Andrew Jackson: a Psychopath

When you look at the presidency of Andrew Jackson, some might see a man with a fiery passion who had the will to do what was necessary for the betterment of America. However, Andrew Jackson was a man with vicious tendencies and a lack of morals when it came to his decision making. He was ruthless and did whatever it took to get what he wanted. Being a psychopath can have side effects such as shallow emotions, lack of empathy, impulsiveness, manipulativeness, or a lack of remorse or guilt. Soon you are going to see just how much of a psychopath Andrew Jackson really was.

Andrew Jackson was a man in the military before anything else. During the war of 1812, he was appointed Major General of the Tennessee Militia. At the time, they had been fighting in against the British allied Creek Indians who had massacred hundreds of soldiers at Fort Whim. This is where Jackson's hatred of the Indians had come from but we'll get back to that later. Without any orders, Jackson took his troops towards Florida and captured the Pensacola outpost. Then in an even more brash decision, Jackson decided to take his 5,000 troops towards New Orleans where they were outnumbered 2 to 1. To the world's surprise, Jackson prevailed and the US took New Orleans. This decision to just sweep from Florida to New Orleans was an impulsive action which could have very easily resulted in the deaths of over five thousand men . What is even worse is that something very similar happens yet again. When Jackson is called back into the military during the First Seminole war at the end of 1817, he goes beyond his orders yet again and decides to invade Spanish controlled Florida. Here, he recaptures St. Marks and Pensacola and overthrows the West Florida Governor, Jose Masot. This shows his impulsivity yet again. He blatantly shows no regard for his troops whatsoever. This kind of behavior would be considered deplorable if there was not a victory to go along with it. Jacksons showing of a lack of consciousness is just one example of his psychopathic tendencies.

Jackson was considered a war hero and this helped his case when it came to the Presidential election in 1824. Jackson received the popular vote, but nobody received the votes required from the Electoral college due to the Republican Party being split from industrialization, spread of cotton, westward expansion and the changing role of the government. After John Quincy Adams wins the Presidency with the help of Henry Clay and the corrupt bargain, Jackson decides to run for President again and wins the election of 1828. He had taken advantage of the people's anger with John Quincy Adams and used it to propel himself forward in the election. This resulted in him being elected president and enabled him to create the spoils system which would allow Jackson to get exactly who he wanted into the government and remove whoever he needed to. This is a perfect example of the manipulativeness of Jackson in order to get what he wanted. He saw that he needed to show support for the people and be on their side and he would get his shot at being President.

Andrew Jackson has been shown to be psychotic. However, this act not only reinforces this idea, but shows a very sinister side to the President. Jackson was entirely responsible for the signing and implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This gave Jackson the power to remove Natives from their ancestral homeland and move them West of the Mississippi. What was soon to come would be considered an atrocity. The US Supreme Court had ruled in two separate occasions that Georgia had no right to take the Cherokee lands. However, Georgia violated the treaty and Jackson did absolutely nothing to stop them. This resulted in over 15,000 Cherokee members being moved from their native lands. They were forced to move over 2,000 miles towards present day Oklahoma. Many were dying from disease and starvation and a total of around 4,000 people died in the process. This awful act of standing by and forcing people away from their is surely reason prove that Jackson was nothing but a psychopath. This blatant lack of empathy and lack of remorse or guilt shows nothing but proof that Andrew Jackson was a psychopath.

Not only was Jackson a psychopath, he was an incredibly tough one at that. Sometime during the year 1806, Andrew Jackson challenged a man named Charles Dickinson to a duel. Now Jackson has shown that he doesn't share much emotion when it comes to other and this is represented by this duel as well. During the duel, Andrew Jackson was shot in the chest. However, he survived the bullet and fatally shot Charles Dickinson. The bullet stayed in his chest until the day he died. Now Charles has shown a blatant disregard for the people around him including soldiers and natives alike. Now it is known that he had no problem killing a man over a simple quarrel. This is a prime example of the shallow emotions that Jackson had especially towards human life itself.

Andrew Jackson had some better things happen for him. After all, he did bankrupt the Second Bank of America. However, his tendencies show that he was a terrible person who showed little to no respect for human life, no empathy for the natives, and overall, a lack of remorse or guilt for anybody. Andrew Jackson was undoubtedly, a psychopath.

References:

Freidel, Frank. Andrew Jackson. The White House, The United States Government, 2006, www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/andrew-jackson/.

Feller, Daniel. Andrew Jackson. Miller Center, 2 July 2018, millercenter.org/president/jackson.

Andrew Jackson. American Battlefield Trust, 15 May 2017, www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/andrew-jackson.

Brands, H. W. Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times. Anchor Books, 2006.

ANDREW JACKSON. Weapons in the War of 1812 | NCpedia, www.ncpedia.org/biography/jackson-andrew.

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