Andrew Jackson Presidency

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Isabella Liu
Social Studies
February 12, 2014
The Presidency of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson served two terms as the President of the United States. In those two terms, he helped to mold the Democratic party, and stayed steadfast to his beliefs in many political showdowns, such as the Nullification Crisis, the Indian Removal Act, and the Bank Wars. Jackson’s determination and stubbornness won him loyal followers and admirers, but also many enemies. From the time of his victories in the War of 1812, to his final acts in office, President Jackson was regarded as a great hero, yet at the same time as a man familiar with the needs of the average citizen.
Before Jackson became President, he was in the military. In the year of 1812, a
Jackson led his militia against the Creek Nation. After the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson was assigned to serve as a major general of the
United States Army.
Jackson’s landmark battle as a general is the Battle of New Orleans (Friedel 57).
The British hoped to be able to take over the city of New Orleans, as well as the
Mississippi River. The battle began in the morning of January 8, 1815. There were well over 5,000 British troops against Jackson’s army of about 4,500. The British lost roughly

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2,000 men, including their commander, while there were only thirteen American soldiers killed (Presidents of a Young Republic 30) and only about seventy American casualties
(Deverell and White 248).
The Battle of New Orleans was fought a month after a peace treaty between
Britain and America had been signed (Presidents of a Young Republic 30). However, the Battle of New Orleans still convinced many Americans that they had emerged very successfully in the War of 1812, which resulted in Jackson becoming a national hero. Not only was this a great American victory, but it also shot a popular Andrew Jackson toward the Presidency (Freidel 43,
Jackson’s Presidency is generally known as the beginning of the modern Presidency; under Jackson the powers in the Presidency grew. For example,
Jackson introduced American national government to the spoils system. The spoils system is the act of basing appointments in the government based on political support
(History Central).
Jackson removed and reappointed many people. This was unlike the Presidents before him who had rarely removed or appointed anybody for only political reasons
(Garraty 262). Though Jackson based his appointments mainly on political support
(History Central), Jackson’s removals were not entirely unjustified. Many of the government workers were either corrupt or too old for their jobs. President Jackson was

Liu 4 also not cynical about the spoils system. He was a strong man who was looking for an increase in authority within the national government so, having government workers dependent on him seemed like a positive idea (Garraty 262, 263). Jackson rewarded many of his supporters with government jobs, for example Jackson appointed Martin Van
Buren, a loyal supporter, as the Secretary of State.
As Secretary of State, Van Buren was in Jackson’s official cabinet and