The Purpose of this essay is to discuss the Andrew Jackson Administration. I will first talk about Jackson’s war on against the U.S. Bank. Second, I will talk about the Presidential election of 1824, 1828, and 1832. Third, I will talk about the Indian Removal Act as well as the Trail of Tears. Fourth, the ways in which Jackson expanded the power of the president. Fifth and final, the Nullification Crisis of 1832. 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
Jackson ordered Taney to methodically remove all of the money from the Bank and move it into small “pet banks”. Jackson had an inherent distrust of the bank and its credit after a land deal went sour and he was left with a valueless bank note. In 1832, Jackson vetoed the extension of the Bank and instituted the tariff of abomination, a protective tariff that favored manufacturing in the
He believed that the Bank has to be abolished due to several reasons. First of all, the bank concentrated the nation's wealth in a single institution which created an unhealthy for the economy monopoly. Second of all, he believed that the bank favored the wealthy over the common people. The third reason was that the bank had too much control over members of Congress. In other words, the subsidy of the bank to one particular party or the lack of the finance could influence the results of the elections at some point. And the bank also favored northeastern states over southern and western states. Thus, Jackson succeeded in destroying the Bank by vetoing its 1832 re-charter by Congress and by withdrawing U.S. funds in 1833. This action led to federal money being put into state banks who then loaned it out freely leading to inflation. State banks were issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves which led to rapid inflation. Moreover, the expansion of credit and speculation took place. As a result, state banks collapsed which was a cause of the Panic of 1837. However, despite the crisis and depression, the liquidation of the Bank was an achievement of Jackson’s presidency and led to trivial of the economy later on.
In the early 19th Century, the Manifest Destiny led many White Americans to conquer new territories and force Native Americans out of their homeland. The growing population caused the need for people to move to have more space for farms and crops. The religious groups were also wanting to sweep God’s word across the nation by going west. The Native Americans were unwilling to give up their land and fought to keep it. Outmatched by the U.S. Military, the Indians were forced to leave and settle in a territory that was not claimed by Whites. Andrew Jackson, the 8th President of the United States, participated in some of the battles with the Natives Americans and the removal of 5 different tribes from their homeland into what is now Oklahoma.1 This research paper is to study about Andrew Jackson, his battles with the Natives, and what led to the Trail of Tears.
The Bank War was the name given to the campaign begun by President Andrew Jackson in 1833 to destroy the Second Bank of the United States. The Second Bank had been established in 1816, as a successor to the First Bank of the United States, whose charter had been permitted to expire in 1811. In the veto message, President Jackson eagerly rejects a bill that leased the Bank of the United States. He argues that the Bank gives privilege and unfair advantage to a wealthy few at the expense of the public, and he opposes foreign ownership of Bank stock. The President claims the same right to interpret the Constitution as Congress and the Supreme Court when he questions the constitutionality of the Bank. The bank’s charter was unfair, Jackson argued in his veto message, that the bank was given significantly to much market power, specifically in the markets that moved financial properties from place to place in the country and into and out of additional nations. That market power enlarged the bank’s revenues and consequently its stock price, “which operated as a gratuity of many millions of dollars to the stockholders,”. Jackson proposed that it would be reasonable to the majority of
In 1828, otherwise known as “The Age of Jackson”, America was a country on its way to the West. America’s revolutionary generation was quickly fading, making room for a new balance of political power. As the class systems were breaking down, the “common man” was better able to cast his vote for the new President. Jackson was glorified by his impressive war accomplishments and humble background of the frontier. This made him the main target for presidency in election 1824. Once coming to power, Jackson no longer portrayed humble beginnings, but became a conundrum to the people he was leading by removing indians from their homeland and forcing them West. His use of power can be debated based on the state of the country thereafter. Although Andrew Jackson was dubbed “The People 's President”, his time in office reflected a very different outcome.
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
The United States government in 1816 chartered the Second Bank of the United States. It had a 20-year charter, which was to expire in 1836. Despite this, the Bank was privately owned and during the age of Jackson, the president was Nicholas Biddle. The Bank was large in comparison to other banks, being
Despite being an advocate of the hard-money faction, which condemned all banks that issued banknotes, Jackson also opposed the bank because it went against his basic views. It restrained state banks from issuing notes freely and most advocates believed in rapid economic growth, which was the opposite of what Jackson believed in. Not being able to abolish the Bank before the expiration of its charter, Jackson weakened the bank by withdrawing the government’s deposits from it. Nicholas Biddle carried the contraction of credit too far and having to reverse himself, his hopes of winning a recharter of the Bank died. After the destruction of the Bank, Jackson then went after the most powerful remaining institution of economic nationalism: the Supreme Court.
Andrew Jackson believed that the US bank placed too much control into the hands of a wealthy few. He believed the Bank of the United States was a tool of the rich to get richer and he believed it gave private bankers the power over the nation's economy. Due to this fact, Jackson vetoed the bank’s recharter in 1832, and he declared the monopolistic bank unconstitutional. In attempt to benefit the lower, working classes, he placed the federal money in “pet” state banks. This attempt destabilized the national currency, decreased currency in markets, and displayed favoritism in Jacksonian policies.(page 286) Also, the Specie Circular in 1836 a complete disaster.
In that year, 1832 in the address to Congress, Jackson as that a review of the safety of the funds in the Second Bank be reviewed [F]. They performed a promted investigation and returned that funds were perfectly safe [F]. Once they did this Jackson still moved the funds from the Second Bank by executive order to smaller private banks [F]. When this was done the Whig party reacted stronger than ever before, trying for force Jackson to agree to a recharter. The economy could have fallen into chaos very quickly if the movement of funds had not been skillfully moved by Taney to insure that a financial crisis did not
Although the lower tariff produced a completely debt free nation while under President Jackson’s control, displeasure was still present within the southern states. The actions taken by President Jackson present in his banking policies of the nation’s second bank resulted in increased manufacturing, but a sharp rise in inflation and land cost as well. Threats from the opposing southern states to nullify Jackson’s lower tariff that brought greater inflation to consumer goods forced the combined power of President Jackson and the United States congressional committee to declare the nullification of federal law by an individual state government illegal. The actions taken by President Jackson not only set a precedent for modern day state and federal government relations, but also, at the time of his presidency, served as the implication that although the president represented the people’s political opinions, he along with the federal government still possessed the power to necessarily declare certain actions taken by individual state governments
He didn’t like the bank because he lost money due to the banks decisions in the early stages of his career. Congress showed complete disapproval of Jackson's abuse of power regarding his decisions with the bank. Jackson decided that he was going to order the federal government's deposits were removed from the national bank and put into state banks. This action helped the poor by hurting rich, this helped jackson to be named the “champion of the common man”. The national bank owner, Biddle, did not like Jackson’s actions and retaliated by making it harder for businesses to get the money they needed, this created an economic depression at the end of 1833 and into 1834. The bank charter then finally expired in
One significant conflict that stands out the most to me during the Jackson-Era was the Bank War. The Bank War was started by Andrew Jackson was the President of the United States in 1833. President Jackson aimed to destroy the Second Bank, after realizing the amount of national support he got. When President Jackson was up for reelection he figured out his complete opposition to the bank. Jackson vetoed a bill that was for the early renewal of the charter for the Second Bank, but when the charter was to expire in 1836 there was still a chance of renewal. Jackson has a lot of people in office who wouldn’t sign the charter to remove it and were in opposition to it. Although there were so many committees and cabinet members against this, he went
Biddle was the President of the Second Bank of the United States; he attempted to keep the bank working when President Jackson endeavored to demolish it; He was an American agent who was additionally leader of the Bank of the United States. Jackson trusted the Bank of United States had excessive influence and was too rich. To test his speculation, Jackson starts taking out assets and placing them into pet banks. Pet banks are state banks chose by the U.S. Division of Treasury to get surplus Treasury reserves. This "slaughters" the bank, prompting variance in economy and frenzy. Jackson declined to store any more government reserves, which drained the bank dry. He would veto the second Bank contract and pulled back government cash from the US
A less assertive president, such as John Quincy Adams, may not have been able to command the respect and authority to bring such a decisive end to a development as Jackson did. In his boldness, Andrew Jackson prevented all states from following South Carolina’s example of nullification and consequently prevented the dissolving of the Union and the federal government’s power over the states. If this had not occurred, the United States would be in a position similar to when they had been governed by the Articles of Confederation with a federal government incapable of uniting the states under one authority, trampled and made dysfunctional by states governments gaining the power to nullify federal law when they saw it appropriate. Jackson also gave the common man a greater voice in the government’s operation. In a day when governing a country was mainly overseen by a class of bureaucratic “gentlemen,” Jackson opened the presidential mansion to the common man, both figuratively and literally (at his inaugural ball). Jackson gave a voice to the majority of American citizens who felt they were not heard in government, similar to how pre-Revolution colonists may have felt under “virtual representation”