Andrew Jackson was a strong president who used his title to pursue his own agendas. In any ways he can be viewed as a king, rather than the common man that he was when he grew up. Jackson instilled fear in many, and behind his back was called “King Andrew” jokingly. The title was a joke but in many ways described his presidency. More than often he did away with the laws of the constitution and followed his own ways. In 1829 Andrew Jackson created the Indian Removal Act.
The Indian Removal Act was a law that stated that Native Americans that were settled east of the Mississippi River had to move west of the river to a portion of land that was set aside for them in the Oklahoma territory. The Cherokee Indians that were settled in Georgia became angry with the law and decided to sue the state of Georgia, because they felt like they were entitled to the land. The Supreme Court case became known as Worcester v. Georgia. It was won by the Indians and the law was proven unconstitutional. President Jackson chose to ignore the results of the case and carry on wih the law, causing the Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears was the name given to the horrible event where Jackson force the Native Americans to travel during one of the worst winters to the other side of the Mississippi River. Jackson went against the constitution and around the verdict of the Supreme Court, so that he could get exactly what he wanted. Jackson was very unlike the presidents before him, by performing selfish deeds such as the Trail of Tears to get what he wanted. Another issue during his presidency was the re-chartering of the bank of the U. S. Jackson opposed the bank for various reasons, the main one being that he strongly disliked he bank’s president Nicolas Biddle.
Jackson blamed Biddle for the loss of his money during a panic prior to his presidency. For that reason, including others, Jackson made it his goal to close the bank and failed at nothing until it was achieved. He used a number of plans and tactics, many of which hurt the country’s economy and contributed to the causes of a later panic. In his plans he broke laws and fired those who would not do what he said or refused to help. He followed laws of his own and acted as if he was in charge of all things.
The issue of tariffs, also started problems and revealed sides of Jackson that made him seem more like a monarch rather than a president for the common people. When the Tariff of 1828, was issued the southern states became very upset. The south had a lot of issues with tariffs and South Carolina decided to speak out against them.
The Nullification Doctrine was a document written by John Calhoun, which stated that South Carolina would not acknowledge any tariffs because they were unconstitutional. Jackson challenged it, and sent a representative to collect the tariff and threatened that if they secede there would be war.
He threatened a state, which was a part of the union and forced them to say under his control with the threat of war. That act alone, does not make him out to look like and average president who went by the constitution. It showed that he was willing to fight for what he wanted and to keep the states under his control.
President Andrew Jackson was definitely “King Andrew”. He ruled over America for a total of eight years, breaking laws, making unconstitutional ones, and forcing people to do what he wanted whether it was wrong or right. His actions hurt the nation, and were completely selfish.
