil system, he changed the federal government into a bureaucracy; a system in which non-elected officials carry out laws. A spoil system is the practice of replacing government employees with the winning candidate’s supporters. This is consequential because if the cabinet only agrees with the president’s point of view, (what happens when the cabinet only agrees with the president). Jackson was a tyrant who abused the powers of the federal government to create the spoil
He also was completely against nullification of the states, he did not want the states to be able to refuse a federal order, and even fired his vice president for supporting nullification. Furthermore, Jackson would support this order based on what the order enforces. Andrew Jackson was extremely racist. In fact, he enforced the Indian Removal act of 1830, which made it so that all Indians deemed uncivilized would be moved west of the Mississippi river. When the Cherokee sued Georgia for trying to move them out, Jackson did not enforce it,
How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson? Jackson was born in the year 1767 to a poor family. When he was only 13 years old he was captured from the British during the revolutionary war. As he got older he found himself in the military and he was called a national hero when he fought in the battle of 1812. He served for two terms as president and Jacksonian or is followers say that he was democratic where the people are heard.
In conclusion, President Andrew Jackson was not Democratic because he wanted everything his way, and he was very strict about a lot of things like the Bank Veto Message, his message to congress in Document 6, and the Indian Removal
Jacksonian Democrats beliefs are more similar to the Populist party’s beliefs than different in political, economic, and social ways. Their limited differences are based on the time periods and problems they faced respectively. The political beliefs held by Jacksonian Democrats and the Populist Party centered around the limiting of big government in people 's lives. The election of Andrew Jackson limited federal power because the Democratic party used a national convention to nominate him, giving power to people not the caucus of elite men. This limiting of the federal government in the Jacksonian era is very similar to the limiting seen in the Populist Party.
Andrew Jackson disobeyed a direct order from the Supreme Court, which it means he was above the law. I really wonder how Americans tolerated him, at that time, he was cruel to the Indian common man. Because of him, the Native Americans have the worst end of the Trail of Tears. They are the ones who are forced out of their traditional homes and sent away on a journey of pain and death. Those who had fallen ill, most of the time died, and those who had the will to move on were able to make it to the end and start new lives.