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Tyranny of Andrew Jackson

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The Tyranny of Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson: the common man or the first king of America? He is viewed by history in many different ways, some see him as the man who granted universal white male suffrage, created a more democratic way to elect electoral voters to congress and replaced caucuses with national nominating conventions; and others, who saw past this false representation and saw how in his eight years in office, he vetoed 12 bills, forced Native Americans from their homeland, ignored supreme court decisions and let his personal life affect his presidential decisions. Jackson, as captured in his portrait in the National Portrait gallery was a stern man with a strong sense of self-reliance. And while these qualities can be seen as …show more content…

However, when introduced the Maysville Road Bill, he was quick to shoot it down. Behind the Bill was Henry Clay, a politician from Kentucky. In previous years, Clay had earned credit from Jackson’s faults and publicly said that Jackson’s part in the Trail of Tears “stained the national honor.” The Maysville Road Bill was a plan to build a twenty mile stretch of highway within Clay’s home state of Kentucky. Jackson vetoed it after it had been passed by congress, declaring that the bill violated the economic affairs of the government and would put America is greater financial crisis. In reality, it was a personal attack against Henry Clay (Van Deusen 52-54).
Despite Jackson’s support for the growth and prosper of the West, both he and his constituents lobbied to raise tariffs on imported textiles such as fur, flax, hemp, liquor and wool to about 50 percent their intended value. The increase of prices from other countries was greatly beneficial to the Northern economy, who were able to sell more of their products, but detrimental to the South. Because the South simply produced raw goods, it was essential that they imported manufactured goods for their general well being. This tariff not only threatened to reduce the flow of goods from Britain, but the loss of money made it difficult for them to purchase raw materials. Representative of South Carolina and long time foe of Jackson, John C Calhoun spoke

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