When Andrew Jackson is discussed, many people think of controversy. People were either for Andrew Jackson or against him. Whether you agree with his beliefs and decisions or not, no one can deny that Andrew Jackson will forever be remembered for having a lasting impact on the United States of America. He did what he thought was the best for this country. In his disputable 78 year life, he was a Senator, President, Lawyer, Representative, and Judge. Because of his lasting impacts and great accomplishments, Jackson will forever be mentioned in the history books (Study).
Andrew Jackson was born on March 15, 1767 in a land that was disputed by North and South Carolina. Because of this, both states claim him to be native to their land. Both his brother and mother died during the Revolution. This had an impact on the rest of his life and started his hatred toward Great Britain. Towards the end of the revolution, he moved to Nashville to become a prosecuting attorney. In Nashville, Jackson’s business thrived and he soon started a private practice. Here he became good friends with many landowners. Andrew Jackson lived in the house of Col. John Donelson. Here he met the colonel’s daughter who he then married (Study).
In 1796, Jackson was part of a convention that drafted a constitution for the new state of Tennessee. That same year, he went on to become the first man from Tennessee to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. A year later, Jackson declined reelection and returned home, where he was then elected to the United States Senate. In 1798, Jackson was chosen as the head of the state militia (Study).
As the War of 1812 broke out with Great Britain, Andrew Jackson still held the position of head of the state militia. As a general, he led U.S soldiers in a five month campaign against the British allies, Creek Indians. In 1814-1815, Jackson led American forces to two decisive victories. One was at the Battle of Tohopeka in Alabama, and the other was at the Battle of New Orleans. Both these victories made Jackson officially a national hero. After gaining lots of popularity from war, many people urged Jackson to run for president. He was hesitant at first and was not attracted to the idea of running for office. By 1824, he found himself having enough support to get a nomination and get a seat in the Senate (Study).
After running for office, Andrew Jackson now found himself in a five man race for president. Out of the five people running, Jackson won the popular vote, but no one received a majority of electoral votes. This was the first time this had ever occurred in the presidential election. After this problem happened, the House of Representatives were now held responsible for determining who would be the president out of the three candidates of Jackson, Adams, and William H. Crawford. John Adams ended up winning this election, but Jackson would be back four years later (Study).
In 1828, Jackson got his revenge in an election that contained heavy “mudslinging.” Andrew Jackson and his wife, Rachel Jackson, were accused of having an affair Rachel had not legally divorced from her former husband. Although he won the election, the celebration did not last long. Rachel Jackson died shortly after Andrew Jackson became president. No one knows for sure, but many people including Jackson, believe that the stress of all the mud slinging is what killed Rachel Jackson (Study).
Andrew Jackson’s presidency revolutionized American politics. He became the first person from west of the Appalachians to become president. Due to Jackson’s strong beliefs and personality, he had many supporters. This meant he also had many opponents. The two groups were rivals and evolved into political parties. The people who supported Jackson were called Democrats. Those who were against Jackson were called the Whig Party. The Whig Party liked to compare Jackson to King Andrew I. They did this drawing negative cartoons of Jackson the King. They did this because they thought of Jackson as a monarch. It was common that Jackson would use his presidential power to veto certain things and would even seem like an absolute ruler at times (Andrew).
Andrew Jackson had many reasons to use his presidential power. He was one of he was one of the first presidents to have a laissez-faire approach. This meant that he wanted the government to have minimal control over economic controls and free market. One of his main goals in office was to have agricultural farmers expand onto new land. This was one of the main reasons that many of Jackson’s supporters were common people (Study.com).
Another way that Jackson revolutionized presidency was his way of looking at the presidency. He saw himself more as a general/common man than he did a president. Jackson even admitted to not being fit for the job. He once said, “I know what I am fit for. I can command a body of men in a rough way; but I am not fit to be president (Bradley).” Even with these doubts about his own ability to lead a country, he is thought of as the creator of contemporary ruling in the United States (Bradley).
In 1831, Jackson let go his entire cabinet, which was something no other president had done before. The reason he did this was because most of the cabinet believed he would only serve one term, which made them get ready to replace him as president. This was one of the many steps Andrew Jackson took in clearing the U.S government of corruption. Many past presidents had never replaced many government positions while they served in office. He ended up replacing 10% of the positions, a big difference from any other former president. The officials that were replaced were either the opposing party or thought of as corrupt in Jackson’s eyes (Presidency).
Throughout his time in office, Jackson had a heavy impact on the United States. In 1835, Jackson ridded the nation of debt. He was able to clear the debt because of his strict spending controls as well as the increased revenue that was produced with him as president. He not only got rid of the debt, but was able to keep the U.S debt-free for the rest of his presidential term. Even today, Jackson is still the only president that was able to pay off the national debt as well as the leave the office debt-free (Presidency).
One of Andrew Jackson’s most impactful and controversial decision while in office was the Trail of Tears. Jackson made the executive decision that he would remove all Indian Tribes to the west of the Mississippi River. Jackson thought he was doing the Native Americans a favor by removing them before they were killed. He knew that white people wanted the Native peoples land. Many tribes tried to make treaties but Jackson used his presidential power and ignored them. Two years after Jackson left office, the Indian Removal Act was carried out (Presidency). It is said that up to 100,000 Indians were forced to move west under the military’s enforcement. An estimated 25% of those Indians died on the trip westward. Even though these deaths didn’t happen while Jackson was in office, people often hold him responsible for them because he was the one who originally developed the Indian Removal Act (Britannica).
Andrew Jackson did not just have negative lasting impacts. In fact, his biggest impact was the creation of modern democracy. When Jackson was president, he expressed that his party was against special privileges of the wealthy and rich. As stated in earlier paragraphs, Jackson represented the common people such as farmers and merchants. Nowadays, democratic leaders represent minorities and other populations that are said to be oppressed by the rich. Although back then the people didn’t realize it, Jackson created the most popular political party in the history of the U.S. Today, the democratic party is arguably more popular than the republic party due to the democratic party representing minorities and the ordinary blue collar worker (History).
Another positive impact Andrew Jackson had on the United States was the expansion of voting rights. Because of the development of the two political parties, competition thrived. This led to all males being allowed to vote in order to gain more votes. Before this, voting was limited quite a bit. The only people who were legally allowed to vote were white male taxpayers or property owning white males. Although all males were now allowed to vote, some groups were still discriminated against. Still, the expansion of these voting rights were the stepping stone to both the Women and African American suffrage movements (Expansion).
Andrew Jackson will forever be talked about in American history. Throughout his life, he had many supporters, along with many people who were against him. This led him to strive to be the best leader he could for this country. Jackson had an immense impact on politics, presidency, and military that changed America forever. Unfortunately, many people think of all the negative things Jackson did in his career when his name is brought up. Instead of doing that, people should look at those mistakes to learn from them, as well as look at all the good accomplishments and positive impacts this man had that bettered our country and made it as great as it is today.