Discuss Andrew Jackson's major beliefs regarding the common man, the presidency, and the proper role of government in the nation's economy.

Andrew Jackson came from a relatively humble background and played it up at every opportunity. It became the defining component of his public image right throughout his political career. Jackson presented himself as a man of the people, fighting for the interests of the little guy against the wealthy East coast banking and commercial elite. This largely explains Jackson's implacable hostility towards any kind of Federal Bank. He believed that such an institution existed only to make the banking elite richer and more powerful, while at the same time making life hard for the farmers and small businessmen who formed the bedrock of his electoral support.
Jackson, like the Jeffersonian he was, was a firm believer in the primacy of states' rights. He believed in the radical decentralization of power that was the main ideological inheritance of American republicanism. This meant that he was deeply suspicious of any concentration of power, either political or economic. As far as Jackson was concerned, the federal government had no business getting involved in large-scale infrastructure projects such as building roads and bridges. There was no explicit authorization for this anywhere in the Constitution; it was entirely a matter for each individual state.
Jackson was criticized by his opponents for abusing his power as President. He was not some kind of Olympian figure, standing dignified above the fray; on the contrary, Jackson was a fiercely partisan president, who packed the supposedly neutral civil service with his supporters. This so-called spoils system was hugely controversial and lead to accusations of corruption against Jackson and his cronies. But Jackson saw the spoils system as promoting the interests of the common people, the kind of folk who'd never ordinarily get a chance to serve their country.

While Jackson was a believer in the power of the common man, he was personally a little afraid of the mob. He had to leave during his own inaugural party when it appeared as though a mob of people would destroy the White House.  Jackson was responsive to his constituents, voting to open land to white settlement in the South and railing against the money interests of the East with the closing of the Bank of the United States.  
Jackson used the veto regularly and to the point that he was known as "King Andy I."  Jackson also appointed his faithful party followers to positions of power in what would be known as the spoils system.  Jackson believed that the federal government should largely stay out of the economy, and he voted down any attempt at federal funding for national roads and canals, much to the chagrin of Whigs, such as Henry Clay.  His belief in state banks partially led to the Panic of 1837.