To What Extent Did Andrew Jackson Face Of The 20 Dollar Bill

Recently, there has been some debate as to if Andrew Jackson deserves to be the face of the twenty dollar bill. During his presidency many believed that his actions portrayed him more like a monarch or a king than a president. This mindset is shown through the use propaganda by Edward Williams Clay in his cartoon, “King Andrew the First, Born to Command.” Because of these king like actions some believe that he does not deserve to be on the twenty dollar bill. However, Andrew Jackson fully believed that he was making the right decisions with the choices that he made during his presidency, “it was settled by the Constitution, the laws and the whole practice of government that the entire executive power is vested in the President of the United

When Jackson chose to eliminate the National Bank he had what was best for him on his mind and not what was best for the United States. The second National Bank was established in 1816 and had a charter set to expire in twenty years. The bank became very powerful and was good for the U.S. economy, “...it was the only bank permitted to have offices across the nation...The Bank of the United States also printed the country’s paper money” (Ember). Having these responsibilities, the bank became a very important part of the economy. However Jackson believed that the bank was unconstitutional. He was not very fond of the fact that the wealthy people in the country benefited from the bank, while the people in poverty did not. Like many other Americans at the time, Jackson strongly believed that the National Bank had too much power, however he also believed that the bank was bad for the economy which was not true. The National Bank strongly backed the United States economy. Many knew this, including Henry Clay, who knew that if the bank no longer existed the economy would soon fall apart. Knowing this, Clay thought to renew the Bank’s charter early in 1832 instead of 1836. He did this because he knew that Jackson was going to run for reelection in 1832 and he thought for sure that Jackson would never vote down a bill that would help the country dramatically if he was trying to win over the people of the United States. Jackson detested the bank so much that he vetoed the bill for an early renewal of the bills charter, “but renewal was still possible when the charter expired in 1836; to prevent that from happening, he set out to reduce the bank’s economic power”(Foner, Garraty). To diminish the banks power Jackson made an executive decision that he had