Sherwood Callaway<\/p>\n
HIS 141, Blog Post 7<\/p>\n
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Jackson\u2019s vision of democracy was implemented with force, and predictably, the result was destruction. The two subjects that best characterize this phenomenon are indian removal and the bank war, both of which Wilentz covers in chapter 14.<\/p>\n
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Indian Removal was a violent and clumsy process. He pursued it to please his constituency, much of whom resided in areas of population growth and frontier expansion. And although the government desperately needed to implement national Indian policy, Jackson\u2019s was a crude proposal. The stories vary, but in every case, moving Indians across the country was inefficient and cost unnecessary lives. In some cases the natives responded violently, as in the Black Hawk War and the Seminole War. In other cases the natives attempted to deal with the Americans on their on terms, through the courts. In Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia <\/i>they were defeated \u201cwhen Chief Justice John Marshall declared\u2026that because the Cherokees were a \u201cdomestic dependent nation,\u201d they lacked standing to sue\u201d (223). Worcester v. Georgia <\/i>had a more promising result, in which Marshall declared that \u201cthe Cherokee Nation was \u201ca distinct community, occupying its own territory\u201d\u201d (223). But ultimately, legislators had little tolerance for even those Indians who were most similar to whites.<\/p>\n
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In the case of the bank, Jackson vehemently sought its destruction, because he thought it favored northeastern states over western and southern states, and because it seemed to serve only to make the rich richer. He managed to quash its rechartering, and withdraw funds from it, thereby rendering the institution impotent. Striking against state banks as well, he passed the Specie Circular, which demanded that federal lands be bought with gold or silver. Suddenly, the paper currency issued by these state banks became worthless, and speculators demanded specie in exchange\u2014specie that the banks did not have. Ultimately, Jackson\u2019s violent dismembering of banking within the US spiraled the country into panic and recession, and left the government ill equipped to deal with financial matters.<\/p>\n
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By the time Jackson\u2019s presidency ended, his successor was left with a real mixed bag. Indian Removal had been a long and costly process, and the Specie Circular had incited a national financial crisis. Jackson\u2019s constituency had degraded and Van Buren was forced to establish political friendships upon different principles, as well as make new allies altogether. Frontiers people disliked the restrictions of Jackson\u2019s Specie Circular, Southerners objected to the tariff that Jackson had defended, and the planter aristocracy was upset with the loss of the BUS. Despite the mistakes of his predecessor, Van Buren was able to win his election by gaining a popular reputation amongst southerners as \u201ceager to mollify southern slaveholders and silence the abolitionists\u201d (236). Hard to believe.<\/p>\n
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Sherwood Callaway HIS 141, Blog Post 7 Jackson\u2019s vision of democracy was implemented with force, and predictably, the result was destruction. The two subjects that best characterize this phenomenon are indian removal and the bank war, both of which Wilentz covers in chapter 14. Indian Removal was a violent and clumsy process. He … <\/p>\n