Andrew Jackson's Presidency

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Was the Age of Jackson truly democratic, or were Andrew Jackson's actions more akin to those of an absolute monarch?

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Andrew Jackson's presidency from 1829 to 1837 was marked by actions that were more autocratic than democratic. While Jackson promoted himself as a champion of the common man, his policies primarily favored white males, excluding women, African Americans, and Native Americans. His use of presidential power, such as vetoes and party leadership, resembled monarchical behavior, earning him the nickname "King Andrew I." Jackson's era was democratic only for white men, reflecting the limited democratic spirit of the time.

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Andrew Jackson, a politician and military leader, served two terms as president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. After the 1824 presidential election, which he lost in a close race, Jackson and his followers broke off from the Democratic-Republican Party to form the Democratic Party. Jackson extolled himself as a proponent of democracy and the common man, but in fact he only believed in democracy for (and used his power to benefit) a relatively small portion of the country's population: white males. He did not believe in equality for women, African-Americans, or Native Americans.

In fact, Jackson was a slave owner. He began a plantation in Tennessee with a few slaves, but as he became powerful and wealthy he added more, until as president he owned as many as 150 slaves. He opposed any policies that would restrict slavery in the western pioneer territories. He banned abolitionists from...

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delivering anti-slavery tracts in the South, referring to them as monsters and declaring that they deserved to be killed.

Jackson was also merciless in his treatment of Native Americans. Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state of Georgia had no right to Indian lands, Jackson refused to take action when the state illegally seized millions of acres of tribal land. The Cherokee people had to sign a treaty forcing them to relocate west of Arkansas. This resulted in the infamous Trail of Tears odyssey in which about 15,000 Cherokees took part and 4,000 died along the way or shortly after they arrived.

It is true that after Jackson took office he appeared, to many, to assume monarchical power. Instead of working with Congress, he used his party leadership, the replacement of officeholders with supporters, and the presidential veto to forcibly push through his agenda. Political cartoonists of the day dubbed him "King Andrew I." For instance, Congress passed a bill to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States, which served as the national bank, but Jackson vetoed the measure. When John C. Calhoun of South Carolina challenged a high federal protective tariff, Jackson threatened to hang Calhoun and sent federal troops into the state to enforce the tariff. When the Senate voted against Jackson's appointment of Martin van Buren as Minister to England, Jackson became furious and threatened to "smash" those responsible.

In conclusion, although Jackson would not be termed an "absolute" monarch, he used as much power as he could possibly obtain to push through measures and policies that he believed in. Jackson's was certainly not an age of democracy for women, African Americans, and Native Americans, but only for white men. In this, Jackson's narrow view of democracy reflected the spirit of the era.

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