Negative Effects of Andrew Jacksons Presidency - Term Paper Example

Negative Effects of Andrew Jackson’s Presidency Introduction President Andrew Jackson was viewed as one of the best presidents in the history of United States of America, but there are even those who believe that his actions negatively impacted the nation. His misuse of power is cited as the number one mistake made by him as a president. His type of personality and regards for personal reasons made him take measures that severely damaged the nation as well as his image. The most prominent negative steps taken by the President included: unfair treatment of Native Americans, the national bank of US case and corrupt government practices. Body During the period of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, a huge amount of population that belonged to the group of Native Americans resided in the regions located east of the Mississippi River as well as West of the Appalachian Mountains (Tucker 667). Although the natives claimed that the land belonged to them, Jackson was against their view and took strong measures against them. He evacuated these Native Americans from their homeland by bribing the leaders of their tribes and even coerced them at the tip of the gun. Due to measures taken by Jackson, these individuals had to travel to look for a new place to settle and due to the difficulty in finding a new location, several of them experienced death and a huge population of those who died included women and children. This event clearly shows that Jackson used his powers in an unethical way and worked against the rights of humans. Human rights are the basis of the foundation of the American society; still Jackson used his power to violate human rights. Due to this move made by Jackson, Native Americans were forced to blend into other cultures and this move is in violation of an individuals’ right of choosing what is right and what is wrong for them. His mal treatment with the Natives did not come to an end even after he kicked them out of their own homeland. The Cherokee, an Indian tribe tried to settle in the region that is referred to as the American Deep South and tried to blend through the act of cultural transformation. While this transformation was taking place, Andrew Jackson again dislocated the Native Americans through the enactment of Indian Removal Act that was enacted during the period of 1830 (Schultz 637). By the period of 1838, the Cherokee community was the last Native American community that was evacuated from their land. Due to this evacuation and relocation a total of 4,000 members of the community of Cherokees experienced death and this incident was regarded as Cherokee Trail of Fears (Seale 259). This movement took place because gold was found in the region where the community settled and Jackson tried to add the region to the state of Georgia, while the Cherokee community protested and took the matters to the court. The court announced the decision in the favor of the community, but Jackson operated against the rulings of the court and took measures to move the community from the region. Again, the rights of the Native Americans were violated by the president. This event even shows that Jackson was misusing his powers as a president and believed that he was above the court of law. When President Jackson came into action, the government system was quite fair in nature, but He reversed fair practices and started operating a corrupt government. He introduced the spoils system; according to this system the president and or the winning political party has the power of electing anybody to any position in the government (Massey 126). He manipulated the government with his powers and replaced the experienced holders of government positions with inexperienced ones. The individuals who were selected to take over government positions were mostly close associated of the president and did not know how to run the affairs. This event even confirms that the president used his powers to manipulate and to obtain personal benefits while disregarding the benefit of the nation. This even shows that the president was operating in a biased manner; he was favoring his associates while destroying the US nation. This even shows that Jackson had plans to remain in power for a longer period of time and he coerced others into following his orders as the probability of loss of government job was quite high for those individuals who did not act in accordance to the president’s ideology. Jackson’s manipulation of his position as a President and the powers vested within him were even witnessed in the case of Bank of the US. Jackson used his powers to veto the Recharter bill that was tried to be enacted by the banks of United States (Berkin 237). The expiry of the charter of the Bank of the US was coming near, around four years were remaining before the expiry of the charter, and the president used his powers to ensure that the bank came to an end. In order to put an end to the national bank, he took away federal deposits from the bank and transferred these deposits in Pet Banks. Due to this the Pet Banks started gaining more authority and in order to counter them, he declared that the only form of money that could be issued by the government was in the form of coins. Due to this, the money in note form experienced devaluation and the US economy started crippling. Conclusion The displacement and evacuation of the Native Americans, the case of the Bank of the US and the implementation of spoils system all are clear evidences of mal practices that took place during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. His moves clearly show that he did not work for the people and he violated human rights such as right to choose between right and wrong for his own benefits and personal gains and hunger for remaining in position and maintaining power. His actions resulted in death of innocent people and economic issues experienced by the citizens of US. Works Cited Berkin, Carol. Making America: A History of the United States. Brief Fifth ed. Boston, MA: WADSWORTH CENGAGE Learning, 20102011. Print. Massey, Andrew. International handbook on civil service systems. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011. Print. Schultz, Jeffrey D., Andrew L. Aoki, Kerry L. Haynie, and Anne Merline McCulloch. Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics Vol. 2,Set: Hispanic Americans and Native Americans.. Portsmouth: Oryx Press [Imprint], 2000. Print. Seale, Doris. A broken flute: the Native experience in books for children. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press ;, 20062005. Print. Tucker, Spencer C. . The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607-1890. S.l.: ABC-Clio, 2011. Print. Read More