Comments on Voter Vault: Pervading Partisanship

This historian ranks him near the bottom, but I ra...

2007-02-16T13:55:00.000-05:00

This historian ranks him near the bottom, but I rank any President near the bottom that does not respect the checks and balances that our democratic republic is based on.

I don't agree with many historians...Robert Remini has done a fantastic job in securing Jackson in the top 10 presidents for at least the next 50 years.

Created the modern presidency -->

He used the veto liberally, but I give the creation of the Modern Presidency award to McKinley and TR.

Empowered the people -->
I'll give this to him.

Preserved the Union and guided it through the Nullification crisis -->
If it were up to Calhoun and Jackson, we would have had a Civil War right then...and the North may have lost, with the British likely helping the South. Henry Clay preserved the Union. Hothead Jackson didn't understand diplomacy.

Ushered in the era of Jacksonian Democracy - encouraged the rotation system of office-holding -->
This is true, but his spoils system generally provided cush positions for his good friends.

Checked the power of monied interests during the Bank War, and nearly single-handedly avoided economic devistation by issuing the Specie Circular -->

He just pushed off economic devestation to his FRIEND and successor, Martin Van Buren. Poor Van Buren, his pal Jackson hung him out to dry.

Overall, Jackson was uncool, and Thomas Hart Benton, awesome senator from Missouri, was incredibly brave to stand up to Jerkson.

What would our America look like if each President had one "freebie" where they did not have to listen and follow the dictates of the US Supreme Court? Madness.

Btw, Jackson's just a fun topic to talk about...especially argue about. It's fantastic.

braves,I'm afraid that most historians would disag...

2007-02-15T14:02:00.000-05:00

braves,

I'm afraid that most historians would disagree strongly with your assessment of Jackson. On average, historians rate him somewhere between our 6th and 10th best president.

True, no one can excuse the Trail of Tears of the Indian Removal Act. If you base your entire analysis on that, you will surely put him at the bottom.

But that ignores everything else he did, which was wholly positive: created the modern presidency, empowered the people in the democratic process, preserved the Union and guided it through the Nullification crisis, ushered in the era of Jacksonian Democracy, encouraged the rotation system of office-holding (an attack on bureaucracy), checked the power of monied interests during the Bank War, and nearly single-handedly avoided economic devistation by issuing the Specie Circular.

Jackson has stood the test of time in the top-10 list of U.S. presidents. Almost no one puts him anywhere near the bottom.

Don't forget Andrew Jackson. Since I respect chec...

2007-02-15T10:47:00.000-05:00

Don't forget Andrew Jackson. Since I respect checks and balances and the Constitution, and disagree with genocide, I cannot place Andrew Jackson anywhere but in the bottom five. (Although, he's incredibly fun to teach). Of course, danny you are correct...Andrew Johnson must be down there too, in the bottom two.

Basically if you're a Democrat, and you're from Tennessee, and your first name begins with an A, you're probably trouble.

I forgot that LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act back...

2007-02-15T09:54:00.000-05:00

I forgot that LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act back when Democrats were the white man's party. That's a pretty good thing. But, he escalated the Vietnam War, so I'll place him somewhere in the middle.

Well said. I can't disagree with anything you sai...

2007-02-15T09:46:00.000-05:00

Well said. I can't disagree with anything you said. I think Lincoln, Washington, FDR and Jefferson would be in my top 4. I'm not sure about the order. I don't know if Bush would make my bottom 5. It's still too early to tell. It's not looking good for him so far. Harding, Nixon and both Johnsons would be down there.

Here's some rankings by scholars