How democratic was Andrew Jackson? Essay

Andrew Jackson may have been the most popular president in the history of United States. Andrew Jackson was elected as a president for his democracy and he was still getting votes from electors fifteen years after he died. But was Andrew Jackson democratic at all? He didn’t democratically act in a lot of circumstances like being partial to the poor, not paying attention to the Native Americans or not listening to Van Buren that caused a big scandal in society. Jackson was born in 1767 on the border between North and South Carolina. He was a kid with a wild streak that grew up in a poor family. His childhood was so dramatic and full of events that they made him be brave and experienced in situations. Jackson was voted for the presidency in 1828 and was reelected in 1832. He was said to create a new era of real democracy in America. But like other men, Jackson was not democratic at all and he was also claimed as behaving more like the king. First of all, Andrew Jackson was not democratic because he gave more power to the poor and seemed to be partial to them. While it was democratic that he tried to balance the power between the rich and the poor but in this circumstance, he totally took down the rich. In Document 3 which is a political cartoon, Jackson holds a veto in the left hand and a scepter in the right and tramples on the Federal Constitution and The United States Bank. It was said that Jackson was fear on the rich and powerful who may cheat the acts of government to their own selfish benefits so he vetoes the Congress’s bill to recharger the Bank in July in 1832 and removes the deposit. In fact, Jackson was doing more damage to the bank and he biased against the wealthy men in command. He may have little or no trust in what the Congress and government had deemed to be in the country best interest. In Document 5, Jackson â€Å"inflame the poor against the rich†, The rich and powerful are also People but Jackson didn’t listen to and follow their wishes. That was not democratic. In Document 2, Daniel Webster compliments that Andrew Jackson was democratic. It seemed to be contrary to his reply to Andrew’s Bank veto that Daniel totally criticizes Andrew for turning against the rich. But we can see that Webster claimed that: â€Å"Jackson was the hero of the dirt farmer.† It supported that Andrew Jackson is so partial to the poor and just stand for their sides. Jackson did have democratic ideas but his ideas didn’t actually benefit all people. This was undemocratic as it didn’t benefit all people that he took the rich down and just cared for the low class. Additionally, Jackson also acts undemocratically that he didn’t include the Native Americans. In Document 3, Andrew looks like a king although he is president because of not taking care of the Native Americans and some tribes. Since a president takes to care for all people, Jackson just cares of part of them and abuse for his power and acts only in his best interests. Based on Document 8, Jackson persuaded the Native American but actually forced them and some tribes to west of the Mississippi. It means that he kicked them out of U.S. Jackson was not democratic because he moves them to such useless land as the land was ruined and poor. Despite looking to the citizens of U.S. well, Jackson wasn’t paying attention to the suffering that he was inflicting on Native Americans. This one side shows that Jackson was not a democratic president as many people think he was. The pinnacle of being undemocratic of Jackson was in Document 7, â€Å"Jackson refused to listen. He liked Swartwout because he had been an early supporter.† Jackson appointed Samuel to the office of the collector of Port of New York instead of Buren because Swartwout was offered by people more than Van. It is contrary to his democracy of following people’s wishes that he didn’t listen to Buren. Andrew went against all reason and showed a great lack of good judgment when he appointed one of his homies who is a notorious thief. Since Samuel was in office, there was a scandal that â€Å" Swartwout absconded with $1222705.09. It was a monumental theft†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This ended up hurting the country economically and totally affected the common goods. This selfish act was a foolish one. Although Andrew Jackson, as I stated, was an undemocratic president, he was still kind and compassionate and still has little democracy. Based on Document 11, Jackson adopted a child and took care of him. He wrote letters to his wife that he would adopt an Indian son, Lynconya, â€Å"I send him to my little Andrew and I hope he will adopt him as one of our family. And the letter on December 28th, 1823, Jackson wrote that â€Å"Tell Lyncoya to read his book and be a good boy and obey you in all things.† We can see, Jackson was still democratic as he adopted an Indian boy and also buried him in the family cemetery when he died at age 14. Throughout Jackson’s life and his presidency and with the above evidence, Andrew Jackson was not a democratic president at all. He unfairly acted in several circumstances but he was also democratic and kind of adopting an Indian boy. I conclude Andrew Jackson was not as democratic as many people thought he was. His action towards people didn’t benefit everyone.