Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was not a democratic president. For example, the cases of Indian Removal Act and the Spoil System. The issue of the Indian Removal Act proves Andrew Jackson was not a democratic president. Jackson said he would completely remove Indians if he got elected as president because the white people wanted the land the Indians were living on. The Supreme Court said that the Indians can stay, but Jackson ignored them. He forced them to leave, but some didn’t, so that is how the trail of tears started. In document G, on July 11, 1832, James Mooney, wrote a paper in it he quoted a Georgia volunteer during the removal states, “I fought through the civil war and have seen men shot to pieces and slaughtered by thousands, but the Cherokee removal was the cruelest work I ever knew.” It is easy to tell he was not democratic because he had thousands of Indians forcibly moved to Indian Territory West of Mississippi. In the end, 4000 Cherokees were killed. He got rid of the Indians because the white people wanted their land, in Jackson saw that if he makes them vanish, he will get more votes for another term of presidency. In democracy, everyone is entitled to be equal, but Jackson sending people away and taking their land from them is obviously not treating someone equal. The issue of the Spoil System proves Andrew Jackson was not a democratic president. The definition of Spoil System is handing out government jobs to supporters. This is exactly what Jackson did. He fired a large number of federal employees, who have families to feed and also experience at the job they were doing, and replaced them with his friends. He thought he was being democratic by putting an end to a permanent, non-elected office holding class. In document H Jackson wrote a letter to congress saying how he should choose who stays and who goes and who come in to work. He also states how “Duties of all public officers are...so plain and simple.” No Jackson, that’s not how it works. First