Andrew Jackson's Presidency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Andrew Jackson's Presidency - Essay Example The native Indian Americans faced one of their toughest times during his presidency, considering that he had embarked on a mission to dispossess the Native Americans of their land from the East of the Mississippi river to relocate them to the west, and this is a decision that he acted on most swiftly and decisively (Benson, 22). Thus, by the end of his term in presidency, he had managed to displace the natives from their motherland, to present day Oklahoma, through a forceful eviction that eventually came to be known as the ‘Trail of tear’ (Heckscher, n.p.). Secondly, Andrew Jackson’s policies were responsible for an economic meltdown in the United States and restricted economic growth for the country, since he adopted economic policies that were fundamentally flawed such as the closure of the Second Bank of the United States, eventually leading the country to a future economic crisis (Buchanan, 165). Thirdly, Andrew Jackson’s political actions were unjust, unconstitutional and created strains between the federal government and the states they presided over, thus leading to a political discontent in the country, at a time when peace was the most important thing in the country, having moved out of previous wars and conflicts that had threatened to completely tear the country apart. Therefore, in a nutshell, Andrew Jackson’s presidency was a cancer on the United States, and prevented the federal government from growing as a whole, during his time in office. Analysis of Andrew Jackson's Presidency The most memorable and horrific aspect of Andrew Jackson’s presidency was his treatment of the Native Americans. President Andrew Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act (1830), which then gave the president powers to negotiate the removal treaties with Indian nations, by transferring them from the regions they previously inhabited as their homeland, through legalizing the transfers and providing for the funding of the transfer proc ess (Buchanan, 166). This move has largely been termed by the human right commentators as amounting to ethnic cleansing, through dispossessing the native Indians of their motherland in the East of Mississippi, and transferring them forcefully to the western side; the present day Oklahoma (Andrew Jackson, n.p.). While the passage of the Removal Act was meant to be a channel through which peaceful treaties would be entered into, between the Indian Nations and the federal government, Andrew Jackson resulted to the forceful eviction of the Natives, after it became clear that they were not willing to give up their ancestral lands (Cole, 72). The forceful eviction was extremely dehumanizing, especially since President Andrew Jackson Sent 7,000-armed troops specifically to remove the Cherokee tribe, which had proved to be a bit more resistant in signing a transfer treaty that would displace them from their motherland (Benson, 27). This move was extremely bad, considering that the only reas on President Jackson implemented the forceful transfer of the Natives, was to have the white settlers expand their farms, so that their cotton farming and slave economy would continue to flourish, at the expense of the comfort of the Natives, who were not seen to contribute much