by Harry NotSach on Wed May 27, 2009 1:59 pm
I can't take the time to read all these posts, so I don't know how much has been said about Jackson, but I think he was a pretty great president. He shifted the power of the presidency away from the aristocrats toward common man. He broke what he considered a great scam of the time: there was a system in place where the president would appoint a secretary of state who would support him in almost everything. Then at the end of his term the president would do his best to make sure his secretary of state became the next president. A pattern emerged here that Jackson was able to break. Also, the civil war was not just a thing of Lincoln's time. Jackson narrowly averted civil war in the 1830's and the idea of civil war continued to exist until it actually occurred. Finally, Jackson was one tough guy. He survived multiple assassination attempts, at one point beating a would be assassin with his cane. He was physically assaulted and punched in the face. Imagine someone trying to punch a modern president?
Like all presidents though he did some horrible things. He was absolutely brutal to the Indians. He drank and smoked and was involved in all sorts of scandal. But all in all, he pretty much created what became the modern presidency.