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How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson?

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How Democratic Was Andrew Jackson?
Looking at the ballots of 1828 and 1832, Andrew Jackson was clearly labeled as a Democratic Republic, a party founded by Thomas Jefferson. These Democrats supposedly believed in the ideas of a limited central government, states’ rights, and protection of the liberty of individuals. However, based on these principles, tyrannous “King Andrew I” may not be as democratic as one may think. Jackson shifted the Presidency to a more personal style, by vetoing anything that disagreed with his own beliefs, rather than the beliefs of the people. Through the Indian Removal Act, the Spoils System, and the Bank War, Andrew Jackson revealed himself to be a non-democrat who cared more about himself than the people. And among these people, natives and slaves were given the least liberties out of all the racial groups in America at the time.
If Democrats believed in more humanitarian ideals, then Jackson definitely wasn’t one. Andrew Jackson was known as the Indian fighter, for his participation in the Creek War of 1814 and the First Seminole War of 1816. Indians were seen as subhuman obstacles to America’s goals of Westward expansion, and they must be disposed of. In 1830, Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act, which planned to move all tribes to the west of the Mississippi River. At the time, there were over 125,000 natives living east of the Mississippi. The removal was supposed to be voluntary, but knowing from

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