The Pros And Cons Of Andrew Jackson

In the 1828 presidential election for the United States, Andrew Jackson won in dominating fashion over previous President John Quincy Adams. Jackson, gaining many of his votes from the common white people in the South, went on to have a very controversial two terms of presidency, where he passed multiple impactful laws that made him despised by many people. However, among these laws that some politicians hated, Jackson was trying to improve the economy of the United States. Despite others disagreeing with his methods, when looking at his policies through solely a economic lense, it is clear that he aided our country. Andrew Jackson helped the American economy grow due to his policies regarding land distribution to American citizens, policies

Despite this causing a terrible genocide of Cherokee Indians along the Trail of Tears, when looking at this decision through solely an economic view, it clearly helped the American economy thrive. Jackson made this decision to evict the Native Americans due to the fact that they lived on fertile lands that weren’t being used to their full potential. Jackson thought that these potential farm lands would be much more useful if American farmers settled the area (Whaples 546-547). Thus, by removing the Indians, Jackson cleared up an abundance of fertile land to sell to the American citizens. As stated by author Robert Whaples in his article Were Andrew Jackson’s Policies “Good for the Economy”?, during Jackson’s presidency, “the federal government sold almost 50 million acres to the public out of the 88 million acres sold from 1820 to 1849” (Whaples 548). This shows just how much land Jackson granted his citizens within just 8 years, with his policy causing even more land to become available in years following his presidency. All this new land tremendously aided the American economy, as its agricultural production grew

Jackson’s policies regarding land distribution helped our country, as he thought that the land owned by Native Americans would be put to better use by American farmers, with his laws passed leading to massive amounts of fertile land being sold to the American public (Whaples 546-548). Additionally, Jackson’s policies brought with him the abundant use of gold and silver over paper currency, which greatly aided the American economy, as shown by both the increase in money after the end of the Bank of the United States and the economic boom after the Species Circular (Whaples 548-550). Furthermore, perhaps the most important policies expressed by Jackson was shown through his determination to paying off America’s national debt, as through his refusal to borrow money and his stinginess in spending more money, as well as reformations to American laws passed by Congress, Jackson successfully paid off the American national debt and brought forward a surplus of money for the first time in American history (Whaples 552-553). All in all, despite Andrew Jackson bringing much controversy into the White House during his 8 years as the president of the United States, his unique policies greatly aided America’s economy, bringing our country immense economic