Andrew Jackson was an extremely fascinating character whose presidency remains a controversial subject till this day. He possessed an appeal derived from his sheer daring and image as a war hero. He followed his own rules, forged his own path and possessed explosive qualities which greatly influenced every situation that came his way. This passionate man both secured many accomplishments and made many bad decisions throughout his lifetime. While Jackson was a popular president who strengthened presidential power and made numerous decisions that benefitted the nation, in terms of presidential success he deserves a letter grade of D on account of his detrimental white male supremacist ideals and poor character traits. Andrew Jackson was a bold
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Jackson’s arrival into office set a tone for the tendencies he would portray throughout his stay in office. Dress in black, he kept his talking to a minimum and presented a solemn figure at his inauguration, and come his wife’s death five days later he began to harbor a bitter resentment towards his campaign. Andrew Jackson was extremely stubborn and also wished to establish his personal power in an authoritative way. One of his major negative contributions to American political tradition was the spoils system. Prior to Jackson, presidents had replaced government workers following inauguration but never to the extent to which Jackson embraced this policy. Jackson’s entire political campaign was based off of a system of support for rewards, the reward being positions of political power. Jackson removed 919 federal officials in his first year and replaced them with others who simply shared the prerequisite of supporting him. By doing so, he discarded experienced workers and replaced them with sometimes incompetent supporters. Jackson also utilized an informal kitchen cabinet to make official decisions rather than an officially appointed one in order to maintain executive power. This informal, flexible group of advisors whose power was directly affected by his …show more content…
He primarily isolated three main groups of people; women, African-Americans, and Native Americans. Although Jackson saw himself as a protector of women, throughout his presidency he reinforced the idea that women were not worthy of the professional world. He was a firm believer that women had no business meddling in politics and did not support any women’s rights. He was especially opposed to Democratic women with opposing views about a woman’s role in the world. Even during the Eaton affair, Jackson only supported Peggy because of the parallels that the situation had to his wife. Later in his presidency while assessing the industrialization that was occurring in the country, he showed no concern over the social consequences seeing that the proletariat that was being created was largely female. African-Americans were largely disregarded as people by Jackson and no strides for better treatment were made under his presidency. Most significantly affected by Jackson’s supremacist ideals were the Native Americans by his largely controversial Indian Removal Act. As part of the Indian Removal Act, the 5 civilized tribes of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were systematically removed from their homes and promised land west of the Mississippi. Because these
Jackson’s arrival into office set a tone for the tendencies he would portray throughout his stay in office. Dress in black, he kept his talking to a minimum and presented a solemn figure at his inauguration, and come his wife’s death five days later he began to harbor a bitter resentment towards his campaign. Andrew Jackson was extremely stubborn and also wished to establish his personal power in an authoritative way. One of his major negative contributions to American political tradition was the spoils system. Prior to Jackson, presidents had replaced government workers following inauguration but never to the extent to which Jackson embraced this policy. Jackson’s entire political campaign was based off of a system of support for rewards, the reward being positions of political power. Jackson removed 919 federal officials in his first year and replaced them with others who simply shared the prerequisite of supporting him. By doing so, he discarded experienced workers and replaced them with sometimes incompetent supporters. Jackson also utilized an informal kitchen cabinet to make official decisions rather than an officially appointed one in order to maintain executive power. This informal, flexible group of advisors whose power was directly affected by his …show more content…
He primarily isolated three main groups of people; women, African-Americans, and Native Americans. Although Jackson saw himself as a protector of women, throughout his presidency he reinforced the idea that women were not worthy of the professional world. He was a firm believer that women had no business meddling in politics and did not support any women’s rights. He was especially opposed to Democratic women with opposing views about a woman’s role in the world. Even during the Eaton affair, Jackson only supported Peggy because of the parallels that the situation had to his wife. Later in his presidency while assessing the industrialization that was occurring in the country, he showed no concern over the social consequences seeing that the proletariat that was being created was largely female. African-Americans were largely disregarded as people by Jackson and no strides for better treatment were made under his presidency. Most significantly affected by Jackson’s supremacist ideals were the Native Americans by his largely controversial Indian Removal Act. As part of the Indian Removal Act, the 5 civilized tribes of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were systematically removed from their homes and promised land west of the Mississippi. Because these