Andrew Jackson: Tyrant

“When the 1828 election rolled around, a lot of people were terrified when they heard Andrew “Old Hickory” Jackson was running. If you’re wondering how a guy we’re calling a bad ass got such a lame nickname, it’s because he used to carry a hickory cane around and beat people senseless with it, and if you’re wondering why he did that, it’s because he was a f#$%*in g lunatic. ” (Daniel O’Brien February 15, 2008) This quote from cracked.com illustrates the depth of the ruthlessness within Andrew Jackson, and it is this callousness that made him a tyrant of a President.

His decisions were calculated. Andrew Jackson was known to be the type of person who would put his friends into government as a reward instead of the people who would actually be good for the job. This was called the Spoil System. The main purpose for the Spoil System was to ensure that when the party control changed, so did the administrators.

Andrew Jackson was also known for taking advantage of his power in the executive branch, while ignoring the Judicial and Legislative branches. He abused his power to veto to try to make himself more powerful than congress, and he ended up using the veto about sixteen times. Andrew Jackson was who started the act that moved thousands of Indian families to Oklahoma. This displacement was what became known as the “Trail of Tears. ” The Natives were forced to walk across the country during the winter with nothing but clothes, where nearly 2000 Native Americans died.

Jackson must have thought it was okay for him to evict them because of his thought to designate their own land to live on, even though the Native had so many advances in becoming civilized so they could be accepted by him and other citizens. Andrew Jackson was one of the biggest slave owners in the south and he was a big believer in Manifest Destiny, which he supported the right of whites to conquer North America. Jackson was also known for breaking campaign policies.

He had stated that he supported state government, but ended up expanding federal government and that caused a lot of controversy. A good president would not jeopardize the lives of innocent people or try to steal power to make himself the center of the government. A good president wouldn’t put himself before his own people. For these reasons I believe that even though Jackson may have done some things to help our country, overall he was a horrible president.