Social Studies

Author’s Thesis Paper
1. Read the secondary source and find the author’s thesis. In your own words, write it below:
The author’s thesis was that Jackson was a powerful president capable of doing many things, he could defend
slavery which was bad and expand democracy which was good.
2. Elaborate the main supporting categories (or sub-theses) used by the author to prove his or her thesis
throughout the source. Write in your own words and please use #’s to identify the various supporting
categories.
Jackson was very powerful but deceiving because:
1. Supporting democracy supported many people, this built up his reputation because he gave the general public
hope in having the liberties they wanted. He fought for democracy because of he knew how beneficial it was,
Andrew Jackson grew up among the ‘commoners’ and worked his way up, this gave him the reputation of being
a ‘man of the people’ and with this favor from the public, his powerful increased.
2. He took advantage of his power as a president, he used his influence and power to defend slavery. Although
the use of his way of living made him relatable to the public in the sense of supporting democracy, he also used
his previous experience as a slave owner to tolerate the cruelties of slavery to be used for economic reasons.
3. Find specific evidence from the author that supports his thesis and/or sub-thesis. Write them below with
reference to page #. Identify which arguments from #2 you are providing evidence for.
“TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE: Jackson was capable of great good and evil, of expanding democracy while defending
slavery” (12). Supporting democracy and defending slavery had large effects on Jackson’s presidency, when he is
referenced to being of great good and evil, he is addressed to being both a supporter and rejecter of human
rights, which both had large effects on his reputation because the population largely prioritized human rights
and liberties.
4. State whether or not you agree with the author’s thesis and why/why not. It is ok to use 1st person for
this section.
I agree with the author’s thesis because I do believe we was a controversial president, although he had deceived
the population by supporting slavery, he still had done some work to increase democracy, by supporting rights
of the ‘commoners’ we essentially gave the Republican Party of the time more power as the north was
predominately Republican and it had a larger population than the South. By advocating for democracy, he
essentially created a platform for commoner Republicans to have a larger voice in politics, this could have even
increased the fight against slavery which makes him even more controversial because he was a Democrat and
not supposed to be helping the Republican Party increase in power.
Abraham had a lot of work to be done when entering office because he had to hold the north and south
together and his method of doing this had contradicted the method of Andrew Jackson.
categories.
1. The South had multiple attempts to secede but Lincoln wanted to keep the two sides together because he
wanted to keep the union in power. A South secession would be tragic for the union because the union had
existed to abolish slavery, but allowing for the South to secede, slavery would exist in the Union
2. Andrew Jackson’s method of holding the north and south together was just to preserve slavery, he did not
care that slave’s rights were being violated, he cared more about holding the north and south together.
“The America of Andrew Jackson professed a love of democracy but was willing to live with inequality” (22).
Andrew Jackson loved unity but failed to realize that only ending slavery could bring about unity, the South’s
deficit from economics would be merely temporary but the north’s wanting of equal rights for black rights
would forever hold its appeal. This supports the contradiction of Lincoln’s and Jackson’s methods of keeping the
US together because this piece of evidence points out the flaw in Jackson’s reasoning that Lincoln did not have,
this also supports why it was such a struggle for Lincoln to keep the South and North states together because
Jackson had made Lincoln’s work more difficult by advocating for socially accepting slavery.
this section.
I agree with the Author’s stance because difference in advocacy can make work difficult. When people have
different opinions, their ability to set stance on any issue can be difficult when people reject each other’s
opinions and ways of advocating for certain subjects.
Jackson was an untruthful candidate, although he had portrayed himself to be a champion of the people, in a
reality, he was invested in dirty politics and populism.
categories.
1. He referred to himself as a champion of the people he wanted to create the image to citizens that he was the
most relatable candidate to their everyday needs. This was important to winning him the election by a close
margin, people want representation and putting a former ‘commoner’ into office was essential to his election.
2. Jackson was invested in dirty politics, to prevent the secession of South Carolina, he threatened to go into a
civil war. This is corrupt politics because none of the northern states who wanted to maintain the union wanted
to threaten anyone with a Civil War. Jackson completely based this decision off personal opinion.
3. Jackson was very involved in populism, he tried very hard to impress the audience. When bringing himself up
to appear as an electable candidate, he formed lies about himself along the way. Instead of being uneducated
and misrepresented, he had previously made multiple accomplishments.
“The problem with the analogy is that while Jackson packaged himself as a champion of the people, he was a
tremendously accomplished man with the long public record when he came to the presidency” (32) Jackson
covered up the truth about himself, he did not bring up the fact that he had completed may accomplishments
prior to becoming president of the United States of America, this answers my first and third points due to how
this quote ties to his untruthfulness as a candidate.
“He thought the American Union sacred, and so he threatened civil war put down the radicals in South Carolina”
(32). This was corrupt politics because most northerners and southerners did not want him to do this, this was
an act done upon self-comfort rather than analyzing how this would affect other people. This answers my
second point because this quote ties to how Jackson was very careless to how his views would affect others.
this section.
I fully agree with this thesis because I do believe Andrew Jackson had a lot to hide, we lacked truthfulness and
covered up his flaws to public.
+
Andrew Jackson often abused his powers as a president because he passed reforms even when they harmed the
economy, he discriminated against native Americans and prejudiced black people.
categories.
1. Andrew Jackson had a bad history of passing reforms that harmed the economy. Although the he had good
intentions a diversifying politics but taking our rich people, he essentially harmed the economy in the process
which just harmed the middle class.
2. Andrew Jackson discriminated against the native Americans when he resulted in the trial of tears occurring.
He did not think twice before making this decision because he did not see the native Americans as his people,
but rather as parasites to society, as a group of people occupying American land. When he kicked them out, he
attacked their culture and their sense of home.
3. Andrew endorsed slavery which prejudiced blacks because his carelessness to ignore their poor conditions
would bring the south and north together. He was accepting of the racism the flourished from slavery with
dehumanized slaves in the US.
“There was a strong case to be made that, in doing so, Jackson made the wrong decision for the economy, but
he was more interested in the politics of the question” (42). Jackson had enjoyed thinking about political
decisions, but he made the wrong thoughts into decision-making. Since he had not fully comprehended the
views of others, he did not drive to fulfill their requests for a good economy, and with that, he passed reforms
that harmed the economy.
“He also defended slavery, thwarting abolitionist efforts, and his dealings with the Indian tribes-dealings that
finally led to the Trail of Tears-were shameful” (42). The verification of the second and third points I made come
from the shameful lack of sympathy Andrew Jackson had when kicking the native Americans off their land and
endorsing slavery, Andrew had his beliefs but he assumed those beliefs were true, which put people’s lives into
sorrow and misery by not listening their feelings to his reforms.
this section.
I fully agree with this thesis because I do believe that Jackson meant well as president, but was just too close-
minded in his decision-making to function as an efficient president. If he had listened to the views of the people
he was affecting, he most likely would not have passed a lot of the reforms he did, and would have added the
rights to racial equality and the right to a good economy to his vocabulary of social justice, the economy would
not have been hurt, and native Americans and blacks would have enjoyed the access that white citizens enjoyed.

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