Opinion of Andrew Jackson

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Total badass, but the push to destroy the national bank and replace it with easy money pet banks, as well as the whole genocide thing, puts him as a rather splendid example of a HP.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He used the Constitution for toliet paper..

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

My history teacher loves him, so he can't be that great.

[RI]

Umm, his destruction of the corrupt political system and the bank that was corrupting it was one of his more badass moments.

[Хahar 🤔]

Umm, his destruction of the corrupt political system and the bank that was corrupting it was one of his more badass moments.

And also the economy, but I suppose that was a secondary consideration.

[Brandon H]

General Jackson = FF
President Jackson = mixed

[Rooney]

General Jackson is definitely one of the greatest presidents this nation has ever had. His veto of the wasteful and corrupt Maysville Road Bill alone should put him in the top 5 presidents. As president he was able to destroy the centralized bank, skillfully deal with tariff legislation and protected the Cherokee Indians from a genocide that had been occurring since 1825.

Additionally, I question exactly how much the Panic of 1837 had to do with the destruction of the central bank. The central bank did bring about the Panic of 1837 and a recession in 1832-1833, however, I have never seen evidence that has proven to me that the economy was destroyed by the bank war. The bubbles that occurred after the fall of Biddle's Bank and the establishment of Pet Banks can be traced more to an influx of Mexican silver and the decrease of U.S. exports of silver to the Orient. This can hardly be blamed on Jackson and Van Buren.

[Mr. Taft Republican]

I liked ending a centralized banking system, but the Trail of Tears and ignoring the Supreme Court forces me to vote HP

[Jacobtm]

They lost count of how many duels he was in. Some say more than 100.

Obviously, he won all of them.

[tpfkaw]

They lost count of how many duels he was in. Some say more than 100.

Obviously, he won all of them.

Most of those were probably draws, the pistols they used often didn't fire and it was customary to aim slightly away from your opponent (it was a ritual to put a grudge behind you, not an actual attempt to kill the other guy), you only pointed it at them if you really had a score to settle.

[Rooney]

I liked ending a centralized banking system, but the Trail of Tears and ignoring the Supreme Court forces me to vote HP

It was not Jackson but an influx of white settlers who ignored the Supreme Court ruling. Jackson’s statement of “Mr. Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it” is not a reflection of an imperial president reaching for power but a statement of fact. Marshall had no way if making his ruling work. American settlers already had moved onto Cherokee land and the only way to move them was with the regular army. The regular army in 1832 was small and primarily on the frontier. Also, there would have been dubious legal authority to send an army into Georgia to protect the land of what amounted to under the Constitution as a foreign entity.

John Quincy Adams responded to the crisis in a much worse way than Jackson. Adams was more than willing to have the Cherokee wiped out by the white settlers. President Jackson at least allowed the Cherokee to escape their plight (albeit it was a treacherous journey) and to live a new like in Oklahoma. Had Jackson not intervened the Cherokee would have joined the Pequot and the Abekeni in near extinction. In nearly every way Jackson stopped an genocide, not create one. 

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

General Jackson = FF

Indian genocide was certainly a very freedom thing.

[Brandon H]

General Jackson = FF

Indian genocide was certainly a very freedom thing.

Though in the end it made little difference since a peace treaty was signed, would you have preferred the U.S. lose the Battle of New Orleans? Battle of N.O. outweighs nearly everything else.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Though in the end it made little difference since a peace treaty was signed, would you have preferred the U.S. lose the Battle of New Orleans? Battle of N.O. outweighs nearly everything else.

Jackson did not win the Battle of New Orleans, Cochrane lost it.

[Yelnoc]

-General Idiot: The thing with his cabinet members' wives
-Violated the Constitution: Worcester vs. Georgia
-Genocide: Indian Removal
-Economically Suicidal: Bank War

HP

[Mr. Taft Republican]

I liked ending a centralized banking system, but the Trail of Tears and ignoring the Supreme Court forces me to vote HP

It was not Jackson but an influx of white settlers who ignored the Supreme Court ruling. Jackson’s statement of “Mr. Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it” is not a reflection of an imperial president reaching for power but a statement of fact. Marshall had no way if making his ruling work. American settlers already had moved onto Cherokee land and the only way to move them was with the regular army. The regular army in 1832 was small and primarily on the frontier. Also, there would have been dubious legal authority to send an army into Georgia to protect the land of what amounted to under the Constitution as a foreign entity.

John Quincy Adams responded to the crisis in a much worse way than Jackson. Adams was more than willing to have the Cherokee wiped out by the white settlers. President Jackson at least allowed the Cherokee to escape their plight (albeit it was a treacherous journey) and to live a new like in Oklahoma. Had Jackson not intervened the Cherokee would have joined the Pequot and the Abekeni in near extinction. In nearly every way Jackson stopped an genocide, not create one. 

You've certainly opened my eyes but the result does not change my opinion.

[scoopa]

Negatives: Implemented the spoils system, South Carolina nullification crisis.
Positives: Maysville Road veto, paying debt
Neutral: He was a man of his time on bimetallism and the Indian removals.

There were worse ones. Better ones too.

[Rooney]

Negatives: Implemented the spoils system, South Carolina nullification crisis.

You make some good points but I must point out that Jackson did not invent (or originally implement) the spoils system. The much heralded Thomas Jefferson actually implemented the spoils system first in 1801 by his major changes in the civil service following the Adams Administration. Jackson was simply a man of his times when it came to the spoils system. He was not the inventor of the program not was he the last to use the system by far.

[republicanism]

The breakthrough for mass democracy that occurred in his Presidency was of course a very positive thing. The Indian removals on the other hand were pure evil.

[Orthodox]

Total badass, but the push to destroy the national bank and replace it with easy money pet banks, as well as the whole genocide thing, puts him as a rather splendid example of a HP.

How could a leftist have supported the Second U.S. Bank?

[All Along The Watchtower]

HP

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Total badass, but the push to destroy the national bank and replace it with easy money pet banks, as well as the whole genocide thing, puts him as a rather splendid example of a HP.

How could a leftist have supported the Second U.S. Bank?

From a leftist perspective, the Bank of the United States was preferable to the cronyism of the pet banks.

[traininthedistance]

Andrew Jackson's handling of the nullification crisis is quite literally the only good thing he did.  His crank fiscal policy destroyed the economy; and I suppose he wasn't much worse than most of his contemporaries vis-a-vis Indian Removal but it was still morally abhorrent; I have to believe that John Quincy Adams would have done a better job of respecting native rights.

And he also brought about an obnoxious quasi-populist strain in American politics which can best be described as a celebration of ignorance and a tarring of so-called "coastal elites" (back then it was New England) as less than fully American because they value things like knowledge and reflection.

Ugh, I loathe Andrew Jackson.  Second worst president after Andrew Johnson.

[RogueBeaver]

FF, Indian policy excepted.

[WillK]

The breakthrough for mass democracy that occurred in his Presidency ...

What does that mean?