Did President Andrew Jackson really deserve the title "people's president?" Our work in class this past week proves that no, Jackson was not a president in favor of the people. In six groups we were assigned to study the Bank War, Indian Removal or The Spoils System. Only one of which supported the idea that Andrew Jackson is a "people's president."
The Bank War is the only thing we studied that supports his title. And even then there were people who did not agree that his desire to even out the power between the rich and the poor was the best for the people. My group, who focused on this topic, thought the bank war supported his title because his ultimate goal was to take away some of the power held by stockholders so that the poor people could also be able to control their economy.
Meanwhile The Indian removal and Spoils System completely deny the fact that Andrew Jackson was a "people's president." During the Indian Removal, president Jackson forced 5 innocent native tribes off of their homeland, to make room for the expansion of the United States. 10,000 natives died during their long journey to the west. Rather than seeing Jackson as a "people's president" they referred to him as the "white devil." The spoils sysytem didn't support Jackson either because he made it so that people were given jobs based on their loyalty rather than theijr skill. Criminals who supported Jackson were given jobs and sometimes even political positions. This system proved that President Jackson did not have the best interest of the people in mind and therefore we should not consider him as the "people's president."
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