The Age of Jackson: breaking the bank and expanding the economy.

[danriker]

Recent biographies of Andrew Jackson have restored his reputation to some extent from the low point it reached a generation ago. His battle with the Bank of the United States resonates today with our banking controversies. His vigorous defense of the union against nullification and secession deserves attention today for its logic and its fundamental soundness.

The first part of a chapter in my yet to be published book, Let's Do What Works and Call it Capitalism, is about Jackson and the period just before enormous industrial expansion began. I don't know whether long documents normally are posted here. I haven't seen any, yet, so it is posted at http://www.dailykos.com/blog/Dan%20Riker/.

[Demeter]

1. Welcome to DU, Dan!

Original documents, and those without copyright, can be posted in entirety with proper notice (to prevent the copyright cops from hopping on you).

I have been wondering about Jackson, esp. with regards to banks and Rothschild. Look forward to reading your stuff!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

2. He might deserve a better reputation in regards to banking, but

everything I've heard about him suggests he was a genocidal bastard towards natives.

[danriker]

3. Not true.

There is a reason why his nickname was "Old Hickory." The man was a very tough SOB, probably unlike anyone we know today. Patton and Jackson probably would have gotten along very well. He was known to execute soldiers for desertion and that was used against him in his Presidential campaigns. He invaded Florida without any official order, but Monroe apparently encouraged it. He was not genocidal. He actually wanted to help the Indians because he thought the whites in Georgia would be genocidal. He concluded that the Indians and the whites could not live side by side and the only way the Indians could survive was to be moved somewhere where there were no whites - at least not then.
Read my chapter and you will see what kind of bind he found himself in when he had South Carolina threatened to secede over the tariff, and Georgia possibly joining SC if he tried to enforce the Supreme Court decision in favor of Cherokee rights. He actually handled the situation brilliantly.