Compare How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson Dbq

How Democratic was Andrew Jackson? Many historians debate whether or not Jackson, the 7th president of the United States of America, was democratic or not. Although the majority of his actions were viewed as democratic and for the rights of the common person, they often hurt those who weren’t within the majority vote. Some examples of this are the hiring of Swartwout for the U.S. Secretary of State and the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Both of these examples were highly mocked within the Republican Party during Jackson's presidency as they were seen as clear examples of Jackson not doing his job as president properly. However, what they failed to include at the time was that both of those actions were highly supported by people. Jackson knew this as he was very close to …show more content…

This stated that a public official should have “a law which limits appointments to four years”(Doc 6). This left the position open for anyone elected by Jackson to take. The reason that this law was passed was because Jackson and many others believed that there was an overwhelming amount of elites keeping the power for themselves within the government. Although his intentions were very beneficial to the U.S. and his law is still widely supported, Swartwout ended up embezzling $1.2 million. The Republicans believed that this act showed how bad President Jackson was, but it did nothing of the sort. It only showed the American people that they need to be more careful when choosing officials. Another event that the Republicans blamed on Jackson was the Indian Removal Act, more specifically, the deaths that occurred. Jackson had taken a vote for what America should do about the Indians within the East and the results stated that the majority of Americans wanted the Indians to be kicked out so they could have the