Josephine Von Girsewald

Ms. Mecca

7th Social Studies

04/15/19

Andrew Jackson was an Anti-Democratic democratic president

Andrew Jackson was the United States president between March 4, 1829 – March 4,

1837, some may argue he was democratic, but in my opinion, he was not. Some examples of

how he wasn’t democratic were he was one of the largest slave owners in Tennessee, a person

who is democratic and believes that the lower class should be treated equally and a that no

person should be put lower than others, but then owns people and treats them as lesser than is

contradicting what he is stated to be democratic. In addition to this, there is aposter made to

represnt andrew jackson not being anti democratic because of certain symbols. Last, of all, he

gave lower class people jobs in government but to use them as personal gain. Andrew Jackson

was an anti-democratic person because he changed most of his views and when he joined the

government officials, he disregarded many people.

Andrew Jackson owned many slaves throughout his life; some say he held about 300

throughout his life. Andrew Jackson bought his first slave, a young woman, in 1788. However,

later in his life, he started to buy more and more. Andrew Jackson bought The Hermitage in

1804; he owned nine enslaved African Americans. Just 25 years later, that number had swelled

to more than 100, through purchase and reproduction. At the time of his death in 1845, Jackson

owned approximately 150 people who lived and worked on the property. A democratic person

would not purchase slaves or treat people as such. The reason this is - is because owning people
is discriminating people and not giving people their right; he is taking someone's rights away

and distinguishing them as lower class.

Secondly, in document 5 of the Jackson DBQ packet was a poster made to represent

how Andrew Jackson was perceived. In my view, I think it's preceding that a

Andrew Jackson was not democratic. Some examples in the poster that it shows are him

standing on a ripped up Declaration Of Independence revealing he disagrees with it. Another

example is there is a thrown behind him and a big crown on his head indicating he believes in

kings. This all shows how he was against democratic things.

Lastly, Jackson gave many federal government jobs to lower class people. Some say he

gave them tasks to provide more opportunities to the lower class, but many can argue that the

reason he did this was that once he gave lower level people jobs, he made them feel as though

they owed him for giving them jobs. Then whenever he needed favors or people to agree with

him etc. they would. This shows that he was not being democratic and providing jobs to the

lower class but giving them jobs just for his advantage

President Andrew Jackson was not a democratic person because all of the things he did

that people thought to be democratic were only used selfishly, and he did many other acts which

from the start were not democratic. People change, but when Andrew Jackson became

president, he abandoned all his beliefs and did not put the people's thoughts before his. Andrew

Jackson made native Americans leave their home town many slaves and gave lower class jobs

to use for his advantag4s. Given these reasons, this shows that Andrew Jackson was not

democratic.