Two Faces:The Presidency of Jackson

Rohan Basu

What to Know

• The student will be able to identify five criteria of an effective decision, and decide whether Jackson’s decisions meet those requirements.

• If they do not meet the criteria, the student will propose solutions to improve these decisions.

Overview

• Andrew Jackson’s decision making was controversial, to say the least.

• Every action he took was supported and opposed by different groups.

• In the end, Jackson was an exceptionally popular President.• His actions greatly expanded the powers of the President.

The two faces of Jackson.

Life Facts

• Born: March 15, 1767, Waxhaw area, on North Carolina-South Carolina border

• Nicknames: “Old Hickory,” “King Andrew”• Died: June 8, 1845• Buried: The Hermitage, Nashville, Tennessee• First Lady: Emily Donelson, Niece of wife, Rachel, who died

before inauguration• Number of Children: One (adopted)• Education: Law

Life Facts

• Religion: Presbyterian• Career: Teacher, Prosecutor, Judge, Military, Politician,

President• Dates of Presidency: 3/4/1829 - 3/3/1837• Presidency Number: Seven• Number of Terms: Two• Why Presidency Ended: End of second term• Party: Democrat• Vice Presidents: John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren

The Early Years

• Andrew Jackson was born March 15, 1767, in a log cabin located near the Waxhaw area, close to the North Carolina-South Carolina border.

• Jackson’s father died a few weeks before Andrew was born.• Andrew Jackson was the third child and third son to Andrew and “Betty”

Jackson.• When Andrew was nine years old, The Declaration of Independence was

signed .• At thirteen he joined the Continental Army as a courier.

The Hermitage. Jackson’s later home.

Hardship• One of Andrew's older brothers, Hugh, died after the Battle of Stono

Ferry, South Carolina in 1779. Andrew was just a teenager.• Two years later Andrew and his other brother Robert were taken prisoner

in April 1781. While they were captives a British officer ordered Andrew to clean his boots. When he refused, the officer struck them with his sword and Andrew’s hand was cut. Because of this, Jackson harbored a bitter resentment towards the British until his death.

• Both brothers contracted smallpox during their imprisonment and Robert was dead within days of their release.

• Mrs. Betty Jackson, Andrew’s mother, fell ill with cholera and died. • Andrew found himself an orphan and an only child at fourteen.• This may have made him the tough man he was.

Career Before Presidency• In 1784, at the age of seventeen, Jackson went to Salisbury,

North Carolina where he studied law for several years. • In June 1796, Tennessee was separated from North Carolina

and admitted to the Union as the sixteenth state. Jackson was soon afterward elected the new state's first congressman.

• The following year the Tennessee legislature elected him a U.S. senator, but he held his senatorial seat for only one session before resigning.

• After his resignation Jackson came home and served for six years as a judge on the Tennessee Supreme Court.

Career Before Presidency

• Jackson's military career, which had begun in the Revolution, continued in 1802 when he was elected major general of the Tennessee militia.

• In 1814, after several devastating campaigns against Native Americans in the Creek War, he was finally promoted to major general in the regular army.

• General Jackson emerged a national hero from the War of 1812, primarily because of his decisive defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

• During this period he earned his nickname of "Old Hickory." Because of his strict discipline his men began to say he was as tough as hickory and the nickname stuck.

Old Hickory

See the resemblance?

Old hickory Old Hickory

The Disputed Election of 1824• “Jacksonians” often referred to the disputed election of 1824 as

the "Stolen Election.“ • Jackson swept the popular vote, but he did not have a majority,

which is required to automatically win the Presidency. Therefore the election had to be decided by the House of Representatives.

• Jackson's opponents were speaker of the house, Henry Clay of Kentucky, secretary of state, John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, and secretary of the treasury, William H. Crawford of Georgia.

• Clay's opinion of Jackson was similar to Adams’, and he urged the house, of which he was the speaker, to vote for Adams.

• Adams won the election due to Clay’s support.

Jackson wins the White House• In the election of 1828 Jackson took the position he

was the people's candidate and never lost an opportunity to point out that the people's choice in 1824 had been disregarded by the elite.

• This tactic proved successful and Jackson defeated Adams in the 1828 election.

Controversial Decision #1• Hours after winning the election, Jackson proceeded

to make his first controversial decision.• This was the beginning of a long slew of such

decisions.

The PartyThis is what a more civilized inaugural party would have looked like.

Jackson’s party was a mess.

Political Party?

• Until this time, inauguration receptions had been discreet and civilized affairs.

• Jackson changed that.

• No sooner had he finished his inaugural speech than things began to get out of hand.

Party Time• This “reception” went awry from the start.• The guests were, said eyewitness Margaret Bayard Smith, “a

rabble, a mob, of boys, Negros, women, children, scrambling, fighting, romping… Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses, and such a scene of confusion as is impossible to describe.”

• A bodyguard of loyal friends had to form a ring around the scarecrow figure of Jackson so he wouldn’t be crushed to death or asphyxiated by well-wishers.

Party Time• “Everyone from the highest and most polished,” marveled one

attendee, Joseph Story, an associate judge of the Supreme Court, “down to the most vulgar and gross of the nation,” wanted their slice of the action.

• There are numerous accounts from well-to-do white observers who were shocked to see free African-Americans in the house.

• It was too crowded to get through the front door, so anyone who wanted to leave had to crawl out a first floor window.

• At 4 p.m., Jackson leaves his own house, but the party continued for hours.

• The servants came up with a plan to get the crowd outside the White House.

The Aftermath• When the dust settled on the evening, the White House looked

like a war zone.

• Thousands of dollars worth of china and glassware had been smashed or taken as souvenirs, the carpets were shredded, the upholstery ruined.

• Jackson took the near-riot as an opportunity to have Congress allocate enough money to actually finish the President’s mansion.

• He got $50,000 and spent it all.

Good or Bad?

Controversial Decision #2

• Hint: It was an informal group of advisors that Jackson consulted with in the White House Kitchen.

• It goes hand in hand with the spoils system, which is the practice of rewarding loyal supporters of winning candidates and party with appointive public offices.

Kitchen Cabinet• The kitchen cabinet was a group of advisors compromised of

Democratic leaders and newspaper editors.• These men, Jackson believed, had a sense of what the people

wanted.• Critics claimed that these people were not qualified to advise the

President.• They argued the same about Jackson’s regular Cabinet.

Good or Bad?

Controversial Decision #3

• The Bank of the United States was not something that Andrew Jackson supported.

• Jackson vetoed the Bank’s renewal bill for two reasons.• First, he decided that the Bank was unconstitutional and that only states,

not the federal government could charter banks.• Secondly, he believed that the bank helped aristocrats and sacrificed the

welfare of the common people. Jackson knew this best, being a common man himself.

The Bank of the United States• Jackson already opposed the Bank, and he used his power to veto its

renewal bill.• Critics claimed that Jackson would just put the money in “pet banks,” in

which the money was controlled by Jackson and the Secretary of the Treasury, Roger Taney.

• Supporters argued that the Bank was unconstitutional, and helped aristocracy at the cost of the welfare of the common people.

• The veto of the Bank caused a loss of federal money, which eventually contributed to an economic crisis.

King Andrew• After this critics begin to nickname Andrew Jackson “King Andrew.”• They believed he was abusing his power and expanding the powers

of the President, which would throw off the checks and balances.• Supporters argued that he was helping the common person.

Good or Bad?

Conclusion

• Andrew Jackson decisions always had two factions for and against it.

• In the end, though, he ended up expanding the power of the President and the powers of the common person.