04 September 2016

Remembering Andrew Jackson

In the presidential contest of 1824, Andrew Jackson won the most electoral votes, edging out John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William Crawford. Because Jackson did not have a majority, however, the election was decided in the House of Representatives, where Adams prevailed. Adams subsequently chose Clay as his secretary of state. Jackson’s supporters were infuriated by what they described as a “corrupt bargain” between Adams and Clay. The Washington establishment had defied the will of the people, they believed. Jackson rode the wave of public resentment to victory four years later, marking a dramatic turning point in American politics. A beloved hero of western farmers and frontiersmen, Jackson was the first nonaristocrat to become president. He was the first president to invite everyday folk to the inaugural reception. To the horror of the political elite, throngs tracked mud through the White House and broke dishes and decorative objects. Washington insiders reviled Jackson. They saw him as intemperate, vulgar, and stupid. Opponents called him a jackass—the origin of the donkey symbol for the Democratic Party. In a conversation with Daniel Webster in 1824, Thomas Jefferson described Jackson as “one of the most unfit men I know of” to become president of the United States, “a dangerous man” who cannot speak in a civilized manner because he “choke[s] with rage,” a man whose “passions are terrible.” Jefferson feared that the slightest insult from a foreign leader could impel Jackson to declare war. Even Jackson’s friends and admiring colleagues feared his volcanic temper. Jackson fought at least 14 duels in his life, leaving him with bullet fragments lodged throughout his body. On the last day of his presidency, he admitted to only two regrets: that he was never able to shoot Henry Clay or hang John C. Calhoun.

The similarities between Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump do not end with their aggressive temperaments and their respective positions as Washington outsiders. The similarities extend to the dynamic created between these dominant social actors and their adoring audiences—or, to be fairer to Jackson, what Jackson’s political opponents consistently feared that dynamic to be. They named Jackson “King Mob” for what they perceived as his demagoguery. Jackson was an angry populist, they believed—a wild-haired mountain man who channeled the crude sensibilities of the masses. More than 100 years before social scientists would invent the concept of the authoritarian personality to explain the people who are drawn to autocratic leaders, Jackson’s detractors feared what a popular strongman might do when encouraged by an angry mob.
Excerpted from an interesting article - The Mind of Donald Trump.

5 comments:

  1. Jackson certainly had both a temper and a high sense of honor, both of which helped him get into all those duels, but he also cultivated the impression that he was dangerous because of these characteristics, and used that to his benefit when needed.
    When during the War of 1812 he came down to the defense of New Orleans, the elite of that city expected to see a wild man, but were stunned and then charmed when he presented himself as a man of calm manners and high cultivation. He could be either, as the situation required. He was a far more complicated and intelligent man than some histories would have you believe.

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  2. One glaring difference between Jackson and Trump is that Andrew Jackson actually fought in the military, led campaigns, and fought his own duels.

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    1. I suppose that is actually more than one glaring difference, isn't it? :)

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  3. Basically you tried to make some sort of weird point that loud populists are all the same? Let's see, what else did Jackson do?

    "In January 1835, Jackson paid off the entire national debt, the only time in U.S. history that has been accomplished."

    This is why the Democrats want Jackson off the $20 Bill. They racked up the National Debt and don't want to be reminded about who paid it off in full.

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    1. I thought maybe it was the Indian Removal Act that kind of mars his image being on the $20.

      But then, I am not a Democrat.

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