Question

Read the selection and answer the question that follows:

First Inaugural Address of Andrew Jackson, selected quotes

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 1829

"Fellow-Citizens:

1. … In administering the laws of Congress I shall keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power trusting thereby to discharge the functions of my office without transcending its authority. …

2. In such measures as I may be called on to pursue regarding the rights of the separate States I hope to be animated by a proper respect for those sovereign members of our Union, …

3. This I shall aim at the more anxiously both because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence, …

4. that the spirit of equity, caution, and compromise in which the Constitution was formed requires that the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures should be equally favored …

5. As long as our Government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it will be worth defending …"

In Section 3, Jackson identifies what he believes to be a threat to the independence of the United States. What is it?

A) Manufacturers
B) Compromise
C) National debt
D) States' rights

Answer 1

C) National debt

Step-by-step explanation:

In Section 3 of his First Inaugural Address, Andrew Jackson states that he hopes to be "animated by a proper respect" for the sovereign members of the Union when pursuing measures regarding the rights of the separate states. He goes on to explain that this respect is important because it will facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence. Essentially, Jackson is identifying the national debt as a threat to the independence of the United States, and he believes that by respecting the rights of the states, he can better address this threat and work towards the goal of reducing the debt.