Andrew Jackson Dbq

Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States of America from 1829 to 1837. He served for two terms as the president of United States. He won against Quincy Adams in the election of 1828. The presidency of Andrew Jackson is known as “the age of the common man”. He was commander in the American army and later the major general of the Tennessee militia. He played a major role in the War of 1812 by defeating the Red Sticks at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend which opened more of the Mississippi Territory for American settlement. Andrew Jackson was a good president because he protected and the Native Americans from the white settlers and also their culture, fought against the second National Bank for the common people, there is an exception

The relocation of the Native Americans also called the Indian Removal act was signed by Andrew Jackson. He believed that this act protected the Natives and also protected their culture from the white settlers, “Surrounded by the whites with their arts of civilization, which, by destroying the resources of the savage, doom him to weakness and decay, the fate of the Mohegan, the Narragiansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely awaits them if they remain within the limits of the states does not admit of a doubt.” (Andrew Jackson, page 282). He also made the relocation voluntary for the Natives as it was unjust for them to leave their land which had their ancestral values, “This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land.” (Andrew Jackson page 282). This shows that Andrew Jackson cared for the Native Americans and also understood them which is a sign of a good

Andrew Jackson became president in 1829 and was not happy with the Second National Bank because he believed in a weak government which keeps all people equal and the bank made the rich richer and the government stronger. He also believed that the bank was unconstitutional, “Entertaining this opinion, and deeply impressed with the belief that some of the powers and privileges possessed by the existing bank are unauthorized by the Constitution, subversive of the rights of the States, and dangerous to the liberties of the people, I felt it my duty at an early period of my Administration to call the attention of Congress to the practicability of organizing an institution combining all its advantages and obviating these objections.”(Andrew Jackson, page 284). The privileges and powers of the bank was given to the stock holders of the bank, majority who were foreigners and many of the Americans who were middle class could not enjoy these privileges and Andrew Jackson was against the exclusion of the common man from the bank, “The powers, privileges, and favors bestowed upon it in the original character, by increasing the value of the stock far above its par value, operated as a gratuity of many millions to the stockholders.... It is not our own citizens only who are to receive the bounty of our Govemment. More than eight millions of the stock of this bank are held by foreigners.”