Andrew Jackson

I watched a show on Andrew Jackson on the History Channel. Some thoughts:

Andrew Jackson, the 7th President of the United States, had some very ironic similarities to George W. Bush. First, both of them were involved in a controversial election in which the winner of the popular vote did not win the electoral vote (in Jackson's case, he won both initially over Adams but didn't have a majority, so the House voted again and elected John Quincy Adams).

Both were either violently loved or hated by Americans. Both claimed to be for the "common man." Neither loved books or academics and went by their guts and saw the laws and constitution as an inconvenience, rather than something to abide by. Both had dark secrets from their pasts that enemies brought up repeatedly to try and discredit, and neither had much experience at all with public office or international affairs, at least compared to their contemporaries.

Both had their accusations of racism and unfair treatment: Jackson with Native Americans and the Indian Removal Act, and Bush with Muslims, the Patriot Act, and Guantanamo Bay. Both served two terms.

Overall, Jackson was an average President, perhaps a C-, as long as you weren't an Indian, in which case he was considered the Hitler of his time and would receive an F.

Here are the high and low points:

Good stuff:
- tried to ban the electoral college
- paid of the national debt by selling Federal land (the only president to pay off the national debt)
- took down the US Bank, which was corrupt at the time
- when South Carolina threatened secession, became first president to say publicly that this was treason, and South Carolina backed down

Bad stuff:
- was a hothead and too emotional
- hated Indians and screwed them repeatedly, most infamously with the Indian Removal Act, which took land from Indians and forcibly moved them out on the "Trail of Tears," including the same tribes that fought for him in the battles that made him the national hero that got him elected president
- owned slaves as a plantation owner
- thought president could interpret the Constitution
- invaded Florida illegally as a general
- banned usage of paper money, which caused enormous inflation that hurt the "common man" he was supposedly looking out for