Good Things Andrew Jackson Did

Andrew Jackson is most known for his slaughter of Native Americans, and his disregard for a Supreme Court order. However, no bad guy is totally bad. This thread is for some good things the arguably most infamous US President did in his term. I'll start in saying that his tough stance on "nullies" particularly in South Carolina led to the North's no BS stance on Southern Succession that led to the much needed American Civil War.

He did make the democratic party. It depends on how you see it, but that could be a good reason as well.

Good is subjective though, innit? :p

Anyways, I would definitley say his toughness on the Nullifiers is one of his greatest moves as president, if it weren't for him, who knows what South Carolina would have done. His dedication to the preservation of the union is without a doubt admirable, especially considering it meant having to clash with his (possible) birth state and his own VP. One of my favorite Jackson moments is when he and John C. Calhoun were at some sort of banquet, and Calhoun gave a toast to state's rights, a clear indication that he sympathized with the Nullifiers, to which Jackson promptly got up and gave a "counter-toast" to the integrity of the union. That's something I've always liked about Jackson, how he was always the type to let his enemies know when they were in trouble with him.

I like to be as neutral as possible when looking at history, so of course all the recent anti-Jackson rhetoric the media's been blasting has been unpleasant for me to see, so it's nice to see there's at least someone out there other than me who wants a more balanced view of him.

I have to say, when it comes to history books they are very bias. That bothers me a lot especially since history is important.

SamSkey wrote:I have to say, when it comes to history books they are very bias. That bothers me a lot especially since history is important.

AMEN! It bothers me a lot when I go to the history section of my local bookstore and half the American History section is basically opinion pieces on Trump, Clinton, Obama, Bush etc. or a heavily politicized look at history. Bookstores really need to have a politics section to keep this stuff separate. Hell, just a few weeks ago, I ended up buying a Canadian history book with a very strong leftist and Eastern Canadian bias. I was able to get a refund, so all cool, but still bothered by it (I still don't have a good book on my own country's history...). And don't even get me started on how hard it is to find a good book on anything with modern Middle Eastern history...

I don't care what the author's opinions are, I just want to know the pure, unbiased facts, y'know? But such is life in our heavily-politicized world, I suppose...

One of the most important things Jackson did is his populist policies, he was really grassroots and helped give a voice to the people. People forget that the president before him was the epitome of what we would call the Establishment, John Quincy Adams. He was the son of John Adams, and so had epic political connections, was super rich and was basically raised from birth to be a politician. Jackson was a war hero and was from Tennessee, and the west at that time was the equivalent to Middle America back then, their interests were largely overlooked by the east, dismissing them as Redneck Hillbillies. Jackson represented the common people at the time, and that is why he's on the Twenty Dollar bill.

Defending New Orleans during the war of 1812 and ending the nullification crisis were good things.

His military career is mostly notable at the battle of New Orleans. I don't think there was much more he did in his military career. I haven't really learned a lot about Andrew Jackson's Military career.

Andrew Jackson was a major general lawyer landowner Tennessee Supreme Court Judge House of Representative Senator and Military governor of Florida, He served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 winning the Congressional gold medal and the thanks of Congress, my favorite thing he did office was to get rid of the Second National Bank which was controlling the American economy, and he was the only President to pay off the national debt.

Oh yah, I totally forgot that! He was the Only President who payed off the National Debt, that's probably my favorite thing that he did even if it only lasted for one year. As for the National Bank I'm not really that informed on it.

Well, you could say that he kickstarted Texas' bid to join the U.S. by recognizing it as a separate entity from Mexico. He also paid off the national debt, and eventually brought the States James K. Polk, who in turn snagged Oregon and the Southwest.

For every one negative, he can be said to have also done one positive.

Good things Andrew Jackson did?
He killed the bank.
That's about it.

Good things Andrew Jackson did? I'm assuming this means while he's president.

The only thing I can think of at the moment which he did that I liked was his handling of the Nullification Crisis in South Carolina. The state attempted to secede unilaterally and he prevented it.

That's all for now. I'll edit this if someone mentions something else.

It's not exactly "politically correct", but he did expand the U.S. territory (in the process, killing thousands of Native Americans). You could argue that sort of thing tilts both ways, which is how his presidency was.

bowtie wrote:my favorite thing he did office was to get rid of the Second National Bank which was controlling the American economy

EmperorTigerstar wrote:Good things Andrew Jackson did?
He killed the bank.
That's about it.

I used to think that was a great thing, and it was, but it also caused a major contraction in the economy. That ended up on the shoulders of Martin Van-Ruin.

Cold War Communist wrote:It's not exactly "politically correct", but he did expand the U.S. territory (in the process, killing thousands of Native Americans). You could argue that sort of thing tilts both ways, which is how his presidency was.

bowtie wrote:my favorite thing he did office was to get rid of the Second National Bank which was controlling the American economy

EmperorTigerstar wrote:Good things Andrew Jackson did?
He killed the bank.
That's about it.

I used to think that was a great thing, and it was, but it also caused a major contraction in the economy. That ended up on the shoulders of Martin Van-Ruin.

The economy crashed because offshore bankers we're punishing America for getting rid of the bank.

Bowtie wrote:The economy crashed because offshore bankers we're punishing America for getting rid of the bank.

They were not punishing the Jackson administration for getting rid of the national bank. He not only declared war on the banks, but issued a few poorly thought out orders that resulted in a run on the banks and a collapse.

I would be interested in reading any information you have on offshore banks trying to punish the U.S. for ending the national bank, if you have any available online.

EmperorTigerstar wrote:Good things Andrew Jackson did?
He killed the bank.
That's about it.

Don't forget he also killed Indians too.

The original idea was to move the Indians out West so that further bloodshed between the US and the Native Americans could be spared.

Bowtie wrote:
The original idea was to move the Indians out West so that further bloodshed between the US and the Native Americans could be spared.

What exactly went wrong with it, I wonder? I know that the Cherokee resisted, so were most of the deaths from the conflict there, or was the primary cause of Amerindian deaths simply from the trials of having to migrate to Oklahoma?

The Trail of Tears march was part of it. The other issue with moving the Native Americans west was that leading up to this decision, Andrew Jackson threw out rights clearly granted to the Natives and ignored the Supreme Court when it tried to affirm them, in order to remove them.

Crazy Boris wrote:

SamSkey wrote:I have to say, when it comes to history books they are very bias. That bothers me a lot especially since history is important.

AMEN! It bothers me a lot when I go to the history section of my local bookstore and half the American History section is basically opinion pieces on Trump, Clinton, Obama, Bush etc. or a heavily politicized look at history. Bookstores really need to have a politics section to keep this stuff separate. Hell, just a few weeks ago, I ended up buying a Canadian history book with a very strong leftist and Eastern Canadian bias. I was able to get a refund, so all cool, but still bothered by it (I still don't have a good book on my own country's history...). And don't even get me started on how hard it is to find a good book on anything with modern Middle Eastern history...

I don't care what the author's opinions are, I just want to know the pure, unbiased facts, y'know? But such is life in our heavily-politicized world, I suppose...

If I have to see another of O'Reilly's "Killing _____" books I'm gonna lose it. So far he's done Lincoln, Reagan, Jesus, and Kennedy. Frankly Jesus is unnecessary since we have an entire four books dedicated to that already. I'm expecting next Killing McKinley.

Also Jackson wanted to get rid of the
Electoral College, but never got around to doing it.

Does it count when he ended the Toledo war?

EmperorTigerstar wrote:

Crazy Boris wrote:

SamSkey wrote:I have to say, when it comes to history books they are very bias. That bothers me a lot especially since history is important.

AMEN! It bothers me a lot when I go to the history section of my local bookstore and half the American History section is basically opinion pieces on Trump, Clinton, Obama, Bush etc. or a heavily politicized look at history. Bookstores really need to have a politics section to keep this stuff separate. Hell, just a few weeks ago, I ended up buying a Canadian history book with a very strong leftist and Eastern Canadian bias. I was able to get a refund, so all cool, but still bothered by it (I still don't have a good book on my own country's history...). And don't even get me started on how hard it is to find a good book on anything with modern Middle Eastern history...

I don't care what the author's opinions are, I just want to know the pure, unbiased facts, y'know? But such is life in our heavily-politicized world, I suppose...

If I have to see another of O'Reilly's "Killing _____" books I'm gonna lose it. So far he's done Lincoln, Reagan, Jesus, and Kennedy. Frankly Jesus is unnecessary since we have an entire four books dedicated to that already. I'm expecting next Killing McKinley.

I've never read the "Killing" books, but based on what I've heard, as well as O'Reilly's reputation for being... Less than objective, I can imagine the level of quality these books are.