Persuasive Essay Example on Why Was Andrew Jackson A Terrible President?

In 1828, Andrew Jackson became the seventh president of the United States of America by winning the election against John Quincy Adams. This was largely thanks to the expansion of suffrage by removing the property qualification when voting. Many common men liked Jackson because Jackson comes from a poor background and catered towards the common men. Though this may seem like a good thing for the United States when a president finally catered to the common men, Jackson's actions during his presidency are truly terrible. Andrew Jackson was a terrible president because of his treatment of the Indians, causing an economic crisis, and destroying the Whitehouse.

Firstly, Andrew Jackson had treated the Indians very poorly. In Worcester v. Georgia, the Supreme court decided “The Cherokee nation, then is a distinct community, occupying its own territory… in which laws of Georgia have no force. (Doc 2)”. Even though the Supreme court ruled that what Jackson was doing was unconstitutional, Jackson ignored this ruling and still relocated the Natives on a dangerous trail west. According to a recollection of a survivor, he describes this experience as “People feel bad when they leave Old Nation. Women’s cry and make sad wails… but they say nothing and just put their heads down and keep on going go towards West. (Doc 3)” This is just a cruel and inhumane action by Jackson to send people on a dangerous journey to an alien land against their will.

Furthermore, Andrew Jackson was responsible for an economic crisis. In hopes of destroying the National Bank, Jackson stopped Federal Funds from going into the national banks and instead to various state banks. The abundance of money resulted in State Banks loaning a lot of money and printing large amounts of currency, which led to inflation and an economic crisis. A drawing was made at the time showing Jackson fighting a many-headed snake that grows multiple heads for every head that is cut off(Doc 5). Since the many headed-snake represents the national bank, the drawing is evident that the more problems Jackson tries to get rid of in the bank, the more problems get caused.

Finally, Andrew Jackson indirectly destroyed the Whitehouse. After Jackson won the presidency, he started a new party called the Democratic Party, which he had an inauguration for in the Whitehouse. During Jackson’s inauguration at the Whitehouse, many of his supporters were there, a majority of them being common men. A drawing in this time shows the inauguration, and it becomes apparent that many of the people attending are drunk and rowdy common men(Doc 7). Due to the nature of these people, they end up wrecking the Whitehouse and causing chaos.

All in all, Jackson’s presidency was awful because of his cruelty towards the Native Americans, being responsible for an economic crisis, and wrecking the Whitehouse. Although Jackson’s Presidency may have had some positive things, he still caused many major problems due to his bad decisions and actions. Hopefully, as time goes on, future presidents can learn from Andrew Jackson and won’t make the same mistakes as him.