Andrew Jackson was the 7th president of the United States of America and can also be considered the most controversial president in American History. As a major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero to the American people when he defeated the British in New Orleans. After Jackson was elevated to national fame, he was then recognized as the “man of the people.” Many supporters of Jackson believed that he would be a good fit for president because of his experiences with the “common man” and how he sought to view the conditions and situations of every American. Jackson then ran for president in the Election of 1824; in which Jackson and John Quincy Adams were the two who had the best chances of becoming president. Even though …show more content…
One of the keystones of why Jackson was elected president was because of his ability to embrace the role of the ‘common man’, for which Jackson was referred to as the ‘man of the people’. However, Jackson was then shown to harm many Americans during his presidency. To support this, the source Gag Rule/Pinckney Resolution discusses Jackson and his harm to the people of America by preventing Congress from any actions regarding slavery and more specifically the abolition of slavery. This supports Jackson being a non-democratic president because the Gag Rule stripped the right of the people of the United States to petition against the government. Not only this, but the Gag Rule also violated the first amendment of the United States. The historical context and causation behind the Gag Rule and it's not establishing Jackson as a democratic president are that Jackson himself used slavery as a source of wealth and wanted to protect his assets with the Gag Rule. While Jackson benefited from the Gag Rule, the American people would be harmed because many antislavery petitions were already circulating in the country. Jackson trying to put an end to antislavery for his benefit would lead to increased opposition to slavery. Slavery was one of the most important topics in the Americas during Jackson’s presidency and for president before Jackson, while Jackson’s …show more content…
It can also be argued that Jackson did serve as a democratic president because of the belief that Jackson brought changes to the government and that he was well experienced to hold the position of president. The source American Pageant supports this claim because after Jackson ran for president, many people believed that this would be a turning point in American history. They firmly believed that Jackson was the right fit for the presidency because of his democratic view. Jackson wanted the people of America to have more say in their government and wanted to increase the voice of the ‘common man’ throughout the United States. People supported Jackson as a democratic president because of his ideas of extending boundaries so that people would move out westward and Jackson wanted to run the national bank differently than before. In the Pageant, Jackson is viewed as a democratic president because he intentionally targets the ‘common man’ of the United States into believing and supporting his ideas of a democratic government. Which includes more rights to the ‘common people' such as a transfer of national power. To compare, Jackson can be identified as a democratic president because his supporters saw his inauguration as a better and enhanced revolution than the revolution of 1800 with president Thomas Jefferson. They