Towering at six feet and one inch with a shock of red (eventually gray) hair was Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States. While this Tennessee born orphan had an Age dedicated to him and undoubtedly took home the popular vote in 1828, this first western president possessed of a plethora of character flaws. Nefarious pretty much sums up the duel-loving president’s persona. Jackson was a villain and his term marked an era of the appalling besmirching of America’s principles.
Old Hickory was notorious for his vetoing. He was one of the first presidents to truly break away from ties with congress and make his own decisions. His tyrannical ways caused many to see him as a commanding king. On May 27, 1830, Jackson vetoed the authorization of “a subscription of stock in the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington Turnpike Road Company.” By forbidding the construction of roads and canals, Jackson was ultimately preventing the growth of industry. Yet again, in 1832, Jackson was responsible for another veto. He dismissed the bank charter, which eventually led to the Panic of 1837, where unemployment rates skyrocketed and the banks failed. While Jackson did have a somewhat reasonable argument, his quick decision to veto caused an economic crisis, which wasn’t as quick to fix.
Aside from being a NO machine, Jackson was also undeniably, an insensitive racist. Jackson was a huge promoter of slavery and saw no harm in it. He passed the racist test with flying colors though, in 1829, when he endorsed the Indian Removal. Jackson wasn’t very benevolent towards the Native Americans. He called them savages and believed that America should “thrust them farther into the wilderness”. With that being said, Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and the Indians were forced to give up their land and move west on a treacherous journey later known as the trail of tears. Jackson’s intolerable cruelty towards the Native Americans will forever be a permanent stain on America and what it stands for.
As if the list of Jackson’s negative traits wasn’t long enough, hypocrisy was also in Jackson’s line of expertise. In his farewell address, all Jackson could speak of was how necessary it was to pass every law according to the constitution and allegedly was loyal to and stood by said constitution. However, there were evident times when Jackson clearly violated what he stood for, such as his invasion and seizure of Pensacola, Florida in 1819. Jackson went into Florida without permission during the first Seminole War. Jackson's invasion of territory belonging to Spain, which of whom the U.S was not currently at war with, fashioned an international incident. Jackson was called to be censured by many in the Monroe administration.
The definition of seventh heaven is: a state of great joy or satisfaction. And while Jackson was the seventh president of the United States, it is apparent that many, such as the Indians and slaves, neither were in a state of great joy nor were they very satisfied during Jackson’s term. Sure Jackson may have led a debt-free nation and he perhaps showed heroic ability during the war of 1812, but Jackson was certainly not worthy of gracing center stage of the twenty dollar bill. There are at least twenty reasons why he shouldn’t have been given such an honor; Jackson tainted the nation’s image with the Indian Removal Act, his racist views, his hypocritical actions, and his king-like demeanor. Andrew Jackson’s ghastly qualities are not what our country stands for and the twenty dollar bill was clearly misrepresented. There are many who are more deserving of being bestowed upon with such a privilege.