What to make of President Andrew Jackson? On the one hand, he loathed the secessionist and nullification movements that were flaring up in South Carolina, led primarily by his arch-nemesis John C. Calhoun. Thus, Jackson opposed one interpretation of Jeffersonian political theory, i.e., the underlying thesis behind the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. On the other hand, one of Jackson's primary objectives as president was to stamp out, once and for all, any vestige of the national bank, setting himself squarely against the Hamiltonian camp. A fierce nationalist who saved New Orleans and perhaps even the Union in the War of 1812, maybe the best way to read Jackson is to see him as his own man who paved his unique path, embracing some of Hamilton and a little of Jefferson. Anyone curious to learn more about the fiery Andrew Jackson should pick up Jon Meacham's Pulitzer Prize winning biography: Andrew Jackson: American Lion. While I do not agree with all of Meacham's conclusions, overall, he does a fine job in presenting Jackson's virtues and faults to the reader. One of my favorite lines from the book is a quote from Jackson to his doctor.
"Now doctor, I can do anything you think proper to order and endure as much as most men. There are only two things that I can't give up: one is coffee and the other is tobacco."
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