Andrew Jackson, The National Bank, And The Nullification Crisis

While Andrew Jackson may have believed he was helping the common man and ruling for the majority, his unfair and inconsistent presidency was reflected in his treatment of Native Americans, the National Bank, and the Nullification crisis. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law in order to move Native American’s out of their own land to move in American settlers. For one, the Natives had no rights and no real way to reason with the US government, making it easy to remove them from any land East of the Mississippi. Jackson wanted to help the majority of Americans, but did not speak for the majority of Native Americans, who he considered savages and uncivilized. Jackson’s role in the nullification crisis was very important, as he helped increase sectionalism in the South. The South may have been wrong to demand

The nullification crisis highlights the ineffectiveness of Jackson as a ruler, and while he may hear the concerns of a people, he cannot find a way to diplomatically solve many issues. This is further stressed with the Bank Crisis, referring to the rechartering of the Second National Bank of the United States. Jackson believed he was doing good by fighting for the commoner and refusing to recharter the bank. Jackson is somewhat right here, as there is evidence of the National Bank helping the upper class more than the rest of the common man, but his solution of moving all the funds into smaller, “pet,” banks was not effective. Jackson essentially started an economic recession with this act, considering the pet banks had no regulations on giving out loans. Jackson’s intentions were good, but once again his solution was not effective. Jackson saw himself as a man of the people, one who shows he cares by action, but instead his presidency will go down as highly ineffective. For the people of today, we look back to his as a Presidency as noticeably