Andrew Jackson Dbq

Andrew Jackson was the “people’s president.” Having won the popular vote, he was expected to represent the people and encourage democracy, rule by the people, during his time in office. To many people, that is exactly what he did. However, critics have reason to believe that Andrew Jackson was not democratic at all. Although supporters of Andrew Jackson may argue that he was a champion of democracy, he ultimately was not because he abused his executive power, violated minority rights, and promoted a corrupt government. To begin, Jackson tended to abuse his executive power to benefit his values. He used his power to veto an act of Congress a whopping twelve times. For instance, he vetoed the Maysville Road, a road planned to be built in Kentucky, …show more content…
He passed the Indian Removal Act, which forced all Native Americans east of the Mississippi River, including the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, Choctaws, and Seminoles, to move to the designated Indian Territory. This land, unknown to the Native Americans, was located west of Arkansas (Document 10). They were forced to march by United States troops. Many died on the journey alone, which became known as the “Trail of Tears.” Jackson disrespected not only Native Americans, but African Americans as well. Between 1794 and the mid 1830s, the number of slaves that Jackson owned progressively increased. He owned the most during his presidency, when the number reached almost 150 slaves (Document 13). A democracy should be based on the people, and Andrew Jackson did not respect the wishes of all people in the United States. Therefore, he really is not a champion of …show more content…
Jackson often disregarded the decisions made by the Supreme Court and Congress to make his own decisions based on his own beliefs. However, Jackson was trying to protect the Southern farmers by vetoing the national bank that would hurt them (Document 4), and paid African Americans in the military the same as he did whites (Document 12). For the most part, his actions did not make him seem like a champion of democracy, as he did not always represent all of his

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