Vikram Amar
Mr. Levy
APUSH E Block
Jackson DBQ
11/4/2015

Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828 when he beat the incumbent John Quincy Adams. He was skilled at running an emotional campaign and ended up defeating his opponent rather easily. Upon his inheritance of the presidency, despite there being only one real party, views about the United State’s future were divided. His supporters, Jacksonians, were a group of people who were united really only by their love of Jackson, and were just a group of people sewn together from different areas of the nation. Although it is said that they were “the guardians of the United States Constitution”, they were not. Their primary goals, however, were to suppress the dying federalists and emerging …show more content…
The Bank was not good, though, for Western speculators who were loaned large amounts of money from the bank, and now were feeling overstretched because the land prices leveling-off. Because the Bank did not benefit Jackson's supporters, he vetoed the bill for recharter of the Bank, proclaiming that was in the “hands of a few men irresponsible to the people.” Through this use of the veto, Jackson transformed it from being something used on only unconstitutional bills into something used by presidents who don’t like what the bill says. Essentially he used the veto to further his own partisan agenda. Jackson says “I sincerely regret that in the act before me I can perceive none of those modifications of the bank charter which are necessary, in my opinion, to make it compatible with justice, with sound policy, or with the Constitution of our country.” In this, he admits that he made the decision to veto off of an “opinion” and therefore made the matter emotional, as usual. This was also somewhat went against Jackson’s strict constructionist view as the Constitution does not give specific times in which the veto should be used, and therefore, Jackson shouldn’t have assumed that he should use the veto in this new way. Although he says that it was for the good of the people, that may have just been his …show more content…
When Chief Justice John Marshall (a Federalist) ruled that the christians missionaries who lived on the Cherokee nation had a right to its territory, Jackson reportedly stated, "Justice Marshall has made his decision now let him enforce it." Jackson claimed that the "common man" ordered the indians removal. The move was actually fueled by Jackson's dislike for Marshall and his feeling that the executive branch superseded the Court. Jackson vetoed the Maysville Road project in Kentucky, claiming that the Constitution mandated internal improvements in intra-state areas be the responsibility of local government. He declined to mention that the road ran through the home district of his archrival, Whig and former opponent in the election of 1824, Henry Clay. In truth, Jacksonian Democracy did not protect individual rights, as evidenced by the mistreatment of blacks, Indians, and immigrants. Most Jacksonians were slaveholders, and until Jackson's individual pride was damaged by the nullification crisis of 1828, Jackson was an advocate of slavery. The Cherokees were brutally mistreated by Jackson's removal policy as shown in Document G. Irish immigrants were often the victims of big city riots in the East, which Andrew Jackson did nothing to prevent. These injustices were hidden from international visitors like Harriet Martineau, who was in “awe” of the intellectual ability, and civility of the