8 Dreadful Acts From US Presidents
7. Andrew Jackson Can't Stop Being A Jerk
Andrew Jackson is an ass. He owned slaves (Not uncommon for former presidents at this point in history) but offered extra reward money if escapees were returned with lashes. He created the 'spoils system' in which his friends were rewarded with government jobs.
He also killed a guy. And not during wartime, he shot a man in a duel, one of over a hundred he participated in.
But the worst thing he did was sign the Indian Removal act in 1830. The act is about as bad as the name would have you believe.
The act authorised the federal government to trade native owned land West of the Mississippi river for territory in what is now modern day Oklahoma.
When the supreme court found that the seizure of Cherokee land in Georgia (which had been found to be rich in gold BTW) violated federal treaties, Jackson just ignored them and carried on with the relocation.
Although the process of consolidating land was nothing new it was Jackson's time (and latterly Van Buren who carried on the relocations) that saw the most deplorable of these mass expulsions with the infamous 'Cherokee Trail Of Tears' highlighting the callousness in which land was acquired.
The trail of tears was a forced march into new territories that were severely underprepared for the travel and lead to the death of some 4,000 Cherokees.