JACKSON AS PRESIDENT

Andrew Jackson had been born in a log cabin, but when he was elected president in 1828, he was a planter and slaveholder. He was the first president from the West and had first achieved fame by fighting Native Americans. Jackson, however, was not naive in terms of politics; he had been a congressman and a senator from Tennessee, as well as serving as territorial governor of Florida. Jackson was personally popular, especially with the common people. Jackson also expressed loyalty to those who supported him politically. He infrequently consulted with his appointed Cabinet, relying instead on his “Kitchen Cabinet,” the inner circle of his political supporters. Jackson also utilized the spoils system to give other political supporters jobs in the government.

Jackson also wanted to return to the Jeffersonian ideal of America as a nation of independent yeoman farmers. He opposed excessive government involvement in economic affairs, fearing that in most cases only wealthy interests benefited from that involvement. In modern terms, Jackson favored “smaller government” and was not afraid to use the power of the presidential veto to stop government programs he thought were excessive. At the end of his presidency Jackson appointed Roger B.

Taney as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; the Taney court would validate almost all of Jackson’s decisions favoring states rights.

To many of his opponents Jackson was a paradox. While he spoke of the need to limit the influence of government in society, he increased the power of the presidency. Opponents often referred to him as ‘'King Andrew I.” On the issue of slavery Jackson was no friend of abolitionists; he was a slave owner and was opposed to reform of the slave system.