The Presidents in the Jacksonian Era

The presidents in the Jacksonian presidency era were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and William Henry Harrison. Their era of reigning lasted between the year’s eighteen twenty to eighteen forty. The Jacksonian era was when Andrew Jacksons had an influence on American politics before and after his time in office. John Quincy Adams served as the sixth president the United States republic elected for his first term in the year eighteen twenty five to eighteen twenty-nine. He was elected president despite receiving fewer popular and electoral votes than Andrew Jackson. During his tenure, he faced various challenges one of them being political opposition as it was the first time for having political parties in the election. His own vice president came from the Democratic-Republican which was an opposition party as Adams represented the Federalist Party.

Another challenge he faced was the Quasi-War with France. The French were seizing their ships thus interfering with the right to trade. The French would not meet with American representative to negotiate the matter and when they did they asked for a bribe. It caused indignation in the Americans who wanted Adams to go to war. However, Adams knew it was not in Americas best interest to go to war and hence solved the issue diplomatically. These challenges and how Adams handled them resulted in him becoming unpopular with the Americans and was hence not elected in the next elections. He then did not get a second term and left office. His successor, Andrew Jackson who was also his political opponent did not support his views and ended up undoing his work.

Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States after succeeding Andrew Jackson and a founder of the Democratic Party. The greatest challenge was a financial panic that begun during Jackson’s second term and it was caused by the transfer of federal funds from the United States Bank to the state banks. The nation’s economy took a nosedive because many banks and businesses failed and thousands of people lost their land. In order for Buren to counter this situation, he came up with a proposal where the Federal government would deposit its funds in sub-treasuries. He hoped this would stabilize the financial system by not allowing state funds to access government funds since it would be used poorly. He faced another challenge of conflict between the US and the British government over a border dispute. It was at the Maine-New Brunswick border which brought the two nations close to war. He, however, resolved the issue diplomatically by sending representatives to negotiate a treaty with Great Britain. Van Buren opposed the annexation of Texas since he feared it would cause the war between the state and Mexico. He also did not want to add a state that allowed slavery to the union.

The last president in the Jacksonian presidency era was William Henry Harrison who was the Ninth president in the year eighteen forty-one and a member of the Whig party. He can into office at a very elderly age of sixty-nine years and was considered the oldest president at that time.  During his inaugural speech, he addressed the issue of slavery whereby he said that states had the right to decide on their own regarding the matter in order to avoid disunion, violence and civil war. However, his tenure was short-lived since he did not last a full term as he died one month into the office due to pneumonia making him the first president to die in office and serving the shortest time. Before his election into the presidency, he served in the US army, was the Northwest Territories first congressional delegate and was also elected in the House of Representatives. After his demise, he was succeeded by his vice president John Tyler.

In my opinion, the most successful president in the Jacksonian Presidency era was Martin Van Buren. I support this since he successfully resolved the conflict about the Maine-New Brunswick border which would have otherwise resulted into war with Britain had it gone unresolved. It instead resulted in a better understanding with the British government as he chose to deal with the matter diplomatically. Modern economists consider his response measures to the panic eighteen thirty-seven to be successful. The panic was a major issue that threatened to ruin the nation and his actions saved the country from economic collapse. Finally, he improved American Foreign relations by opposing the Patriot war. In eighteen thirty-eight there were rebellions in lower and Upper Canada against the British. A secret association was formed by the United States under his administration that sympathized with the rebellion. Members of this rebellion attacked the British colony of Upper Canada many times. The Van Buren administration encouraged persecution of unauthorized militia in an attempt to scare the rebels and stopped American citizens from causing conflict abroad. The opposition to the patriot war contributed to a healthy relationship between the US and Great Britain and the US and Canada.

            In conclusion, the Jacksonian era was a period in which democracy was introduced in order to champion for the rights of the common man and these presidents worked valiantly towards achieving that goal.