March 4, 1829 - March 4 , 1837

Characteristic: Vicious

Andrew Jackson did not let anything get in the way of what he wanted or believed in, using his power of veto and ignoring the Supreme Court to get what he wants. Maybe that is why he looks so sad.

Andrew Jackson

Power of the President - Andrew Jackson was the first president to take command with his power to veto. Believing in the people's power to elect the president and vice president, Jackson used his veto power to abolish the electoral college (but not for long?), gaining himself the nickname "The People's President". He also instated a spoils system, where supporters, friends and relatives get government jobs after their party wins an election to keep them in the party.

Second Bank of America - One of his greatest feats, Jackson fought against the Second Bank of America, a theoretically private corporation that really served as a government sponsored monopoly. He vetoed the re-charter bill for the Bank and charged it with disproportionate economic privilege, basically it had too much give or advantage over others economically. The public supported him on the matter, and it probably help him win the re-election.

Indian Removal Act - Andrew Jackson believed that the way to a steady, strong economy was small family farms, and to maintain the growth of the population, there needed to be new farmland. So in 1830, Jack instated the Indian Removal Act was used to move the Native Americans of the South the the west into the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) on the Trail of Tears, where between 2,000 - 6,000 Cherokees died. Many of the Cherokee people thought that they would be safe from the Indian Removal Act, as they had adopted many of the Europeans-American customs like a court system and republican government. A man named Sequoyah created the Cherokee syllabary, which enabled the Cherokee to read and write. Despite the efforts of them, they were still kicked of there land by white people in Georgia and other southern states, as they did not except them as "social equals". It did not help that gold had also been found on the land Cherokee had been inhabiting. They even went to the Supreme Court in 1831 in the case of Cherokee Nation Vs. Georgia and won, and they even won Worcester Vs. Georgia, saying that Georgia had intruded on its special treaty with the US and had violated the Cherokee Nation's sovereign status, but Andrew Jackson had decided to ignore both of these court cases and continue with the removal of the Cherokee.