The Rough and Tough Administration of Andrew Jackson as The President of The United States

Andrew Jackson’s infamous status in both the US government and military helped him become president. Before Jackson became president, he was already heralded and scrutinized for his escapades in the military during the war of 1812 such as when Jackson wouldn’t lift martial law in New Orleans and that he had six of his own militiamen killed for trying to leave. Also, when Jackson tried starting a war singlehandedly with Spain and causing a diplomatic incident with England by killing two agents he captured in Florida. On multiple occasions, Jackson was accused of breaking the constitution and actively rebelling against the US government, yet he was exonerated every time due to his status. This has one common theme; most Americans would love a rough and tough man like this in office and after John Quincy Adams’ failure to do much in the way of reshaping America its citizens wanted a real American man with real American experiences in charge.

As we see throughout history people looking for immediate change will sometimes choose a leader that commands your attention, someone who acts strong, who has the gall to change things for the better, at that point everything depends on the person’s character and not the people’s choices. During the time before Jackson’s inauguration, America wasn’t in anarchy but discourse, especially over the North and South, were heating up American politics. Jackson offered a chance to ignore the problem altogether and rather focus on traditional values set up by the founding fathers and most importantly advocate the expansion west which everyone liked. Jackson had very attractive ideas in common with the US citizens. Give more power to the states, expand west, decrease corruption in Government, grant expanded benefits to veterans, strengthen our military. But as some would say the bad vastly outweighed the good, Jackson single-handedly eliminated the entire Native population in East America through his succession of Indian removal policies, he destroyed the bank system out of petty anger. Also ignoring the growing divide between the North and South could only have guaranteed the Civil War. Yet people still loved him as President, because while he did help expand west which was everyone from the poor to rich’s concern the policies Jackson was pushing through looked better on paper than in actual practice. In short, Jackson looked busy as president something people admired.

Just think about it much of Jackson’s time in his early presidency was spent dealing with the Petticoat affair which in today’s world would destroy the reputation of any president good or bad. Yet while his expansionist and domestic policies would again make him popular nobody batted an eye when he was reelected in 1832. After his reelection, the Panic of 1837 was what really brought his presidency under scrutiny by many American citizens, now that most of them were unemployed.

So yeah Jackson was a legend in the eyes of the people because he embodied the rough and tough get things done, grab em by the horns American style that any American could identify with. While most of Jackson’s policies were questionable at best they had an immediate effect on the outlook of American society people could say change is around the corner. His military career was what shot him to stardom in American society but really it was his attitude that got him the presidency and hearts of the American people. And Jackson really did make sweeping changes to America, changes that defined the nation for decades to come.

Today we see the flaws in Jackson’s ethics but even then, can’t help but put the good before the bad. We see Jackson as the man who shaped American politics as they are now, but also the guy who let thousands of Native Americans die in the snow-covered forests on the Trail of Tears. I guess the point is if we hated Jackson so much we wouldn’t have put him on arguably one of the most used bills in the US treasury.