At first glance, Andrew Jackson seems a study in contradictions: an advocate of states' rights who forced South Carolina to back down in the nullification controversy; a champion of the West who vetoed legislation that would have opened easy access to part of the area and who issued the specie circular, which brought the region's "flush times" to a disastrous halt; a nationalist who allowed Georgia to ignore the Supreme Court; and a defender of majority rule who vetoed the Bank after the majority's representatives, the Congress, had passed it. Perhaps he was, as his enemies argued, simply out for himself. But in the end, few would argue that Andrew Jackson was not a popular president, if not so much for what he did as for what he was.

By doing this Web Quest, students should come away with a better understanding of the issues of his administration. They should also have the basis for evaluating future Presidents who have been accused of over-stepping their constitutional powers and be able to compare and contrast them with Andrew Jackson, perhaps the first "Imperial President."