Alion is strong, powerful, determined and brave, These attributes can be distributed to men but very few in our history can be called lions. It is an honor held among the bravest and most influential of our kind that will do anything they need to win or succeed. Andrew Jackson, the seventh United States President, is one of these few men who can truly hold these attributes. His presidency can be describe as a roaring endeavor to change the world or politics forever and in thus, he succeeded. I will be discussing throughout, notjust what Andrew Jackson did but also I will be analyzing John Meacham’s book American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the Whitehouse (Citation) on its authenticity towards Andrew Jackson’s life.
In the year 1767, ten years prior to the war of independence, Andrew Jackson was born right along the border between North and South Carolina. When the fight for independence from Britain came along it forever changes Andrew Jackson‘s life. Jackson’s family was caught in the middle of all the fighting, they were imprisoned and treated very poorly by British soldiers of the conflict. In the end of the war, the only person to survive out of his family was Andrew Jackson himself and I feel that here is when the tides turned in his life; his direct family was gone and only their memories haunted him further. He then moves to Nashville where he becomes a very established lawyer, militia officer and planter in the area.
He meets his wife (or later to be wife at this point in his life) Rachel Donelson. At the time that they had met Rachel was not legally divorced from her first husband, this would later affect Jackson’s political campaign for the presidency. For the time being though, the two of them fell deeply in love and seemly through Jackson‘s life Rachel was the only thing he held dear to him. It is important to know that Rachel died just before Jackson won the election for the US. Presidency which would come to affect his outward view of the opposite party in congress for the rest of his presidential career. He would always blames the Democrats for the death of Rachel since she was caught up in a scandal.
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By the point of Jackson‘s presidential career he was a very well decorated war hero, this made him a hero for the people, By this point in the text John Meacham captured the essence of Andrew Jackson; I feel that he established Jackson‘s personality that is seen throughout the remainder of his life and careeri John is able to keep this throughout his descriptions of Jackson’s later accomplishments and conflicts throughout his life. it is very well known that Andrew Jackson was a brave and determined individuali It were these attributes that got him the support he needed in politics to win the presidency and to also hold power in the government long after he was no longer president.
I believe that it is the knowledge of his determined and rather terrifying personality that makes Andrew Jackson’s life so influential in the timeline of the US. During his first term, Jackson is delighted to see one of his best friends, John Eaton, get married himself but ultimately their marriage is riddled with rumors much like Jackson’s life. Here you see that Jackson does have sympathy somewhere in him; it was not all taken with the passing of Racheli John Meacham implies throughout this point in Jackson‘s first presidency that his determination will bring any goals into his grasp. John Eaton had been appointed as Secretary of State while Jackson was president.
It was here when Eaton and his new wife started to feel the tension with the other more “elite” members of the cabinet, Jackson splits the government into two sides; the side that will accept Eaton and his wife and those who will not, It shows here the determination that Jackson is capable of and i believe that John Meacham captures the essence and importance of this moment. I believe it is very important in the history of his life that we all know the extent he was willing to go to protect his beliefs, Throughout his entire campaign, Andrew Jackson was the outcast sent to Washington to lead, Meacham states that all through his presidency Andrew Jackson ran on the belief that he was an average citizen.
He did not run like his counter-parts (Henry Clay, Calhoun, and Adams) who thought of themselves as “elites” They ran with the belief they were better than the rest of the populous and were the only ones fit to lead the country, Jackson was known as the peoples hero, Meacham states, he campaigned as a well-educated war hero who would do whatever it took to lead the country down the right path Andrew Jackson veto 12 bills sent to his desk, which was more than all of the previous individuals to hold office combined. He even vetoed the re-charter for the national bank due to the fact that Jackson believed that the bank was a monopoly.
Meacham states that Jackson was very against the charting of the national bank in the first places, it’s here that, as the reader, you can see the brutal irony that struck Jackson in modern times He is displayed on the one thing he did not trust, the U.S, currency, The name “American Lion,” in my opinion, personifies the American popular opinions I feel that by this point in the book, Meacham missed a very good opportunity to point this out. The American popular opinion followed Jackson’s opinions but then it brings to question whether the opinion and beliefs of one man is best for the entire population. What if the National Bank was beneficial to the whole country?
It is later proved that it was better to have a more regulated banking system, in thus the National Banking system was the better way to go but at the time the country was stuck in a mob mentality so the decision to not re charter the National Bank was supported by the majority of Jackson’s supporter. So, can people be trusted to run their own government? Obviously the country still stands today so the people for the most part preserved the union, however, was it because the people were able to make decisions or was it rather the mob mentality running the country on Andrew Jackson‘s personal ideals, Many more questions could be brought up but the overall idea is this. Majority mle and minority rights.
