Why Did Andrew Jackson Expectant Capitalists?

Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States and founder of the Democratic Party, was elected President in 1828, after he lost in the election of 1824 because of the Electoral College. He was a believer in true democracy, built a party that was representing what the people wanted and did everything he could to close the deep divisions between rich and poor. But he was not always correct in how he acted. In some ways, Andrew Jackson was like Thomas Jefferson: He never really liked the Bank of the United States. When it was time to renew the Bank’s charter, he sent a veto message saying that the Bank needed to be abolished. Jackson thought that it was not a good thing to have the national’s financial strength in a single institution, that the Bank only helped the rich people to become even richer, and that it had too much control over members of the Congress and favored the northeast over the southwest. Jackson was

“Build a fire under them. When it gets hot enough, they’ll move”. There are many opposing opinions as to if Andrew Jackson abused his presidential power under the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and accordingly, each side can be justified. However, there is more solid evidence proving that Andrew Jackson did indeed misuse his duties as president by transforming the free movement of Indians to a forced one. Although many believed that Andrew Jackson demonstrated a genuine concern for the well being of the Native Americans, Jackson abused his power as president by unfairly enforcing the Indian Removal Act that did not authorize him to repeal treaties or force the relocation of Indians.

Throughout Andrew Jackson’s eight years in office, many decisions he made were unsuccessful in helping our growing country continue to prosper. To this day, people still refer to him as King Andrew the First, seeing that many of his actions seemed like abuses of power. Though Jackson’s intentions had the common man in mind, the means by which he tried to please the common man, cast him as a king. Jackson’s abuse of power began when he passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This act authorized him to negotiate land exchanges with the Natives and led to treaties that paved the way for reluctant and forcible emigration of the Indians from their native lands.

The Bank war started in 1832 when the congress, lead by Henry Clay, renewed the Second National Bank's charter even though it wasn't meant to expire till 1836. The Second Bank centralized financial might, jeopardizing economic stability, and it did not answer to anyone within the government. That partly concerned Jackson because he had no way to control it. Also because of his previous election experiences, he thought that a bank with that much power could not remain free from the electoral process. That was one of his reasons for wanting the bank gone, the other was that he saw the national bank system as corrupt and unjust because it only benefited the elites and was suspected to favor the wealthy. Jackson knew that if the bank was not shut down the gap between the rich and poor would keep growing, resulting in an unstable economy. By vetoing the bank’s charter, withdrawing the federal government's deposits from the Bank of the United States, and placing it in state banks called pet banks he was helping then general people and working for the good of the nation. Taking out money from the Second National Bank was a clever way to get what he wanted, but he was simply looking out for the common man. Because the bank only helped the wealthy, a small percentage of the population, he was taking care of the general people and not letting the priority fall to a minority who was

Also, the Democratic Party allowed for a more representative government and indicated a shift in power to the West to farmers, shopkeepers, and small-business owners who supported Jackson (Hart et al 260). Jacksonian democracy―the idea that common people should control the government―was also a result of the creation of the Democratic Party. Andrew Jackson’s decision to abolish the bank of the United States benefitted and changed the U.S. Jackson believed that the national bank was to the benefit of the rich, at the expense of farmers, workers, and smaller state banks (Hart et al 263). The bank also did not provide an opportunity for capitalists in the West and other regions (Hart et al 263). In 1832, Henry Clay pushed a bill through Congress to recharter the bank four years earlier than its expiration in 1836. Jackson vetoed the bill, claiming that the bank was an unconstitutional monopoly that existed to make the rich richer (Hart et al 263). Jackson

Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to Congress on July 10, 1832, saying the “rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their selfish purposes" (Doc. F). Jackson is talking about the national bank in this letter to Congress and it was very well known from his close friends that he had “always been afraid of banks... [and called bankers} ‘“vipers and thieves’” (Shi, Tindall, 324). He thought that the national bank caused the government to have too much control over the people, but the way

Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States. His presidential term was from March 4, 1829 to March 4, 1837. Jackson was not about banks. Jackson hated the idea of the Second Bank charter renewal. One of Jackson’s famous quotes was; “The Bank… is trying to kill me, but I will kill it.” Jackson’s opinion of the Bank of the United States was that it was dangerous to the liberty of the people. Jackson’s opposition to banks became like an obsession. In 1832, Jackson vetoed the bill calling for an early renewal of the Second Bank’s charter even though the renewal was still possible when the charter expired in 1836. In order to prevent that from happening, Jackson set out to reduce the Bank’s economic power. Jackson acted against the advice of many congressional committees and several cabinet members. On October 1, 1833, Jackson announced that federal funds would no longer be deposited in the Bank of the United States. Jackson began placing the

Although Jackson was a hard money supporter, he was sensitive to his many soft money supporters, and made it clear that he would object to renewing the charter of the Bank of the United States, which was due to expire in 1836. When Jackson could not legally abolish the Bank of the United States before the expiration of its charter, he weakened it by removing the government’s deposits from the bank. Jackson fired two of his secretary of treasury when they refused to carry out the order because they believed that such an action would destabilize the financial system. Jackson got Roger Taney to carry out his order. Taney took the deposits out of the Bank of the

Since the national bank was now destroyed, Jackson did not have a place to put it, so he decided to divide the money among the states. This is where it went downhill since the states begin printing massive amounts of money and quickly got out of hand and resulted in one of the longest depression in U.S history. As a result, The United States begin borrowing money again and the debt soon begin.

Nicholas Biddle proved great opposition to President Jackson. He wanted to re-charter the National Bank; however, many people were against Biddle’s decision. This was particularly true of people in the west. They were still wary of a national bank, after the Panic of 1819, which involved mishaps in land speculation. Jackson shared the predominately western opinion that several small banks would be a better service to the nation than one, large bank would. A major problem with a national bank would lie in it’s willingness only to make loans to the wealthy. This would be of no use to the middleclass. Jackson would not allow Biddle to gain any more power than he already had.

Andrew Jackson, whose presidential term lasted from 1829-1837, was the first president to ever be chosen by the people to lead. Because he was not born into a rich family, people felt that they could relate to him better. He too preferred supporting the common public over the wealthy aristocrats. During Jackson’s period in office he was able to shift the majority of power in the United States to farmers and small businesses in the western part of the country. Jackson vetoed many bills in order to benefit common people and also created the spoils system to balance out his cabinet. Like Jefferson, Jackson was extremely opposed to the Bank of the U.S., believing that it would only make the wealthy even

With the Jackson administration into office, the Second Bank of the United States became threatened. President Jackson had a private prejudice that wasn’t party policy (Schlesinger 74). He hated banks, all banks, but he especially hated the Second Bank of the United States. He viewed all bankers as “little more than parasites who preyed upon the poor and honest working people of America” (Roughshod 2). The reason for his hatred most likely stemmed from his near ruin as a businessman (land speculator, merchant, and slaver trader) when in the 1790s he accepted some bank notes that turned out to be worthless. From then on, he never trusted anything but hard money, or specie (Roughshod 2).

Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, should be impeached because he has crossed over the boundary lines of Separation of Power and abused his executive power, using it for personal gains in resolving the issue with the National Bank. The First National Bank was established by the founders of our country, including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. This Bank was used to place America’s federal funds to pay off all our debt. It has benefited the country’s economy, allowing it to flourish after fighting the American Revolution and the war of 1812. Despite the evident benefits of having the National Bank, Jackson justified his dislike for this establishment with his own experiences. He felt that his previous involvement

He sought to follow in Jackson’s footsteps of running the country. Immediately upon his arrival into office, the Panic of 1837 began, resulting in the country’s worse depression. The depression lasted seven years. The cause of the Panic of 1837 can be contributed to the plummeting demand of cotton, which triggered the decline in the cost of the cotton. This, in conjunction with a suddenly weak wheat crop caused a decline in revenue and income throughout the states. State bank closures and an increase in state debts were immediately seen. The national bank which had been shut down was designed to help keep the economy afloat and prevent a depression from occurring, the state banks were not equipped to do so. They continued to print paper money, yet had no actual money to back up the paper money. Van Buren felt that assistance to those individuals affected by the economy should be provided by the state government, not the federal government. He then enacted the Independent Treasurery Act, which called for the government to house its own gold and silver, and to eliminate the use of paper money by the federal government. The Act did little to help the

The Bank of the United States was technically the second bank of the U.S. since the first bank’s charter ended in 1811. The second bank held a monopoly over federal deposits, provided credit to growing enterprises, issued banknotes that served as a dependable medium of exchange, and used a restraining effect on the less well-managed state banks. Jackson didn’t trust the bank and thought it had too much power, so Jackson sought out to destroy it. There were two different groups when it came to opposition, “soft-money” and “hard-money”. Soft money supporters were progressive, they believed in economic growth and bank speculation. They supported the use of paper money and were mainly made up of bankers and allies to bankers. Hard money supporters were against expansion and bank speculation. They supported coinage only and rejected all banks that used paper money, which included the federal bank. Jackson was a hard money supporter although, he felt sympathy to the soft money supporters. Jackson could not legally end the bank before its charter expired. By removing the