Father and son historians, Arthur M. Schlesinger and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., asked some of the top historians in the country to rank each president in the categories Great, Near Great, Average, Below Average, and Failure based on their time in the White House (Schlesinger Jr. 179). The official ranking lists Andrew Jackson as the fifth best president overall, which landed him a comfortable spot in the “Near Great” category. Andrew Jackson’s presidency belongs in a much lower category due to his immoral character, unilateral decision-making, and his unimpressive presidency relative to that of other presidents. Before expanding on the specifics of why Andrew Jackson does not belong in the “Near Great” category, the criteria that Andrew Jackson along with other presidents will be analyzed against needs to be outlined. First, the qualifications of each president are of the utmost importance when determining presidential “greatness.” The qualifications of the president are delineated in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The president’s established qualifications outlined in Article II are as follows: to be eligible, one must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years, and must be at least 35 years of age (Cornell). Though important, these qualifications alone would allow almost anyone over the age of 35 to be qualified enough to become president.
To go above and beyond the baseline criterion, a person needs
In the United States so far, there have been dozens of presidents. To be exact, there have been 44 presidents. Every president has made his own, unique contribution to get the country to where it is today. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, was perhaps the most controversial president America has experienced. Jackson was a successful president in his own mind, escaping difficult living conditions as a child in South Carolina and fighting for the nation in the War of 1812 to completing his goals as president. Some of his achievements, however, did not benefit the country and its people. His egocentric behavior caused for harsh and brutal actions towards Indians. Although Jackson was able to fulfill his goals
Conclusively Jackson was a great president because he represented the people of America by being a common man, overcame huge obstacles such as keeping South Carolina from seceding, and by forming the two most popular political parties used in America today, the Democrats and the Republicans. Those who argue that Jackson was a bad president simply
Andrew Jackson was one of the most peculiar presidents of the United States. Jackson had a different past then most of the presidents because he was born in poverty and had to work for his wealth. Other presidents were born into wealth and had every opportunity handed to them. Although this played a big part on Jackson's presidency this did not play as big of a part as you would think. He had a military background, serving as a general in the war of 1812, along with experience with being an attorney, and his own private practice. Sadly, his wife died a year into his presidency causing him to become what this country knows as one of our worst presidents. The people started to view Jackson differently after this incident, he was seen as someone
President Andrew Jackson was influential throughout his presidency, he was the "peoples President" and made strong decisions for the quality and equality of the American people. And because of the important issues at hand, left for a lasting impression on the future of the American
The President of the United States is one of the most powerful officials. The seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, made the presidency more powerful because he represented the “common man.” Jackson grew up in the rural parts of South Carolina and when he was thirteen years old, he joined the army at during the American Revolution War. Jackson was involved in many wars and became a war hero. He fought in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. After serving at war, he would serve two terms as president from 1829-1837. Jackson is the father of the Democratic Party. Later on, people would realize that Jackson was a very controversial president. Jackson would be an inefficient and efficient president during his time in office.
Andrew Jackson’s presidency should not be admired by our current generation because he did whatever he wanted and only that. Many, many times during his presidency Jackson decided to simply not follow the rules. One example is when the Cherokee went to the supreme court about their land being taken. The supreme court ruled that their actions in removing the Cherokee Violated their treaties with the federal government, and that they had a right to their land. To which Jackson responded by saying “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” (Crashcourse). This basically means that even if there was a new rule he had to follow, it didn’t matter because he didn’t care. He was going to do what he wanted, and only what he wanted. No matter who or what tried to stop him. Andrew Jackson treated other people just as badly as the Cherokees.
Over the course of United States history, every president has changed the country in many ways. Some have changed it for the good of the country, and some have changed it for the worse. However, some have changed it in ways disputed whether they are for the betterment of this great nation. One of these many presidents in the infamous Andrew Jackson. During his time in office, he caused many changes. Some even believed that he was abusing his executive power in ways that a king might, they nicknamed him “King Andrew.”
The Age of Jackson was a key indicator of what Jackson is really classified as. The first order of business that Jackson did as President was to create the Spoils System. The Spoils System is where Andrew Jackson fired most, if not all, of his workers in the government. This then allowed Jackson to hire his friends and supporters to work for him in the government. Many people saw this as unfair since it resulted in uneducated citizens working in the government. A positive thing for the citizens of America was the Indian Removal Act. This is where gold was found located in the state of Georgia, where the Native Americans homeland was located. General Jackson tried to force out Natives to retrieve the gold, but treaties declared the land as the Natives property. Because of this, a case between the Natives and the state of Georgia was held in the supreme court. The ruling was in the Natives favor, but Jackson went against the ruling. He then forced the Natives out of their land. Because the Natives were forced out of their land, they had to march all the way from Georgia to Oklahoma, this was called the Trail of Tears. Jackson was somewhat generous since he supplied the Natives with some supplies and money, but it was not nearly enough to last them their whole journey. Many of the Natives died from starvation or from the cold temperatures on this devastating march. The Seminole Indians refused to give up land, though which resulted in a seven year war between them and the United States. Many of the Seminoles ended up hiding in the Everglades, or were forced west. As you can see, the Age of Jackson was actually a cruel and gruesome time for many, but people still somehow saw Jackson as a hero during that
Andrew Jackson’s presidency is a very controversial topic, this is because he had done a few bad things. Andrew Jackson had forced native americans out of their land, he had opened up the white house to random people, and destroyed the economy by destroying the national bank.
I agree that with the rating of sixth overall that Andrew Jackson received for his presidency. Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and a member of the Democratic Party. Jackson made many positive and negative decisions as the president of the United States. Andrew Jackson expanded the power of the president and he also expanded democracy during his time as the president of the United States.
Andrew Jackson wasn’t just a president, he was also a common man. Jackson was most famous because he believed in the common man, and that’s what he fought for and how he wanted to model the country. The common man started as almost the lowest of the system until Jackson helped them rise to be one of
Even though Jackson was very successful during his presidency, there were some events in history that really showed his “weaknesses”. Jackson was classified as a lunatic. He was feared by many, especially his opponents. Due to his temper and poor decisions, Jackson did not mind to go to war for what he believed in or did not care to remove anyone against him. He was a real savage, and I feel the country at this time of period needed this type of mentality in the presidency. A negative event that took place during his term was the Trail of Tears, which was the forced removal of Native Americans from their homeland, resulting in the death of thousands of people. He also promoted slavery and he himself owned many and showed cruelty towards them. Andrew Jackson was stubborn and only cared about himself, but I do believe he
Was Andrew Jackson great as everyone thinks? Andrew Jackson was born in the back woods settlements in the Carolinas in 1769. He was born to Elizabeth Jackson, who came from Ireland. It is said that she was traveling across the Appalachian mountain after she was done burying Andrew Jacksons father when she had him. That is why Andrew Jackson exact location was unknown. Also he had two brother named Hugh, and Robert. Andrew Jackson was not very well educated he had an education that was not as regular as the other kids. Andrew Jackson joined the local militia when he was only thirteen years of age. He was the courier in the revolutionary war. Later on during the war his brother Hugh died in battle in 1779. After that both Andrew and his
We have had many presidents in our country’s history. The presidents themselves don’t last forever, but their impacts, legacies and memories do.They contributed to generations and future generations. But nobody is perfect and you can’t please everyone so of course in the eyes of some people there were presidents they believed to be better than others. Not everyone’s favorites will be the same. I myself believe that George Washington, Lyndon B Johnson, and Abraham Lincoln were some of the best presidents, but however with all good sides there are bad sides like presidency's I believed that the worst presidents were people like William Henry Harrison, John F. Kennedy, and John Tyler. However like I said before, everyone will have different rankings of the president's let's see if you agree and here are my reasonings.
Andrew Jackson is considered by many to be the first modern president that we have today. He considered the presidency as not just someone who just presides over everything but as one who’s job it is to represent the citizens that lived there. He believed that the presidency was much like being a congressman but instead of just looking out for in the interests of your district, he had to make decisions that would affect the entire country. This would lead him to veto many bills that he considered detrimental to the United States