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Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States of America, can be debated as either a good president or bad president. But if one were to weigh out the positives and negatives of Andrew Jackson’s presidency, one would realize that his positives outweigh his negatives for a variety of historic facts. Andrew Jackson was a good president because he represented the majority of America’s people by being a common, prevented a civil war when South Carolina threatened to secede from the nation, and because he technically found or instigated the two major parties used in America today (Democratic and Republican).
Many Jackson oppositionists despise him because of he is a hypocrite, however America was founded on hypocrisy so as an American leader it is justified to be a hypocrite. Jackson was a common man meaning that he was not part of the rich and elite group. He had a “rags to riches” story. He was the first president to represent the majority of the American people by being a common man. Starting off, Jackson was poor and uneducated which is why many people voted for him because he had a similar lifestyle as them and they knew that he understood the general problems they had.
Additionally, Jackson was a war hero of 1812 in which he took control of militia forces. These combinations in a man illuminated a perfectly suitable person to run their nation. A major victory in Jackson’s career was when he essentially prevented a civil war in the United States. Jackson was a huge supporter of unity and when South Carolina wanted to secede from the nation during the nullification crisis of 1932, Jackson was in shock. South Carolina complained that the tariffs were too high and unjustified.
South Carolina threatened to secede from the nation. Jackson proclaimed that leaving the nation was unconstitutional and that they would simply be overpowered by the US military. As an end result, Jackson made a compromise by lowering the tariffs just enough to keep South Carolina from seceding. This action prevented a civil war by keeping both sides concerning the crisis content. Jackson is very important because he created or instigated the two dominant political parties we use today (democratic and republican).
The beliefs in these parties switched several times in history but initially Jackson was a democrat. The major beliefs in democrats in the 1820s-1850s were the beliefs in a small national government, pro states’ rights, and a strict interpretation of the constitution. The republicans (initially known as the Whigs) essentially opposed all of Jackson’s beliefs and therefore had more or less the complete opposite beliefs of the democrats.
By starting these two political parties, he started the way people would categorize political candidates throughout the rest of American history. There are many who are against Andrew Jackson because he is a hypocrite. An example of this is how Jackson states he is against slavery but still owned slaves. One has to understand that America was founded on hypocrisy. Essentially what Jackson is trying to do is to make compromises on situations so he can support both sides of an argument to represent as many people as possible.
Conclusively Jackson was a great president because he represented the people of America by being a common man, overcame huge obstacles such as keeping South Carolina from seceding, and by forming the two most popular political parties used in America today, the Democrats and the Republicans. Those who argue that Jackson was a bad president simply because he was a hypocrite give an invalid point because America was founded on hypocrisy.