A. Jackson

Just finished An American Lion, the second biog of A. Jackson I've read in the past few months. Certainly Jackson was an important President, likely in the very top echelon. I wouldn't quite rank him with Lincoln or Washington or even Jefferson (if only his first term were counted). I know most historians have F. Roosevelt up there, too. I agree he was very, very influential. But, to me, his significant influence was debilitating/deleterious (I don't often get a chance to use those words!). Yes, he changed American lives in a big way; I just don't think the changes were good ones. T. Roosevelt, Truman, and even Eisenhower were also favorites of mine. Truman, for instance, never gets the credit he deserves for his role in the civil rights movement--very courageous man, that Truman. And many people still don't understand Eisenhower and his "Hidden Hand Presidency." But, back to Jackson....

Jackson, I think, did save the Union. We'll never know for sure, but it seems he prevented any serious talk of nullification/secession at a time when the North couldn't have really prevented it. There are big problems with his bigotry, namely Indian removal (which was based in large part on his prejudiced views of Indians) and slave ownership (although did he have an epiphany near his end?). Those are hard to overlook (as they are with Wash and Jeff). How to evaluate. One great statement coming from the author, Jon Meacham, of An American Lion is "Evil can appear perfectly normal to even the best men and women of a given time." Maybe that is a lesson of history. Do we judge others from the past using our own values, without necessarily condoning evils? Hmmmm....to ponder.

One of the lessons of A. Jackson is pretty clear, one we need to seriously consider today. As early as the 1830s, Jackson recognized that the US had little to fear from other nations' armies. More, much more, with which to concern ourselves are "the combinations of the wealthy and professional [political] classes, from an aristocracy ["the anointed?"] which throught the influences of riches and talents, insidiously employed, sometimes succeeds in preventing political institutions , however well adjusted, from securing the freedom of the citizen...." Wow! And all this from a political rube, a backwoods hick?

We ignore our history at our own peril.

Thanks, Robb!