Reply #45: Our modern-day Andrew Jackson?

[frogcycle]

Ok, Jackson had some serious defects. Most notably his support of Native American relocation, the accompanying land-grabs and 4000 deaths in the "Trail of Tears." He also was a slaveowner.

But on the other hand*:

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a founder of the modern Democratic Party,
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Andrew Jackson was born ...in Lancaster County, South Carolina,... Both North Carolina and South Carolina have claimed Jackson as a "native son,"
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he found he knew enough to become a young lawyer on the frontier. Since he was not from a distinguished family, he had to make his career by his own merits; and soon he began to prosper in the rough-and-tumble world of frontier law.
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He was elected as Tennessee's first Congressman, upon its statehood in the late 1790s, and quickly became a U.S. Senator
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comparison to Edward's controversial loss in campaign for VP, which he wanted to contest:

During his first run for the presidency in 1824, Jackson received a plurality of both the popular and electoral votes. Since no candidate received a majority, the election decision was given to the House of Representatives, which chose John Quincy Adams as president in 1825. Jackson denounced it as a "corrupt bargain" because House Speaker Henry Clay gave his votes to Adams, who then appointed Clay Secretary of State. Jackson later called for the abolition of the Electoral College. Jackson's defeat burnished his political credentials, however, since many voters believed the "man of the people" had been robbed by the "corrupt aristocrats of the East."
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Comparison to battling entrenched special interests, rule by elite few:

When Jackson became President, he implemented the theory of rotation in office, ... He believed that rotation in office would prevent the development of a corrupt bureaucracy...
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As president, Jackson worked to take away the federal charter of the Second Bank of the United States...
* It concentrated an excessive amount of the nation's financial strength into a single institution
* It exposed the government to control by "foreign interests"
* It served mainly to make the rich richer
* It exercised too much control over members of the Congress
* It favored Northeastern states over Southern and Western states

...Jackson followed Jefferson as a supporter of the ideal of an "agricultural republic" and felt the bank improved the fortunes of an "elite circle" of commercial and industrial entrepreneurs at the expense of farmers and laborers.
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Trivia:

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During Jackson's term, the United States' federal government managed to repay the totality of the federal debt for the first and only time in the country's history....
During the 1828 election, his opponents referred to him as a "Jackass." Jackson liked the name and used the jackass as a symbol for a while, but it died out. However, it later became the symbol for the Democratic Party. <4>

And my favorite:

At President Andrew Jackson's funeral in 1845 his pet parrot was removed for swearing.

While Jackson was highly controversial and had a lot of flaws, he threw himself into the breach at a time when the young democracy was on the verge of morphing into an oligarchy. He also fought hard against moves by the South to nullify federal laws and secession sentiment over tariffs and other disputes not directly related to the slavery issue. Had he not been President it is likely this nation would not exist. It would have been broken apart by the business interests; the North would have become an industrial powerhouse run by business interests via the central bank, "colonizing" the West like the European nations did Africa and Asia; the South would have become a version of what South Africa was under apartheid.

The dangers the Union faces today are different, and yet the threat comes from the exact same quarter. Without someone ready to "take them on" we will continue down that slippery slope to some future that is not the USA we have had for over 200 years.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson