Andrew Jackson

Part 1 of a new series identifying those responsible for the corruption of the constitution and capitalism.

Andrew Jackson was the 7th President of the United States, the first Democrat to be president, and an established racist.

His Crimes

Andrew Jackson did many great things to our country, including reducing the federal debt to $33,733.05 (what happened?).

However, he also defeated many of the founding principles. First, he lessened state sovereignty, and destroyed the state’s rights that had existed from the start. Second, he set signed the Indian Removal Act. Third, he increased the power of the president.

Outrageously high taxes and an authoritarian north may have lead to the Civil War. Jackson decided that states could not nullify acts of national congress and that they could not secede at will. The north would then use this to bully the south into high tariffs (making the southern farmers poorer and the northern manufacturers richer) and would create the very sectionalism that started the Civil War.

Jackson also forced the American Indians into reservations. Though many of these Indians were adapting to Western Life, Jackson felt it necessary to move them. The driving forces behind this were settlers who didn’t believe that they could live with the American Indians. Jackson pandered to these settlers, and the Indians were brutalized.

The Supreme Court ruled the Indian Removal Acts unconstitutional and in violation of the treaties already in place, but President Jackson believed that the president did not have to abide by the laws and ignored the Supreme Court’s decision. By doing this, he made the president’s powers stronger.

Next in the series: Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Tags: American Indians, Andrew Jackson, capitalism, Civil War, constitution, debt, Indian Removal Act, north, nullification, president, sectionalism, south, sovereignty, state's rights, Supreme Court, tariffs, taxes

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