How Was Andrew Jackson Venerated Or Ruthless

Andrew Jackson was an infamously ruthless President. The seventh man to take office, he formed his Presidency uniquely and is arguably the man who shaped the modern Presidency to what it is today. Jackson was the first of the Democratic Presidents we are familiar with now and was the first to extend the Presidencies power and to use the veto to stop something he thought would hinder the country, rather than simply being unconstitutional. Many factors influenced the way he governed during his terms, ranging from his humble beginnings to his military career. In this essay I shall examine the many reasons why he was either venerated or despised by so many people, but ultimately I believe he was more despised for his strong views and ruthless approach

Early in Jacksons administration he passed the Indian Removal Act (1830) which gave the government funding to remove the ‘Five Civilised Tribes’ which included the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Indians – a total of nearly 60,000. The act authorised the relocation of the tribes previously situated to the east of the Mississippi river to the west. The act didn’t allow the forced removal of the tribes but it allowed Jackson to negotiate with the tribes for their land which he did and led to their removal. This was made worse as the tribes unlike the other Indian tribes had done all they could to integrate into American society. For example, the Cherokee tribe created their own written language which set a precedent for Indians, they established education for their children, and even created a constitution which they had to adhere to. A Choctaw chief when they arrived at Little Rock described the transition as a “trail of tears and death”8. This is a very clear example of the Indians who were removed by Jackson despising him. Not only did the Indians despise him for it, but so did a lot of the American public including John Marshall who was the chief justice of the Supreme Court who ruled in the case ‘Worcester vs. Georgia’, that Georgia could not impose its laws upon the Cherokee people. Despite this ruling, Jackson used the Georgia crisis to negotiate the Indians from the land. Many people disagreed with this and despised him for it because he went against the Supreme Court and wiped out the Indians from their native land so the cotton industry could expand which many thought was morally