and to live to the incredible age of 78 with several bullets lodged in his chest
from duels, truly shows how incredible a man Jackson had been. The statement
that he was “born poor and died rich” fits Andrew Jackson perfectly.
My most important insight into this book is that if you take away the
politics and egotistical displays of power, and make the Battle of New Orleans
the focus, Jackson would make a great hero for young kids. Also, if you strip
away his machinations with battle and fighting, you could make Jackson to be the
true self-made man that Abraham Lincoln is, in the rise to politics.
Relationship Between Book & 19th Century American History This book’s
intricate relation to developments of the 19th century include the rights and
questions of slavery, the American Frontier and its ideals of the “self-made”
man, and questions about the rights of Indians to their lands.
Regarding the slavery issue, the book tells clearly of Andrew Jackson’s
dealings as a “average” slave holding. By “average”, I mean that he would
probably not do anymore or less to hurt or command his slaves around than anyone
else would in other plantations. To that end, what he cannot possibly condone
was runaways; he would pay extra for slave catchers to have the runaways lashed
in the effort to teach obedience. Andrew Jackson is a very commanding and
forceful person by nature, and when slaves step out of line, he had the right to
punish them, so he feels no sorrow for either peoples-black or red-only contempt.
In one time, during a raid on a Negro Fort before Florida had joined the Union,
Jackson and his soldier massacred free blacks, just because of the “slave-
holders’ desire to enslave or kill blacks enjoying their lives in freedom.”
Slave trading contributed to those ideas that regarded him as the first
“self-made” man/president. Abraham Lincoln might’ve been the best example of a
“self-made” man, but Andrew Jackson was the forefather of that ideology. Having
born into poverty, and struggled most of his life through poverty, he climbed
the first step in the ladder of success by knowing that the step was in the
practice of law. After some years of practice, it paid off, eventually leading
to his marriage into aristocracy to Rachel Donelson.
Out of all three of these relationships into 19th century American
History, Andrew Jackson’s thoughts and acts towards the Native Americans is the
most intensified subject. In this field, Jackson typified the “white man that
would cheat the Indian out of land he did not own in the first place!”
President Jackson’s greatest action towards Indian removal came in the form of
the Trail of Tears. This started in the state of Georgia, where the Cherokee
nation was “catching” up to the white man, and as a measure of defense or out of
fear, as Calhoun states, “The whole trouble with the Cherokees, ?, was precisely
their progress in civilization.” Jackson, whom sometime ago made treaties and
talked of peace with the “5 civilized tribes” of the Southeast, is now driving
the Cherokees out of land that the “white, middle-classed” man wants. And so,
with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Cherokee Indian population was forced
to move from Georgia into what is now Oklahoma, losing about 1/4th of the total
population along the way.
Merits and Assessment
My assessment as to the merit of this book is that it is one of great
moral and intellectual integrity. It cannot stress more on the moral side as it
unbiasly tells the reader the whole truth about Andrew Jackson’s love life,
family life, war life, and political life. This book is intellectually
stimulating, making you feel the urge to somehow, some way, relive the life of
Jackson, but you know that is not possible, so you go and reread the book again.
Andrew Jackson and His America clearly depicts emotions, and even though there
is no open dialogue, you get a sense of what the characters feel during trying
times.