SHOULD ANDREW JACKSON BE ON THE $20 BILL?
Below you will find two histories of Andrew Jackson, one
of the most important Presidents in American history. In
fact, he is so important that he is honored with a place on
the $20 bill, one of only 7 Presidents to get such an honor
on commonly used currency.
OVERVIEW:
 Assignment 1: Highlight three (3) pieces of evidence
that support removing Andrew Jackson from the $20
bill, and three pieces of evidence that support keeping
Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Fill out the chart on
the next page.
 Assignment 2: Write a persuasive paragraph using
evidence from the attached readings.
o Length: 8-12 sentences.
KEEP ANDREW
JACKSON ON $20 BILL
3 Pieces of Evidence:
REMOVE ANDREW
JACKSON FROM $20
BILL
3 Pieces of Evidence:
Which viewpoint do you most agree with? Why?:
THE BIOGRAPHY OF ANDREW JACKSON
Adapted from www.whitehouse.gov
More so than any President before him, Andrew Jackson was elected by
popular vote; as President he sought to act as the direct representative of the
common man. The 1820’s were a time of great change in America, where
everyday people wanted a say in their government. Across the country, but
especially in the western states of Kentucky and Tennessee, the people
demanded more democracy—where every white man would be able to vote,
and almost every government job would be an elected one, and where any white
man of talent could rise to the top. This movement was given the title of
“JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY.”
Born in a backwoods settlement in Tennessee in 1767, he received little
education. He served as a drummer boy in the Revolutionary War, where he
received a scar from a British officer. In his late teens he read law for about two
years, and he became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee. Fiercely
jealous of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast a
slur on his wife Rachel.
Jackson was a self-made man, rich enough to buy dozens of slaves and
to build a mansion, the Hermitage, near Nashville by the time he was 30. He
became one of the largest slave owners in the country, owning over 140 slaves.
He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the House of Representatives,
and he served briefly in the Senate. A general in the War of 1812, Jackson
became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans. By 1828,
he was elected President of the United States, the first President from west of the
Appalachian Mountains.
In his first Annual Message to Congress, Jackson recommended
eliminating the Electoral College, something that he felt took power from the
people. He tried to limit the power of other people in government by firing them
and hiring his supporters instead, something that greatly angered his rivals. This
practice, known as the Spoils System, remained in place for the next 70 years.
Government officials were only hired if they supported the President, not if they
were actually qualified for the job.
In many ways, Jackson is the father of today’s Democratic Party that
continues to claim to represent the everyday person. His opponents, however,
thought that he was becoming too powerful, and called him “King Andrew.” This
was because, like today, he used the office of the President to influence what
laws were made, vetoing more laws than any President before him.
His views won approval from the American electorate; in 1832 he polled more
than 56 percent of the popular vote and almost five times as many electoral votes
as his closest competitor.
Perhaps his greatest moment came in the Nullification Crisis. The state of
South Carolina believed that a tax on imported goods was unfair, and decided
that it did not need to follow the national law. After it defied the rest of the
country, it started gathering troops for its defense. South Carolina believed that
Andrew Jackson, a fellow southerner and cotton grower, would support them. In
fact, Andrew Jackson believed that South Carolina was acting selfishly, and let
his position be known clearly. To a South Carolina Representative, he bluntly
said
“Please give my compliments to my friends in your State and say to them,
that if a single drop of blood shall be shed there in opposition to the laws
of the United States, I will hang the first man I can lay my hand on
engaged in such treasonable conduct, upon the first tree I can reach.”
South Carolina backed down, and the Union was saved. The idea that a state
could decide to not follow a national law also became clearly established, making
the national government much more powerful.
In January of 1832, while the President was dining with friends at the
White House, someone whispered to him that the Senate had rejected the
nomination of Martin Van Buren as Minister to England. Jackson jumped to his
feet and exclaimed, "By the Eternal! I'll smash them!" So he did. His favorite, Van
Buren, became Vice President, and succeeded to the Presidency when "Old
Hickory" retired to the Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.
SOURCE 2—JACKSON AND INDIAN REMOVAL
Early in the 19th century, while the rapidly-growing United States
expanded into the lower South, white settlers faced what they considered an
obstacle. This area was home to the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chicasaw and
Seminole nations. These Indian nations, in the view of the settlers and many
other white Americans, were standing in the way of progress. Eager for land to
raise cotton, the settlers pressured the federal government to acquire Indian
territory. Indian Removal, or the moving of Native Americans to reservations
west of the Mississippi River, became the goal of many southerners, the same
people that elected Andrew Jackson to the Presidency.
Andrew Jackson, from Tennessee, was a strong believer in Indian
removal. In 1814 he commanded the U.S. military forces that defeated a faction
of the Creek nation. In their defeat, the Creeks lost 22 million acres of land in
southern Georgia and central Alabama. The U.S. acquired more land in 1818
when, spurred in part by the motivation to punish the Seminoles for their practice
of harboring fugitive slaves, Jackson's troops invaded Spanish Florida. This
made Andrew Jackson a national hero, and gave him the reputation as an
“Indian Fighter.”
From 1814 to 1824, Jackson was instrumental in negotiating nine out of
eleven treaties that took the southern tribes eastern lands in exchange for lands
in the west. The tribes agreed to the treaties for several reasons. They wanted to
satisfy the government in the hopes of retaining some of their land, and they
wanted to protect themselves from white harassment. As a result of the treaties,
the United States gained control over three-quarters of Alabama and Florida, as
well as parts of Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and North Carolina.
This was a period of voluntary Indian migration, however, and only a small
number of Creeks, Cherokee and Choctaws actually moved to the new lands.
Although the five Indian nations had made earlier attempts at resistance,
many of their strategies were non-violent. One method was to change their way
of life, such as using large-scale farming, learning Western education, and
owning slaves. This earned the nations the designation of the "Five Civilized
Tribes." They hoped this would let them coexist peacefully with the settlers. But it
only made whites jealous and resentful.
The Cherokee used legal means in their attempt to safeguard their rights.
They sought protection from land-hungry white settlers, who continually harassed
them by stealing their livestock, burning their towns, and living on their land. In
1827 the Cherokee adopted a written constitution declaring themselves to be a
sovereign nation. If they were a separate nation, then they would have the right
to remain in place. The state of Georgia claimed that there could not be a
separate Cherokee Nation inside Georgia, and passed many laws hurting the
Cherokee. They gave away Cherokee lands in a lottery, and did not stop white
settlers from moving into Cherokee territory uninvited. The Cherokees then went
to the Supreme Court, and won their case against Georgia’s laws.
The state of Georgia refused to abide by the Court decision, however, and
President Jackson refused to enforce the law.
In 1830, just a year after taking office, Jackson pushed a new piece of
legislation called the "Indian Removal Act" through both houses of Congress. It
gave the president power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living
east of the Mississippi. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their
lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to the west. Those wishing to
remain in the east would become citizens of their home state like any other
resident. This act affected not only the southeastern nations, but many others
further north. The removal was supposed to be voluntary and peaceful, and it
was that way for the tribes that agreed to the conditions. But the southeastern
nations resisted, and Jackson forced them to leave.
Jackson's described the Native Americans as children in need of guidance, and
he believed the removal policy was positive for the Indians. Most white
Americans thought that the United States would never extend beyond the
Mississippi. Removal would save Indian people from the whites, and would
resettle them in an area where they could govern themselves in peace. But some
Americans saw this as an excuse for a brutal and inhumane course of action,
and protested loudly against removal.
The Cherokee nation was tricked with an illegitimate treaty. In 1833, a few
Cherokees agreed to leave, but the leaders of this group were not the recognized
leaders of the Cherokee nation, and over 15,000 Cherokees -- led by Chief John
Ross -- signed a petition in protest. The Cherokee were given two years to
migrate voluntarily, at the end of which time they would be forcibly removed. By
1838 only 2,000 had migrated; 16,000 remained on their land. Jackson’s
successor, Martin Van Buren, followed his policy and sent in 7,000 troops, who
forced the Cherokees into stockades at bayonet point. They were not allowed
time to gather their belongings, and as they left, whites looted their homes. Then
began the march known as the Trail of Tears, in which 4,000 Cherokee people
died of cold, hunger, and disease on their way to the western lands.
By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American
people from their land east of the Mississippi, and had secured treaties which led
to the removal of a slightly larger number. Most members of the five southeastern
nations had been relocated west, opening 25 million acres of land to white
settlement and to slavery.
PROS AND CONS
POSITIVE ACTIONS OF ANDREW JACKSON
NEGATIVE ACTIONS OF ANDREW JACKSON
WHICH SIDE IS MORE CONVINCING? WHY?