What were President Jackson's most important political priorities? What elements of President Jackson's biography and political philosophy shaped these priorities?

Question

How might you connect Jackson's key policies and relations with Congress with his vision of the presidency?

Answer 1

Answer: An ideal answer will:
1. Discuss and analyze President Jackson's policy priorities of Indian removal, reducing tariffs and government infrastructure projects, the closing of the Bank of the United States, and maintaining the Union when confronted by the challenge of southern advocates of state nullification.
2. Discuss and evaluate the influence of President Jackson growing up poor in rural Tennessee, far from eastern elites, in shaping his Indian Removal policy and his economic policies regarding the Bank of the United States and the tariffs.
3. Discuss and evaluate the influence of President Jackson's background as a military general in the War of 1812 and a leader of military campaigns against Indians in shaping his Indian Removal policy, his refusal to enforce U.S. Supreme Court decisions blocking Indian removal of the Cherokees, and his political response and military threats in dealing with the nullification crisis reflected, to some extent, his military background.
4. Discuss how President Jackson's vision of the presidency involved putting the presidency, not Congress, at the center of American government. State how Jackson was prepared to depart from his predecessors in deferring to Congress in several important political and economic policy areas including Indian policy, the tariff, and the national bank.
5. Discuss how President Jackson's unprecedented, frequent use of the presidential veto in rejecting policies such as the rechartering of the national bank reflected his activist, executive-centered vision of the presidency.
6. Discuss how President Jackson's insistence to implement forced Indian Removal, despite the affirming of treaty rights by the Supreme Court, also reflected his vision of the presidency.
7. Discuss how President Jackson's opposition to state nullification of federal laws, including the tariff, undercut the presidential authority and enforcement responsibilities granted to him by the Constitution and reflected his vision of the presidency.
8. Write a concise and effective conclusion.