Also viewed as the symbolic embodiment of greater democracy in South Africa, President Nelson Mandela, the first black leader of South Africa following the first multi-racial elections of 1994, aided greatly in the transition of South Africa from an incredibly discriminatory apartheid state into an integrated democracy. Having struggled for the rights of the black majority in South Africa for several decades and imprisoned for his intent to seek justice for this portion of the population, Mandela helped to further integrate the long-segregated black masses into the now-equal society by implementing many progressive social reforms to bring the black community out of poverty and reduce lingering social inequalities. To achieve this, Mandela and his government increased welfare spending by about thirty percent, invested billions in improving infrastructure mostly within black communities to provide millions of people with running water, plumbing, telecommunications, and education, and launched Reconstruction and Development Program to invest in social services including heath care and housing, among other such legislative reforms. Hence, as the revolutionary and historic leader of South Africa, Mandela, like Andrew Jackson, was a voice of considerable change within his nation to widen the voting base and integrate a significantly large portion of the population into the democratic process, giving them better say over their government.
Although President Jackson brought greater democracy to the United States, he also committed several failures during his presidency due to his defiance of other governmental bodies and, once again, his stubbornness to pursue what he saw best for himself, the presidency, and the nation despite the opposition of other institutions. Jackson disregarded the Constitution in favor of what he interpreted the people as wanting, reiterating problems from the past such as the balance of state and federal powers and throwing the system of checks and balances into turmoil. A major issue during Jackson's presidency was his refusal to sanction the renewal of the Bank of the United States. Jackson spent much of his two terms downsizing the federal government. Jackson thought Congress did not have the authority to create the Bank in the first place and viewed the Bank as operating for the primary benefit of the upper classes at the expense of working people. He saw to it that the Second Bank of the United States failed by vetoing Congress’s attempt to renew the Bank weakening the economic strength of the United States considerably. Due to the practice of banks issuing paper banknotes that were not backed by gold or silver reserves, there was soon rapid inflation and mounting state debts. Not only was Jackson an awful diplomat, he had no sentimental feelings among minorities, especially the Native Americans. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, a policy that Jackson enacted during office. The act offered the Indians land west of the Mississippi in return for evacuation of their tribal homes in the east. About 100 million acres of traditional Indian lands were cleared under this law. Although the Cherokees had developed a written language, converted to Christianity and embraced agriculture as a way of life, the Indians were not deemed an independent republic by either Georgia or Jackson. When gold was discovered on Cherokee land, the citizens of Georgia demanded that the Cherokees comply with the Indian Removal Act and resettle in Oklahoma. The Cherokees refused and brought their case to Supreme Court. Although John Marshall, Chief Justice at the time, sided with the Cherokees in two cases (Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia and Worcester vs. Georgia), Andrew Jackson refused to comply with the Court’s decision and is reputed to have sneered, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Jackson did nothing to make Georgia abide by the Supreme Court's ruling in Worcester vs. Georgia in which the Court found that the State of Georgia did not have any jurisdiction over the Cherokees. Georgia and Andrew Jackson ignored the Court's decision, evicting the Cherokees to march west, a complete violation of the system of checks and balances. Although the march to the west, or “Trail of Tears” took place after Jackson’s presidency, the roots of the march can be found in Jackson's failure to uphold the legal rights of Native Americans during his administration. Jackson was not only responsible for killing thousands of innocent Cherokees but also moved regardless of Congress and tipped the branches of power, throwing the system of checks and balances into turmoil. Finally, another notable crisis that Jackson failed to handle properly was the nullification crisis during 1828 to 1832, which merged issues of sectional strife with disagreements over tariffs. The nullification crisis was precipitated by South Carolina's bitterness at Jackson's failure to urge a major downward revision of tariff rates. Protective tariffs were considered unconstitutional, inexpedient, and inequitable throughout the South. South Carolina was so opposed to the tariffs that were passed that they nullified the Tariff of 1832. Jackson asked Congress to pass a "Force Bill" explicitly authorizing the use of military force to enforce the tariff, but the bill was reduced to a compromise tariff which diffused tensions among the States. Although Jackson reduced friction among the States, the nullification incident was a precursor of the positions that would lead to the Civil War. Through all of these political atrocities, President Jackson contradicted the very mass democracy which he created by allowing more people to have a say in government, yet these voices being eclipsed by Jackson’s own political or economic desire. In literal terms, Jackson had made the United States more democratic through the expansion of voting rights, yet he figuratively brought the nation closer to monarchy or even totalitarianism.
Looking back on the more recent presidency of Nelson Mandela, modern historians have noted only a few of his failures that his presidential legacy has left with South Africa, however none of which relatable to those of Andrew Jackson due to the extremely unique issues Mandela addressed during his time in office. Although the Mandela administration spent a large portion of their money and time in integrating the black masses into the equal society, little progress was actually made in bringing economic equality to the nation as millions of black inhabitants remained in impoverished ghettos and lacked the money to seek a better life while a majority of the wealth continued to circulate among the richer white population. Busy trying to reestablish a new, equal South Africa for all citizens, the Mandela administration has been criticized for its ineffectiveness in addressing and stemming the AIDS crisis in South Africa due to Mandela’s preoccupation with other national issues. Despite these failures, the South African people still feel enormously indebted and infatuated with Mandela that his legacy left with the citizens seems to have been the cause of more indirect failures as the people see him as the epitome of South African democracy and change that they focus on electing politicians which emulate his character rather than on their political philosophy.