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Ileen Gallegos

ENG121-001

Mrs. Patricia Meeks

December 2, 2010

Andrew Jackson’s Story

By Ileen Gallegos

Before 1828, the presidents of the United States were of the gentry, or rich and

upper class. Andrew Jackson was known for breaking the model in many ways. He was

born March 15, 1767 in Waxhaw South Carolina, and died June 8, 1885 in Nashville

Tennessee. Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of The United States from 1829,

to 1837. Serving as a general in the war of 1812, Jackson was named a hero after

winning the war between the United States and Britain giving him the nicknames, “Old

Hickory” and “the old hero” (Meacham prologue) In addition, Jackson was responsible

for being the first President to split the nation in to two political parties, democratic

Republic and republic. He was of the common people and supported the lower classes.

For the first time in America, all white men above the age of 16 years old had the right to

vote. This gave people the opportunity to vote for either the Jacksonian democracy or

for the Confederate republic.

Andrew Jackson was “an un-educated boy the son of Scotts Irish immigrants.”

(Meacham xxi). Jackson’s father died a year after he was born; however, he still had

two brothers. When he was 14 years old, he lost his brothers in the Revolutionary War.
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Soon after, his mother died from illness, leaving him orphaned. Jackson continued

serving in the war as a general. From his birth, Jackson had to fight for his life, since,

“his mother was a common prostitute brought over to this country by British soldiers”

(Meacham) Jackson’s mother was his first hope and after her death he took to drinking,

cock fighting, and gambling. Some of his interests were, well cut clothes, racehorses,

dueling, newspapers, gambling, whisky, coffee, a pipe, pretty women, children and good

company. He later fell in love with a woman accused of being married to a Negro.

Marrying her before she was divorced caused people to look negatively upon them. The

people believed Rachael was not fit to be the president’s wife. However, Jackson truly

loved her because she gave him family which he never had. Unfortunately, before they

made their move to the White House, Rachael had a heart attack and died in December,

1828, leaving Jackson to begin his presidency in deep mourning, “…my heart is nearly

broke” (Meacham). Jackson never recovered from losing Rachael but it did not take

away from his family values. He took Rachael’s niece, Emily Donolson and her husband

Andrew Donolson Jackson, to the White House as his family and confidants. Andrew

Jackson appealed to the people, with his charming personality and will to prevail. He

wanted to give common people hopes of gaining land and prosperity.

“Tough as Hickory: Andrew Jackson’s raw courage in combat made him a hero to

his men, and then to the nation” (Meacham 105). Jackson had many different jobs in his

life such as: a general in two wars, lawyer, public prosecutor, the founding of the

Constitutional Convention, U.S. Congress, U.S. Senator, and judge. Although Andrew

Jackson was a hero and won the popular vote for presidency, some of the major issues

during his time while serving the nation as president were controversial issues. Through
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his presidency he managed to accomplish both good and bad things for the United States.

One issue that can never be forgotten was the removal of the Indians to the West

Territories. When Jackson took office, there were 125,000 Indians still living east of the

Mississippi River. According to digitalhistory, they were established in what would later

become, “the Southern cotton Kingdom.” The issue with the Indians maintaining that

area was that the people believed their existence would block white expansion, and

whether the U.S. government would abide to previous treaties, which provided some

protection for the Indians. Since Jefferson was President, there were two conflicting

policies established in the government. One was assimilation, which encouraged Native

Americans to agree to adopt the customs and economic practices of white Americans.

This policy came complete with financing from the government, which would allow the

Indian missionaries to build churches and schools. Assimilation was a form of security

for Indians to eventually own farms and the only way to survive in a white dominated

country. In addition, they were being converted to Christianity.

The other policy Jefferson introduced was the removal of the Indians, which

would insure the survival of their cultures. Jefferson encouraged the Indians to

voluntarily move westward so that they could live without the harassment from the

whites. James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States declared that the nation’s

security depended on the rapid settlement of whites in the southern States. In addition, he

set out a plan for the Indians to occupy some land in the west where whites could not

live. Andrew Jackson favored Indian Removal after the controversies between the two

court cases brought to the Supreme Court. One reason for the sudden removal was the

involvement of the discovery of gold on their Indian lands. Jackson ordered that the
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Indians sell their lands which went against previous treaties meaning that the Federal

Government was obligated to exclude white intruders from the Indian properties.

Eventually, the Indians had to travel west which Andrew Jackson enforced ignoring

previous law. Their journey west was called, “The Trail of Tears” As the Indians

traveled west, there were 3,500 of them; 1,500 died of malnutrition, disease, and

exposure. The government never kept their promise to help with materials; they went

hungry, without clothing, and were destroyed. The Indians were moved to Oklahoma

where they still live today.

Another controversial issue during Andrew Jackson’s presidency was, The

Celebrated Bank War. During Jackson’s presidency, the banking system was very

different than it is today. In 1832, The Second Bank of the United States was established.

Banking did not operate with paper currency yet, but it used bank notes, coin, gold and

silver for business exchange. The bank’s purpose was to discipline private bank owners

who were cheating farm owners. Some politicians like Henry Clay, and Webster wanted

Jackson to decide what position he was going to side with, either anti-bank or pro-bank.

However, Jackson’s feelings about the bank system were of distrust. Believing the banks

to be cheaters taking from honest farmers and mechanics, Jackson vetoed the bill. In a

forceful message, Andrew Jackson stated, “that condemned the bank as a privileged?

Monopoly? Created to make? Rich men...richer by act of Congress?” Andrew Jackson

believed that the bank was dangerous for the liberty of the people, and unconstitutional.

By vetoing this bill, Jackson won the election of 1832 over his competitor Henry Clay.

In addition, Jackson took the bank issue further by diverting money from the Second

Bank to State Banks known as Pet Banks. Nicholas Biddle, the president of the Second
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Bank fought vigorously with Jackson by referring to Jackson’s Indian removal and his

previous war tactics as unconstitutional in hopes to save the bank. Jackson, however, had

all bank notes discontinued and paper currency taking over the power. In another anti-

bank development, “nearly $35 million in surplus funds was distributed to the states to

help finance internal improvements.” This would improve agriculture, manufacturing

and transportation.

Andrew Jackson was a strong willed president, who, with his will, paid the

national debt, “January 1835 in the 58th year of the republic” (Meacham 283). Jackson

was a great general at war, surviving 128 duels in his life, and beat a man with his cane

when the man tried to assassinate him. He may have had to make decisions on some very

controversial issues, but he was a big influence in some of our nation’s current

government policies and will always be present in our pockets on the twenty-dollar bill.
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Works Cited

Meacham, Jon. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. New York: Random

House, 2008. Print.

Mintz, Steven. "Introduction: Removal and the Trail of Tears." Digital History. 10 Dec. 2007.

Web. 22 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/native_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=39>.