Our Unpopular Populist, Part 2

In my last post I talked about why I love Andrew Jackson. Now I will address some problems that I have with him, and some of the ways he is considered problematic. Even though I am fond of him, I want to make it clear that I am fully aware that he was not perfect.

One of the many things that people dislike him for is the fact that he owned slaves. And while that is problematic in today's world, it was not unusual for the rich elite from the South. Several of our early Presidents and founding fathers were slave owners. I'm not saying that it was good, but you have to judge them for the time.

Another thing people criticize him for is the Trail of Tears, which is popularly described as a genocidally-motivated campaign. Former Secretary of the Navy and Democratic Senator, Jim Webb, explained it better than I can when he wrote this for the Washington Post:

As president, Jackson ordered the removal of Indian tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west of the river. This approach, supported by a string of presidents, including Jefferson and John Quincy Adams, was a disaster, resulting in the Trail of Tears where thousands died. But was its motivation genocidal? Robert Remini, Jackson’s most prominent biographer, wrote that his intent was to end the increasingly bloody Indian Wars and to protect the Indians from certain annihilation at the hands of an ever-expanding frontier population. Indeed, it would be difficult to call someone genocidal when years before, after one bloody fight, he brought an orphaned Native American baby from the battlefield to his home in Tennessee and raised him as his son.

Now I'd like to talk about my biggest problem with him, which is that he expanded the Executive power. I don't feel like it was a problem for what he did, but it was a problem for later presidents. But I won't get into that here. Washington wanted to make sure that there were checks and balances. He knew that it was important to have safety measures put in place so one bad leader can't destroy everything.

The reason that I like Andrew Jackson so much as a character is his complexity. He did a lot of good. He did a lot of bad. But overall I just like him