Only one U.S. chairperson has an entire era named after him . And it ’s not Washington , Kennedy , Roosevelt orLincoln . The man who holds that distinction is Andrew Jackson , a two - terminus commander - in - chief who served from 1829 to 1837 .
" We call Washington ’s time the Revolutionary and foundation eras , not the Age of Washington . Lincoln belongs in the Civil War geological era , Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in the Progressive era,“wrote Daniel Feller , a prof at the University of Tennessee , in an essay for The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History . " But the interval roughly from the 1820s through 1840s , between the aftermath of the War of 1812 and the sexual climax of the Civil War , has often been sleep together as the Jacksonian Era , or the Age of Jackson . "
While all presidents seem to wax and ebbing in the public knowingness to some degree , Jackson ’s name pop up on a regular basis , even more so in recent class . But why would the ghost of a prexy who kick the bucket in 1845 still haunt present-day political discourse ?
The answer is , like Jackson , complicated .
For starters , President Donald Trump has a habit of name - dropping Jackson , whom he admire , to such a degree that he hung a portrait of his submarine sandwich in the Oval Office .
" Inspirational sojourn , I have to tell you . I ’m a fan,“Trump saidduring a 2017 visit to Jackson ’s Nashville mansion house , accord to The Washington Post . Both Jackson and Trump won power in part by stoking rancour in work - stratum people toward the rich and famous , calling themselves champions of bon ton ’s underdogs , the Post pointed out .
But unlike Trump , who was born rich , Jackson was a ego - made man who literally fought his way to the top . He also attend with distinction in the armed services and was elect to multiple vital governmental status before assuming the presidency .
" The image of Jackson as a quintessential product of American commonwealth has stay . Yet always complicating it has been the interplay between the personal and the political . If Jackson is a potent popular symbolization , he is also a conflicted and polarizing one,“wrote Feller .
Sound conversant ?
As a human being , Jackson was bang for his red peevishness , branding iron will and his decisiveness under fire . Others have noted his fairness , ego - awareness and political brilliance . He was also a blatant racialist , bigot and narcissist .
No matter his personal failings , he overcame incredibly hard odds on his track to success .
Born to Fight
Andrew Jackson was carry in 1767 , just a few long time before the Revolutionary War . He sign up to fightat the tender age of 13 . Early hardships were palpable — two of his comrade and his mother died during the war , and Jackson placed their deathssquarely on the British .
As an wiped out orphan , he grew up in various foster place and had trivial schematic education . However , he worked for several attorneys and — vitally — managed to read enough of the legal system to become a lawyer himself . These skills would serve him well for the rest of his biography .
Upon moving to Tennessee , which was then take part of the wild West , Jackson lento climbed in great power and wealth , through land dealings and shrewd politicking . In 1796 , he was elected as the new state ’s only U.S. representative . The next class , he was elect as a U.S. senator , where his hatred for political nuance became abundantly clear .
poor , he returned to Tennessee and was elected as a jurist of the state ’s Supreme Court . In 1804 , he resign , citing poor wellness .
Amid these accomplishments , Jackson was also a cotton plantation owner and merchandiser , who ownedperhaps 150men , women and children as slaves . That ’s one reasonfor a recent campaignto have former slave and abolitionistHarriet Tubmanreplace him on the U.S. $ 20 beak , a change that the Trump administration put on hold .
In May 1806 , a man named Charles Dickinson accused Jackson of screw him out of a horse cavalry race bet ; he also diss Jackson ’s married woman , Rachel . Jackson challenged Dickinsonto a side arm affaire d’honneur . Dickinson shot first and struck Jackson near his spunk , but Jackson stood and deliver fervor , killing his antagonist . adverse to caption , which contends that Jackson engaged in anywhere from five to 100 duels during his lifetime , it was the first and only formal pistol duel that he ever push .
It was a bigger combat — theWar of 1812 — where Jackson became famous . At the Battle of New Orleans , he conduce aragtag mishmashof men in defend nearly 10,000 of Britain ’s well - train soldier . When the dust settled , Britain had lost 2,057 homo . The U.S. ? Just 71 . Jackson ’s leadership there made him a bona fide war hero .
In the Oval Office
Jackson ’s military fame help oneself him get ahead the 1828 presidential election . From there , he began exerting his power in ways that he find would benefit the common humanity . The kind of person , he reminded voters , whom he had once been .
One of his most illustrious moves was to kill the Second Bank of the United States , which he feel was corrupt and live to prop up the interests of the flush . In his dictum to Congresshe said , " It is to be regretted that the plentiful and powerful too often stoop the number of government activity to their own selfish purposes . "
Congress strongly opposed Jackson ’s treatment of the situation and later censured him for his part in what they deemed the " Bank War . " But Jackson ultimately obtain .
In 1832 , South Carolina presented another crisis — one of secession . In an consequence that became have sex as theNullification Crisis , the res publica threatened to leave the Union over disputed duty . South Carolina set its reserves in case of Union military action , and abruptly the point was place for potential state of war .
Jackson did in fact threaten violence if the South Carolinians refused to stand down . " Disunion by armed force play is treason , " exclaim Jacksonin a statementto the would - be rebels . But he also allowed way for unexampled tariff negotiations . An agreement was spirt , violence was avoided and both English saved expression . It ’s no wonderment that a generation by and by , in more precarious times , that Abraham Lincoln and others would arouse Jacksonas a preserver of the Union .
These Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , however , Jackson ’s legacy has a obscure undertone , due to the chairman ’s harsh treatment of indigenous Americans .
" I would say that the thing he ’s now best know for is his Amerind remotion insurance , " say Daniel Feller in a phone interview .
For year prior to Jackson ’s presidential term , America ’s political inertia carried out various legal action meant to displace Native Americans . But it was Jackson who signed the1830 Indian Removal Act . This act drive Native Americans to abandon their lands and guide to the infamousTrail of Tearsof the recent 1830s , in which yard break as they were forced by U.S. soldiers to move to reservations in the West .
It was a presidential decision that Feller says falls , " somewhere between too bad and genocidal . "
Jackson’s Perpetual Revival
These days , Jackson come out up on a regular basis in media reports and societal medium , in part because of Trump ’s embrace of the mankind nicknamed " Old Hickory " by his troops because his huskiness remind them of a well - planted hickory tree . As for Jackson ’s current report , it depends who you expect .
" He ’s become a kind of surrogate for what you think about American history , " state Feller . " Is American account a triumphalist story ? I think the Trump-[Steve ] Bannon camp would say ' yes …. ' Trump ’s line essentially is ' I ’m just like Andrew Jackson , I too am a man of the people , beloved by average Americans , despised and hated by the Washington insiders . ' "
Some progressive though , have take the polar view of the Jackson / Trump associations . " It ’s gotten to the point that Jackson ’s report among the anti - Trump people has get to be so bad that basically you could impeach him of anything , " and no one can convince them otherwise , he notes .
" It ’s a near example of how everybody ’s blab out about Andrew Jackson , but the Andrew Jackson they ’re utter about is a kind of free - floating modern construct , " says Feller . He agonizes that few reporters do the research to find out what Jackson really did during his life-time .
" Those of us who respect accuracy and sometimes the complexity of the historical platter are just scandalise , " at the way Jackson ’s name is wielded as a weapon by both liberals and conservatives , he says .
And yet that is the shifting nature of legacy . One contemporaries ’s hero sandwich is another ’s villain .
Whether a leader ’s name is Washington , Lincoln or Kennedy , history ’s opinion will be foresightful , grim and ever - changing . That survive for Jackson — Old Hickory , jurist , warrior , racist , slave possessor , self - made man — and Trump , too .
