Comments | melengro: I've realised something interesting.

melengro

I've realised something interesting.

Mar 25, 2010 15:20

Andrew Jackson is possibly the single most controversial figure in American history, because he is STILL CONTROVERSIAL TO-DAY, over a hundred and fifty years after his death.

For those of you who may not know, Jackson was a military and political figure in early American history. He was a Senator from Tennessee and Military Governor of Florida, a ( Read more... )

history geekery

Comments 10

brewsternorth March 25 2010, 20:14:13 UTC

He was famous for his physical toughness and once beat up a would-be assassin.

Even some of that has been questioned by a historian who has been working in the subject at Oxford: it's not certain how much actually happened and how much was Jackson's own spin-machine.

melengro March 25 2010, 20:19:42 UTC

That brings us to another point, which is that Jackson was basically the granddaddy of (arguably reductionist) populist spin in this country.

dropsofviolet March 25 2010, 20:50:58 UTC

My best friend is like. in love with Andrew Jackson for all of the reasons you listed. He was awesome!

melengro March 25 2010, 21:05:19 UTC

No matter what else, the one thing about Jackson that is not controversial is that he was a man with whom you did not fuck around.

WALL OF NERD bonsoirdollface March 25 2010, 22:18:25 UTC

eeeeeeeee ANDREW JACKSON why do I not have any icons of hiiiiiiim. <3 I will make some POSTHASTE ( ... )

Re: WALL OF NERD melengro March 25 2010, 22:33:05 UTC

YES, YES I AM AWARE OF ALL OF THIS ( ... )

Re: WALL OF NERD bonsoirdollface March 26 2010, 12:17:27 UTC

Cleveland is pretty underrated, mostly because he is a Gilded Age president and nothing really exciting happens between 1865 and 1900 (except the Industrial Revolution... but yeah). He was just a good guy, you know? I think that counts for a lot. During his election, there was a smear campaign going on that said he had had an illegitimate child with some ho, and even though he knew damn well it wasn't his he still helped bring the kid up.

During his presidency, congress raised a notion to include a literacy test for all incoming immigrants, which was mostly born out of racism but under the guise of "national security". It was supposed to keep out communists. Clevelend vetoed it on the grounds that people who were very literate in Europe were actually more likely to be Communists, considering they could read all the propaganda (as opposed to the typical peasant-farmer-escaping-pogroms).

His last words also really resonate with me, just because they're so fitting- "I have tried so hard to do right." Is he a visionary leader? Not ( ... )

Re: WALL OF NERD melengro March 26 2010, 22:49:55 UTC

Those are pretty much my reasons for liking Cleveland, too. Especially standing up to Blaine's smear campaign.

airie_fairy March 26 2010, 22:29:20 UTC

Even recognizing the stuff he did right, the whole Trail of Tears business means that he's forever locked in the cellar of people who pretty much suck.

melengro March 26 2010, 22:49:05 UTC

And one more opinion is duly recorded!