Let's talk about Andrew "Old Memery" Jackson, /his/.
Did he put the USA on the road to civil war? Did he create democracy or ruin it? What do you think of him?
>>306436
He killed the second "national" bank. He's a hero for that reason alone.
>>306441
True, one of his more reasonable acts.
>>306441
This.
Jackson honestly believed it was his God-given duty to protect the interests of the common American; for this reason he was and continues to be considered insane by the Beltway.
Killing banks was great, killing natives was terrible
It could be argued that he (or rather, his campaign staff) introduced the insane politics that are prevalent even today, especially the personal attacks on John Quincy Adams were vile, but his presidency was full of crises and as far as I'm concerned he mastered them fairly well.
Polk outdid him as far as pre-war Democrats are concerned, but Jackson is pretty based.
>Henry "Keked in three elections" Clay
>John "Political suicide" Calhoun
>John "Quincy" Adams
>>306466
>killing natives was terrible
...
He was one of the biggest slaveholders of his time. Absolute pig.
>>306468
>It could be argued that he (or rather, his campaign staff) introduced the insane politics that are prevalent even today
Yes I think Jackson is the first "modern" president.
>especially the personal attacks on John Quincy Adams were vile
I know Jackson had a temper but I don't recall him getting into it with Adams. What are you referring to?
>>306484
He wasn't elected President of slaves, he was elected President of the United States to defend the interests of American citizens.
>>306484
>judging a 19th century man by 21st century standards
shiggity
>>306493
The Election of 1828. The Democrats accused Adams of being a pimp, a gambler and a hedonist.
Even they knew that was insanely far away from the truth, but it served to alienate the populace from him a bit more, if they weren't already alienated enough after the Corrupt Bargain.
It has to be said that Adams' campaign responded in the same tone, accusing Jackson of being an adulterer, but in this case the Democrats clearly started it.
>>306484
Also the 1st democratic president :^)
>>306515
You turkey.
>he defended the people from the BIG BAD BANK GUYS
>not mentioning that he was in crippling debt from land speculation himself
no personal interest here ;)
>>306530
Who are we to judge his motivations? All we can judge are his actions.
>>306530
>N-NO! Stop! U-unhand that bank robber, he has some of YOUR money in his sack! T-that's personal interest!
Nice meme, friend.
>>306530
A lot of people were in crippling debt at the time, what's your point? Are banks the only ones allowed to act in their own self-interest?
>>306539
Are you insinuating the jews played ANY significant role in the USA of the early 19th century?
>>306566
You assumed all that from a picture of a funny looking animal?
Seek mental help.
>>306566
No, I'm insinuating that a person who attempts to paint Jackson as selfish because he attacked the bank may have a large proboscis.
>>306579
Yes, that's what I took your picture to mean. We are on 4chan, after all.
So, did you, or did you not?
>>306582
I wasn't even the guy who posted the pic I just felt the need to point out your mental instability.
>>306592
>And then he proceeded to put all the national bank funds in pet banks.
Yeah that's the point of not having one mega-bank...
>Also he made it illegal to buy lands in anything other than gold and silver, which the common man didn't have.
So it would have been better to allow the common man to buy land with paper currency backed by nothing? FreddieMac and FannieMae showed us how that works out...
>>306611
The recession two years after all that shit was instated showed us how well Jackson's economic policies worked out.
Luckily he was out of office by then so everyone blamed Van Buren instead of the genius common man Jackson :^)
>>306620
Van Buren has a pretty solid legacy tho.
>>306620
The recession was created by Biddle because the charter wasn't renewed. It was the last kicks of a dying, corrupt banking elite.
>>306466
The world would be a lot worse if we had allowed them to just be savages and shit.
They took one for the team. That's the price of not assimilating
>>306641
Some of them were becoming civilized super quickly. Georgia would be a good example, Indians actually sued the state to get their position in the state recognized. They weren't a threat (although in many other places, they were).
>>306650
Then yeah, probably shouldn't have killed them, but still. Indians are Indians
>>306626
His legacy today doesn't matter to what the people thought in his day. He was not elected for a second term, and that's because the economic downturn that he was basically elected into was blamed on him.
>>306630
Here's how I see it
>pet banks begin lending out money at an exorbitant rate compared to what farmers were getting before
>farmers are able to buy land and equipment, the economy is strong
>all while this is happening, inflation is kicking in
>farmers are having trouble paying back their loans
>farms get taken away, money is worthless, the rich are the only ones who can buy land because of the government only accepting gold and silver
>>306658
Don't wanna go full Tumblr on you but Indians are Indians isn't a reason to kill them.
>>306684
Eh, it was worth a shot
>>306669
>His legacy today doesn't matter to what the people thought in his day.
But we're discussing him today. People get into politics because they want to influence history and Van Buren is generally regarded positively which is no doubt thanks to his relationship with Jackson.
>He was not elected for a second term, and that's because the economic downturn that he was basically elected into was blamed on him.
That's politics.
Van Buren was Jackson's protégé and he supported Jackson's policies. If he suffered the consequences of those policies it's because he bears partial responsibility for them.
>>306709
What I said to begin this was "everyone blamed Van Buren for the recession," which everyone did which was a major factor in him not getting elected for a second term.
Whatever scholars or the common person thinks of Van Buren today doesn't mean jack shit to the people who ousted him from office in the 1840s.
Also the Vice President has basically no power and Jackson didn't give two shits about his political advisors. I can only imagine what kind of impact Van Buren had on Jackson's decision for the specie circular.
>>306777
>Jackson didn't give two shits about his advisors
I'd have to disagree. He often reacted rashly, and on his own terms no matter what they recommended, but in the end he often relied on them to either engineer a compromise or turn his reaction into a victory for himself. The Nullification crisis is a good example.
Jackson wants to solve the crisis with military, proposes the Force Bill, but it isn't passed. He looks pretty stupid, until Van Buren, in the Compromise of 1833 wins the passage of the Force Bill so Jackson could save face, while his friends in publishing claim he "defended the honor of the union" or something. Jackson would have been nothing without the Kitchen Cabinet.
>>306592
>Also he made it illegal to buy lands in anything other than gold and silver, which the common man didn't have.
Bullshit. Money back then was either literal physical sillver/gold or instruments for silver/gold. All that Jackson was requiring was that you go to the bank to cash in for physical money, which was a pretty smart precaution back in an era before the FDIC or electronic monitoring of banking systems.
>>306441
This.
I really don't agree too much with everything else he did but this alone makes him an absolute baller and is why I have his portrait hanging in my room.
>>306641
>That's the price of not assimilating
Okie here, the tribes that got removed as part of the Indian Removal Act were assimilated. They'd more or less completely adopted white culture and he gave them the boot anyway.
>>306441
How was killing the Bank bad? It led to the economic downturn the country faced immediately after him leaving office.
[spoiler]I understand why some people think Banks are bad, but what was his real reasoning for doing so and what were the benefits of doing it?[/spoiler]
>>307361
>Money back then was either literal physical sillver/gold or instruments for silver/gold. All that Jackson was requiring was that you go to the bank to cash in for physical money
Currency in the form of banknotes was widespread. Individual banks printed their own redeemable bank notes and thousands of different notes were in circulation at this time, even the notes of banks that had become defunct would be floating around. The Species Exchange Act, which declared that the US would no longer accept any payment expect gold or silver, drained specie from US holders and it was funneled into the federal government and then straight into the coffers of the banks of England to fulfill Jackson's promise of paying off the national debt.
The result was a country drained of gold and silver that help to make the Panic of 1837 the worst US economic downturn until the Great Depression.
>>306650
And the Indians won that law suit and the Supreme Court ruled they couldn't be relocated. Jackson then ignored them and did it anyways, being the only president to outright defy a Supreme Court ruling.
