What did you learn about President Andrew Jackson?

20 comments

1. I learned that he was a fierce and consequential man, who embodied many of the best and worst American traits. This was in New York City public high school in the 1970s.

   Jackson’s legacy includes universal suffrage – as long as you’re a white man – and expansion of the power of the presidency. He faced down South Carolina in the nullification crisis to delay secession for a generation. He was pro slavery, personally and politically. He was probably the worst ever enemy of Indian tribes in the Southeast.

2. I don’t remember learning much about him in Massachusetts.

   But reading about him was pretty eye opening. I can’t believe he’s on our currency.

3. Maybe small details about him dealing with the trail of tears and him being crazy, but that’s about it. I don’t really remember learning anything about him.

4. He’s relatively important to both my states history and my families history so quite a bit, not much positive though.

5. Northern MN, and basically I was taught that he was the worst president until Nixon.

   The Trail of Tears, and his usurpation of power by basically ignoring orders by the judicial branch of the government was the biggest focus.

6. We learned mostly about his accomplishments and controversies. We learned little little about him personally other than ther he owned slaves and has a successful military career where he was an important figure in the war of 1812.

   Some things off the top of my head that we learned about

   – paid off national debt
   – new currency issued
   – Indian Removal Act
   – new lands obtained
   – strengthened ties with foreign governments
   – vetoed the bil that would habe established a national bank
   – appointed political allies who were corrupt at worst and woefully unqualified at best (forget the details buy one guy made off with a ton of tax money in NY was a big controversy)

7. We talked about his deeds in AP US history: the expansion of voting rights to working-class men, the end of the Second Bank of the US, the Trail of Tears…

   At the end of the section, our teacher wanted us to have a debate on his legacy, and whether he still deserved to be venerated/stay on the $20 bill. The problem was that nobody wanted to defend him, so the debate fizzled out.

8. He drooled and he dueled.

9. For better or worse, he was intensely patriotic. He passionately murdered natives and Europeans alike for his beloved nation’s benefit, and he was really good at it. One of his most dominating battle victories happened after the war was already technically over, but he was real happy with his attack plan and didn’t want to stop fighting yet. He got sick of the banks playing games and made paper money illegal. He delayed the civil war for decades because he promised John C Calhoun he would personally behead him and he meant it. (They didn’t openly rebel until after his death) He beat up difficult congressmen on the house floor. He straight up dueled and murdered several men he didn’t like, always letting them shoot first and always getting hit. The bullets were never removed and it’s thought that some of his later madness was caused by lead poisoning. One he killed on the Whitehouse lawn. When he got elected and when he left office he had ragers open to the public that took weeks to clean up.

   To me, he is like a cartoon character in history. He was arguably a madman and probably terrifying to be around. He’s my favorite president because he was like living hyperbole and it’s crazy to me that he was real.

10. I grew up in Alabama, and now live in Lousiana. He was an important historical figure in both states. I learned a lot about him in school. I grew up taking field trips to Horseshoe Bend National Park.

    I live near Jackson Square in New Orleans, which is a National Landmark and the heart of the city. He won both the Horseshoe Bend Battle and the Battle of New Orleans.

    He has a complex legacy of both good and bad. He was a war hero that saved the city of New Orleans. He was also a slave owner and was responsible for the Trail of Tears.

11. The part I remember the most about him was the trail of tears. Not a good legacy

12. The trail of tears

13. Considering a large part of my family are Native, I am not a fan at all. My schooling agreed, stating that he was a genocidal racist who essentially was as much a tyrant as a president could be.

14. Trail of tears, had financial acumen, very fierce and intense reputation in life and on the battlefield, extremely devoted to the US.

15. Same things bunch of other people here said. If you really want to learn about Jackson [Mr beat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q5lFb1tEt8) made a full documentary-style video on him recently. Not to be confused with Mr beast.

16. War of 1812, spoils system, trail of tears, didn’t like the banks, beat his would-be assassin with a cane.

17. I don’t remember if his connection to the trail of tears was taught, but we did learn about it.

    His legacy is that he admittedly was a brilliant general, let the central bank charter run out, was responsible for the Trail of Tears, was a particularly harsh slave owner, and beat up a would be assassin with a cane in the Capitol.

18. He was pretty evil. One of the most powerful presidents.

19. In school I learned he was just a warm blooded American trying his best to run a country. After school I learned he was actually a massive piece of shit human being that deserves his spot as one of the worst presidents in the history of this country

20. Destroyed the Brits, declared a hero. Genocided the natives (arguable the worst single event in our history). Dueled multiple people to the death, survived them all. Hated banks, destroyed them too.

    Dude was unhinged.