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Andrew Jackson served two terms as the President of the United States. In those two terms, he helped to mold the Democratic party, and stayed steadfast to his belief s in many political showdowns, such as the Nullification Crisis, the Indian Removal Act, an d the Bank Wars. Jackson’s determination and stubbornness won him loyal followers an admirers, but also many enemies.
From the time of his victories in the War of 1812, to final acts in office, President Jackson was regarded as a great hero, yet at the same it e as a man familiar with the needs of the average citizen. Before Jackson became President, he was in the military. In the year of 1812, a war between the United States and Great Britain began. Although Jackson had no for mall military training, he was still appointed as a major general in the Tennessee militia (Presidents of a Young Republic 30) by field officers.
Jackson’s first significant battle was the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Jackson led his militia against the Creek Nation. Aft the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Jackson was assigned to serve as a major general of the United States Army. Jackson’s landmark battle as a general is the Battle of New Orleans (Frilled 57). The British hoped to be able to take over the city of New Orleans, as well as the Mississippi River. The battle began in the morning of January 8, 1815. There were well over 5,000 British troops against Jackson’s army of about 4,500.
The British lost roughly Lieu 2 2,000 men, including their commander, while there were only thirteen American solid killed (Presidents of a Young Republic 30) and only about seventy American casualties (Develop and White 248). The Battle of New Orleans was fought a month after a peace treaty between Britain and America had been signed (Presidents of a Young Republic 30). However, the Battle of New Orleans still convinced many Americans that they had emerged ever successfully in the War of 1812, which resulted in Jackson becoming a national hero. Only was this a great American victory, but it also shot a popular Andrew Jackson tow rd the Presidency (Freddie 43, 57). Before assuming the Presidency, Jackson served as the Governor of the Florida Territory after it was bought from Spain in 1821. Jackson was also elected onto the Senate, representing Tennessee for two terms before running for office. Jackson lost his first Presidential race. The messy Election of 1824 between Andrew Jackson, John Quince Adams, William H. Crawford, and Henry Clay left Adams victorious and Jackson fuming (Presidents of a Young Republic 32).
In the Election of 1824, Jackson won the most popular votes, however he did not receive enough elector al votes to win. The Constitution states that in that situation the House of Representative chooses the winner (Develop and White 267). The House of Representatives chose Josh n Quince Adams. Henry Clay, was a very influential man in the House of Representatives, had preferred a program similar to Dame’s. It was suspected that Clay had offered the vita votes in the House of Representatives in order to gain political power from Adams.
U pong Lieu 3 being sworn into office, Adams appointed Clay as Secretary of State. This only fueled t he rumors that a corrupt agreement had taken place between Clay and Adams. Jackson and his angry supporters began to campaign in order to take the Presidency in the Election of 1828 (Freddie 52). When Jackson ran for office in 1828, one of the focal points of the campaign was hat he stood up for the average citizen, and this was widely revered by the new democratically inclined generation (Granary 259).
Citizens were hoping for change. M any small farmers, frontier settlers, and slave owners stood behind Jackson in the hopes t hat he truly was the reform minded, popular war hero his campaign made him out to be. Average citizens believed Jackson would protect their rights. Jackson’s supporters were e determined to win the election and they did (Develop and White 286). After being inaugurated, Jackson acted as President in a way none of his redirectors had.
Jackson’s Presidency is generally known as the beginning of the modern Presidency; under Jackson the powers in the Presidency grew. For example, Jackson introduced American national government to the spoils system. The spoils system is the act of basing appointments in the government based on political suppose art (History Central). Jackson removed and reappointed many people. This was unlike the Presidents before him who had rarely removed or appointed anybody for only political reasons (Granary 262). Though Jackson based his appointments mainly on political support