History Question: Andrew Jackson and the US Military Academy at West Point?

Question

Hi, I'm doing homework, (of course! it's Sunday night!! lol), and i have a question concerning President Jackson and The United States Military Academy at West Point. I cannot find ANYTHING in my book or even on the net even closely related to my question!! perhaps i'm searching wrong, but anyways, this was my last hope!! Here's my question:

"Why did Jackson believe that the US Military Academy at West Point was a priveleged institution and should also be shut down? What were his arguments?"

Thanks and all help is greatly appreciated. I hope you all have great nights!!

Answer 1

Jackson was a believer in people rising or falling based on their merits. The US Military Academy took very few people back then (under 50 per class) and to get in you needed a sponsor, which meant someone of great influence. A poor person would not get such a sponsor, and would thus be denied entrance. (Jackson would be a prime example of this - good military leader but not an applicant to West Point). Remember, Jackson was the leader of the common people, and if it didn't benefit the common people, he wasn't in favor of it.

Good luck with your homework.

Answer 2

he first movement to “save” The Hermitage occurred in the 1850s. In January 1854, Congress rejected a proposal to use The Hermitage as a southern branch of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1856, Andrew Jackson, Jr. sold a 500-acre core section of the 1,050-acre farm, including the mansion and outbuildings, for $48,000 to the State of Tennessee. The State bought the property with the intent that it would be put to a public use, such as a school, but funding was unavailable so the State allowed the Jackson family to remain at The Hermitage as tenants. Between 1856 and 1861, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate contentiously debated whether to accept Tennessee’s offer of The Hermitage for a branch of West Point, but ultimately rejected the idea. In 1857, Governor Andrew Johnson also proposed converting The Hermitage into an “Executive Mansion” for the governor. That year, Andrew Jackson, Jr. sold the remaining 550 acres of The Hermitage farm to private buyers. In 1858, the Jackson family vacated the property and relocated to a cotton plantation in Mississippi, taking nearly all the slaves with them. At least five slaves remained at The Hermitage serving as caretakers and tenants.

Answer 3

Congress has no right, under the Constitution, to take money from the people unless it is required to execute some one of the specific powers entrusted to the government; and if they raise more than is necessary for such purposes, it is an abuse of the power of taxation and unjust and oppressive. It may, indeed, happen that the revenue will sometimes exceed the amount anticipated when the taxes were laid. When, however, this is ascertained, it is easy to reduce them; and, in such a case, it is unquestionably the duty of the government to reduce them, for no circumstances can justify it in assuming a power not given to it by the Constitution nor in taking away the money of the people when it is not needed for the legitimate wants of the government.

Plain as these principles appear to be, you will yet find that there is a constant effort to induce the general government to go beyond the limits of its taxing power and to impose unnecessary burdens upon the people. Many powerful interests are continually at work to procure heavy duties on commerce and to swell the revenue beyond the real necessities of the public service; and the country has already felt the injurious effects of their combined influence. They succeeded in obtaining a tariff of duties bearing most oppressively on the agricultural and laboring classes of society and producing a revenue that could not be usefully employed within the range of the powers conferred upon Congress; and, in order to fasten upon the people this unjust and unequal system of taxation, extravagant schemes of internal improvement were got up in various quarters to squander the money and to purchase support. Thus, one unconstitutional measure was intended to be upheld by another, and the abuse of the power of taxation was to be maintained by usurping the power of expending the money in internal improvements.


You cannot have forgotten the severe and doubtful struggle through which we passed when the Executive Department of the government, by its veto, endeavored to arrest this prodigal scheme of injustice and to bring back the legislation of Congress to the boundaries prescribed by the Constitution. The good sense and practical judgment of the people, when the subject was brought before them, sustained the course of the executive; and this plan of unconstitutional expenditure for the purpose of corrupt influence is, I trust, finally overthrown.


It is impossible by any line of fortifications to guard every point from attack against a hostile force advancing from the ocean and selecting its object; but they are indispensable to protect cities from bombardment, dockyards, and naval arsenals from destruction; to give shelter to merchant vessels in time of war, and to single ships or weaker squadrons when pressed by superior force. Fortifications of this description cannot be too soon completed and armed and placed in a condition of the most perfect preparation. The abundant means we now possess cannot be applied in any manner more useful to the country; and when this is done and our naval force sufficiently strengthened and our militia armed, we need not fear that any nation will wantonly insult us or needlessly provoke hostilities. We shall more certainly preserve peace when it is well understood that we are prepared for war.


The progress of the United States under our free and happy institutions has surpassed the most sanguine hopes of the founders of the republic. Our growth has been rapid beyond all former example--in numbers, in wealth, in knowledge, and all the useful arts which contribute to the comforts and convenience of man; and from the earliest ages of history to the present day, there never have been 13 million people associated together in one political body who enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of these United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad; your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world, as well as the high and gallant bearing of your sons.
It is from within, among yourselves, from cupidity, from corruption, from disappointed ambition and inordinate thirst for power, that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. It is against such designs, whatever disguise the actors may assume, that you have especially to guard yourselves. You have the highest of human trusts committed to your care. Providence has showered on this favored land blessings without number and has chosen you as the guardians of freedom to preserve it for the benefit of the human race. May He who holds in His hands the destinies of nations make you worthy of the favors He has bestowed and enable you, with pure hearts and pure hands and sleepless vigilance, to guard and defend to the end of time the great charge He has committed to your keeping.