Andrew Jackson
Hero or Zero? ZERO!!
The Trail of Tears
Jackson is the whole reason for the Trail of Tears. Jackson signed the the Indian Removal Act into law. This Act allowed the U.S. government to "exchange" the Indians land. The two main reasons that the Cherokee land was so desirable was because it had very fertile soil for cotton, and there was gold. The Cherokee Tribe was not the only tribe to be moved to another land. Jackson was told at first that he was not able to mess with the Cherokee but he flat out ignored it. in 1838, the Georgia Militia , with the blessing of the U.S. government rounded up the Cherokee and pushed them west.
The Spoils System
The Spoils System is when a Candidate promises trusted friends a job in office if he becomes President. The reasons that Some of our past Presidents did this was to make sure when he made a decision that they would support it. He knew that if he were to become President that not many people would support his decisions. Another reason that he used the Spoils System was because he did not have many connections to the office. The spoils system gives people that are not even qualified, the job.
The Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis is when South Carolina threatened to secede due to the 2 tariffs that had been recently passed. The taxes on the imports would only benefit the northern state's economy. The taxes were actually damaging the south's economy because they had to pay the them with no income, so they were actually losing a lot of money.
Picture Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24715700@N06/5384596534/
Nullification Crisis Cartoon
This cartoon shows how the south's economy was suffering from the new tariffs. And the Northern States were the only ones actually benefiting from the new Tariffs. The Tariffs were to expensive for the south to pay and as you can tell in the cartoon their building is old and beaten down but the north's building is looking very well built and in good shape. Then when you look at the man on the right (the north) you can see that he is well fed and upper class. But when you look at the man on the left he is beaten down and pretty skinny saying that he is underfed due to not having as much money as the north.
Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil, and the Presidency