What was Andrew Jackson like for the common people of America? Was he a bad president? Or was he actually a hero to the common man? Andrew Jackson, who was the 7th president of the United States in 1829, was considered by some as a, “Hero of the common man,” or, “Old Hickory” for his bravery and loyalty for common civilians. Despite of his truly courageous vibe he encompassed, he was, in reality, a tyrant of a president that could have possibly destroyed America, or, at least, tore it apart.
Andrew Jackson was known for this tyranny during his presidency by his ignorance toward the supreme court and their rulings, forcing southerners to pay tariffs using the military, and even by accidentally causing the Panic of 1837. My first reason that President Jackson was not known as a hero of the common man but rather a terrible leader was because of him “accidentally” causing the Great Panic of 1837. This economic depression was not good for America because it caused the prices of imported goods to skyrocket in price, causing American businesses and families across the United States to die off on the economic scale.
The main reason that this dreaded depression started because of Andrew Jackson, believing that the, “.. rich and powerful too often bend the acts of the government for their own purposes,”(Source 3) So, he then decided to veto the federal bank’s rights, thinking that it would help the poor and needy. Sadly for Jefferson and for all of America, this repeal caused major inflation of imported goods, it devastated the U. S and it deprived the amount of money in America’s banks and economic structure as a whole.
This made Andrew Jackson look like a bad ruler because of his unkeen superstition that the bank was hurting the poor and normal eople across America, but rather ending up hurting America as a whole, even for some of the poor, which is all just a terrible loss for Americans and Jackson likewise. Another reason that Andrew Jackson was a horrible ruler was because of his hostile resolution of the southern revolt for tariffs. Now yes, President Jackson, as a ruler, had to resolve the tariff revolts somehow, but by using brute intimidation to force the rebels to pay the tariff was definitely not the way to go for Jackson, especially if the people not paying live in your own country.
Anyway, the main reason why some citizens in the south did not want to pay their tariff was because of their main economy of slaves rather than manufacturing, which just put a large payment price of slaves. This angered southerners and caused them to deny the payment they owe the federal government. To fix this, Jackson decided to use the military and navy in the force act he had approved by the supreme court to force payment on the southerners. Because of this, states such as South Carolina threatened to withdraw from the union and form their own government and army.
For a few years, the south seemed to get over it, but ended up resolving into the Civil War (Source 2). This was not a good move by Andrew Jackson because it comes to show that Andrew Jackson was not a nice president and would rather use force and intimidation than to peacefully resolve a conflict, even if it means splitting the country into two. This strengthens that Jackson is more of a power-addictive tyrant than a hero of the common man. The final reason why Andrew Jackson was an evil tyrant was because of his infamous ignorance toward the Supreme Court.
Despite of his own self righteous beliefs that he thought would help America, he still opposed the Supreme Court rulings, which is considered Law, as the president. Because of this, Andrew Jackson could’ve been punished, if not, impeached. Anyhow, one famous example is when Jackson regarded the Supreme court’s orders that the Native Americans in present day Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi would not be relocated into present day Oklahoma, but Jackson rather continued to attack and relocate the poor Indians, stating that,”You will soon be in a state of starvation.
You will be forced to rob and plunder the property of our citizens. You would be resisted, punished, perhaps killed. ” (Source 4) This makes Jackson look like a tyrant to the common man because, yes, he is mainly doing this to obtain Florida and to prevent the Southern Americans from getting upset, but by forcibly ridding the Natives out of their homeland without the Supreme Court’s ruling, which is illegal even if The Supreme court deemed the proposition constitutional, is all illegal and unconstitutional.
All of this still confirms that Jackson was a greedy tyrant that only deemed the people he admires as righteous. In conclusion, because of his ignorance toward the Supreme Court, his way of dealing with the Nullification crisis, and by causing the great economic depression of 1837, makes President Andrew Jackson look like a stubborn tyrant and an enemy of the common man. In addition to the topics listed above, Andrew Jackson was also known for being a terrible president by trying to overpower himself with his vetoing powers, which led to some of the disasters listed above in the first place.