[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on President Andrew Jackson and the Removal Act of 1830
Andrew Jackson was President of the United States during the golden age of American individualism. An earlier generation of American leaders had talked of equality of opportunity, while reserving to themselves the right to control the nation's government and economy; but by the 1830s it seemed to many people that at last the theory was on the way to becoming a reality. Poor boys--provided that they were able and lucky enough--were becoming rich men; representatives of every class were entering professions that had once been considered the exclusive possessions of the aristocracy; and a local politician and national military hero from Tennessee had broken the control of Eastern politicians over the Presidency of the United States. Jackson and the doctrine of the free individual had grown up with the new nation, and his rise from humble birth to the highest office in the land appealed to a people who believed, not necessarily that all men were equal, but at least that every man should have an equal right to prove his superiority.
As President, Jackson not only typified his times; he also shaped them. By gauging accurately the aspirations of the American people and translating them into a program that won their overwhelming support, he increased both his and their power over the national government. He was the first President to provide the majority with effective leadership, and of his successors only Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were able to apply those principles that made the "Reign of King Andrew" synonymous with democracy.
Although these four men had little else in common, they all shared with Jackson the ability to identify their policies with the interests of the majority and to create the impressions that they and their supporters were masters rather than victims of the age in which they lived. The merits of Jackson have been thoroughly debated......
