← Dan Snow's History Hit
Dan Snow's History Hit
How did Andrew Jackson Change the U.S. Presidency?
00:41:33
A hero to some, and a villain to others, President Jackson remains one of the most polarizing figures in American history.
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- [00:00]
Progressive Insurance Ad
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [00:19]
Aura Ad
This podcast is brought to you by Aura. Imagine waking up to find your bank account drained, bills for loans you never took out, a warrant for your arrest. All because someone stole your identity. Hackers aren't waiting. Why are you? That's why we're thrilled to partner with Aura. Your personal data is a goldmine for hackers, and Aura helps lock it down. Aura monitors the dark Web, blocks data brokers from selling your information. Includes a VPN for private browsing and a password manager to secure your accounts before criminals break in. For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14 day free trial plus a dark web scan to check if your personal information has been leaked. All for free@aura.com safety that's aura.com safety to sign up and start protecting yourself and your loved ones. That's aura.com safety terms apply. Check the site for details.
- [01:12]
Holly Fry
Our Skin Tells a Story Join me, Holly Fry, and a slate of incredible guests as we are all inspired by their journeys with psoriasis. Along with these uplifting and candid personal histories, we take a step back into the bizarre and occasionally poisonous history of our skin and how we take care of it. Whether you're looking for inspiration on your own skincare journey or are curious about the sometimes strange history of how we treat our skin, you'll find genuine, empathetic, transformative conversations here on our skin. Listen to our skin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [01:52]
Dan Snow
Hi everyone. Welcome to Dan Snow's History Hit. He's one of the most polarizing figures in American history. To some, he's a populist champion who ripped up the rulebook to champion the common man. To others, he's a villain, a man whose policies destroyed communities, caused irreversible harm. He was certainly the famous wealthy outsider with the common touch. He swept into politics, promising to drain the swamp. He decried an election that he lost as stolen. He promised a rematch, and he won it. He stuffed the government with followers loyal to him. He believed in tariffs to build up US Industry. He was great at creating enemies to pick fights with and delight his followers. He ignored court rulings. He expanded the bounds of the United States of America. He was particularly Keen on Florida. I am of course talking about the seventh president of the United States of America, Andrew Jackson, the man whose portrait was hung in the Oval Office by the incoming President Donald Trump in 2016. Jackson's life and career is just extraordinary. As a very young man, he was captured by British forces in the American Revolutionary War. He was ordered by an officer, he and his brother were ordered by an officer to polish his boots and they refused and the officer slashed him with his sword and he carried those scars with him to his grave. His brother and he were kept in appalling conditions by the British. His brother died of disease short shortly after their release. And Jackson carried a lifelong hatred of Britain and its empire with him. As a military commander, he would have the opportunity for revenge on the British. He defeated them in 1815 outside New Orleans in one of the largest set piece battles, the War of 1812, and certainly Britain's most stunning defeat. He also invaded Florida without permission. The president at the time said he was ill and wasn't paying attention. Jackson was reprimanded, although a few months later, the Spanish did end up selling Florida to the Americans. He certainly put himself on the right side of history there. He is one of the most transformational and contested figures in US history. So it felt like a good time to take a deep dive on that remarkable American president to help me do so. I've got the very brilliant Dr. Nathalie Zacek back. She's a lecturer in history and American Studies at the University of Manchester. It's great to have her back on the podcast. Here we are talking all about the divisive President. Enjoy.
- [04:23]
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- [04:27]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
God save the king. No black white unity till there is first some black unity. Never to go to war with one another again. And liftoff. And the shuttle has cleared the tower.
- [04:42]
Dan Snow
Natalie, thanks so much for coming back on the podcast.
- [04:44]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Thanks for having me.
- [04:46]
Dan Snow
I mean, he had quite the early childhood, didn't he? Can you tell me a little bit about it and then also give me a sense of how it's a little bit different from some of the early childhoods of the early presidents of the Republic.
- [04:57]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Well, the first five presidents before Jackson, four of them were Virginia slave holding plantation owners and one was John Adams, you know, the Harvard educated Boston lawyer. And not all of these people were exceptionally wealthy, but they certainly had fairly easy childhoods. Whereas Jackson, according to his own mythology, but accurately, you know, was born in a log cabin on the frontier. He did have a bit of education. His mother hired, I think A minister to teach him how to read and write. But he never really went to any school. And he was really an early teenager when the American Revolution broke out. His father died before he was even born. So he was raised by his mother with his older brothers. And although they were not exceptionally poor, you know, it really was quite a gritty upbringing where he did not spend his youth studying or living in a plantation house, being waited on by enslaved people. He really had to learn how to hunt and use a gun. And then by the time he's a teenager, he actually is a young soldier in the revolution. So it's a very different upbringing from any of the previous presidents. And he really makes that part of his appeal.
- [06:17]
Dan Snow
And there's that amazing story I forget. He had a. He carried a scar from an encounter with a British soldier, didn't he?
- [06:22]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Well, he carried lots of scars and I think he actually had a bullet in his body. That was from later. That was from a duel. But, you know, he was not a big burly man. He was quite tall, but with quite a slim, wiry build. He was nicknamed Old Hickory, after the hickory tree with its hard wood. So he was seen by his peers as. Although he might not have been a looming burly man, you know, he was exceptionally tough, very stoic, not afraid of conflict and physical pain.
- [06:51]
Dan Snow
I suppose it's difficult to work out fact from fiction here, but would it be fair to say that that brutal war in the Carolinas, he developed a healthy contempt of not just Britain, but of aristocracy and elites?
- [07:04]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Absolutely. I mean, he wasn't unusual in that. One thing that American colonists found very shocking was that in the British army, an officer could order an enlisted man publicly whipped for some infraction. And that just seemed completely wrong. Not that someone shouldn't be punished for a misdeed, but, you know, the idea of this sort of public humiliation and of the elite classes having very different standards for the treatment of the non elite classes, that really made people, even those who didn't see it in person, very uncomfortable. So Jackson, you know, really loathed anything that was British. And particularly he didn't necessarily loathe the ordinary British man or woman. But anything that was about the aristocracy, the monarchy, and anything that said that some person was better than some other person simply by virtue of their being born to a certain status.
- [08:03]
Dan Snow
And what's the sort of main legacy, do you think, of the Revolutionary War for Jackson? Is it in his politics or the fact that he finds out he's good at fighting, he wants to pursue a Military career. How does it shape the young man?
- [08:14]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I think it really makes him think that America and Americans are different and that the promise of the revolution is that the ordinary man, who may be poor, rural, uneducated, that that man, according to him in America, is supposed to be just as good as the wealthy educated man who is an urbanite, that he may never become wealthy or influential, but he's as a human, he's just as good as someone with more privilege. And that that's what's supposed to be special and different about America, that you take your opportunities and you make what you can. You don't say, I'm just a lowly person and I'm never going to get anywhere.
- [08:55]
Dan Snow
Well, and speaking of which, he did, he was determined to, you might in the old days we said, better himself. He climbed up the ranks.
- [09:03]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I mean, you know, he had a little bit of help. You know, he did inherit a bit of money from an uncle, but for the most part he did make his own luck. He showed that he was a fierce fighter, whether against the British or against Native Americans in the wars against them in the 1810s. He did accumulate land enslaved people. He seemed to have been a decent financial manager. As I said, he was not born to wealth or privilege. He did marry, but his wife was not a person of particular privilege either. And he was very proud of the idea that anything he had, he had gotten through his own efforts.
- [09:43]
Dan Snow
He is interested in politics, isn't he? From quite an early point, like in the 1790s, he's getting involved, although at.
- [09:49]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
A fairly low level. And again, I mean, America is still a very elitist place in the 1790s. Ordinary people, those who are not wealthy or landed, aren't even voters at this point. So he is very disturbed by this idea that of course, the average woman doesn't even come into it, but the average man, meaning the average man who is not black or Native American, doesn't necessarily get a vote. And he's very concerned that the people that are the leaders, even though he respects some of them, like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, are elites. So how is this different from Britain? If America is supposed to be the land of the common man, why is the common man not actually even getting to cast his vote? So he is concerned that this needs to change and he's going to be an agent of change.
- [10:39]
Dan Snow
Is this typical of the time? He seems to be fighting a lot of jewels. This is a. It's pretty rough.
- [10:43]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
He's a contentious guy. I mean, even people who really like and respect him. Say he had quite a temper and he did not take any insult. He couldn't just say, all right, let's move on. He seemed really not to have physical fears, and he was quite willing to prove himself. You know, he thought of himself as very tough that so many of the more elite men had, had easier upbringings. But he knew how to live off the land. He was a good shot. I think he fought something like a dozen duels. Some scholars have claimed he had this Scotch Irish Presbyterian background. And, you know, there is the idea that these people were very proud, very touchy, very concerned about their honor, and that they had this culture of fighting and dueling and that if you have a dispute with someone, you don't just argue it out or shrug your shoulders, but you certainly aren't going to turn down a duel. And you might challenge people to one yourself.
- [11:43]
Dan Snow
He's a man of action. He is an adventurer, you could say. I mean, he's trying different things. He's buying and selling enslaved people. He's land speculating.
- [11:52]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
You know, he was raising horses, breeding horses, fighting indigenous people. And he also, you know, had a strangely tender side, at least in terms of his wife.
- [12:03]
Dan Snow
So he's a man of parts, but he's. It's a portfolio career, you could say. What sets him fully on the path to, well, becoming one of the most extraordinary figures in US political history. Is it the war with Britain in 1812?
- [12:17]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Yeah, he's already making a name for himself, at least to people who follow these things, fighting Native Americans, particularly around Florida. But then in the War of 1812, things are looking quite bad for the Americans. Remember, this is when, you know, the White House gets burned down and Dolly Madison has to run off clutching a few important documents in the portrait of George Washington. So Jackson pretty much rounds up any man he can find who says, yeah, I don't mind fighting the British, including supposedly literal pirates, the followers of Jean Lafitte, the pirate king. And they fight in the swamp across the river from where I'm sitting right now. And they do take on the British and they actually win.
- [13:02]
Dan Snow
And tell the audience where you're sitting right now. You're talking about the big river, right? Mississippi.
- [13:06]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Mississippi. So I'm sitting about a couple hundred yards from the Mississippi. And if you go up river about a mile and cross the river, you're at Chalmette, which is a national park site, as the battlefield of the Battle of New Orleans.
- [13:19]
Dan Snow
A sad place for any Brit. So the British, I mean, The War of 1812 is a hopelessly complicated story, really. There's fighting along the eastern seaboard, as you say in the Chesapeake, the British burn Washington arrayed. There's fighting in the Great Lakes, but there's also fighting down in New Orleans right at the end. In fact, in 1815, the Battle of.
- [13:39]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
New Orleans happens after a peace treaty is already signed in Europe. But of course, because of the communications of the time, people in the US don't know that this has happened because there's at least a month's lag between a thing happening and people in America learning about it. So in a sense, it was a useless battle because the end had already been decided. But it's not useless from an American perspective because it is quite a thumping victory. So the Americans are quite full of pride that we met the British in open battle. And of course, the British army at this time is certainly the best army in the Western world. Can't speak for the non Western world. The best trained, the best supplied, the most experienced. I mean, it's a formidable foe. And he had this sort of ragtag bunch of whatever person for the day would say, yeah, I don't mind fighting the British, but they're not a cohesive fighting force. They're pretty much any guy that Jackson can scrounge up off the tavern floor if necessary.
- [14:36]
Dan Snow
These British redcoats have fought against and beaten some of Napoleon's best marshals in Spain.
- [14:41]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I mean, they have a very impressive structure of command. They're very good at bringing young men in and making a soldier of him. They fought all over the world, but Jackson does, with a lot of luck and some skilled leadership, manage to defeat them. And so Americans are filled with pride that there weren't that many really open battles in the War of 1812. But this was one where the British and the American forces faced off against one another, and the Americans managed to win. So if you're an American patriot, you're like, yeah, we beat him.
- [15:14]
Dan Snow
Exactly. The red coated infantry marched in their serried ranks towards a fortified position with lots of sharpshooters behind it. And the inevitable result occurred and the British commander was killed. But it was an extraordinary victory for the Americans, as you say, a big pitched battle against this remarkable army. Did it turn Jackson into a national star?
- [15:33]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
It really did. And you know Jackson, he's quite good on what we might call optics today. So he and his forces, after they patch up their wounds and get cleaned up, they march back into New Orleans. They're welcomed as the amazing conquering heroes. And even though Jackson is A Scotch Irish Presbyterian, he's certainly not a Catholic. Remember, at this point, New Orleans has only been American for just over 10 years after the Louisiana Purchase, so it is still very much a French city. The people that live there are overwhelmingly French or French American. THEY SPEAK FRENCH the city itself is mostly just what they call the French Quarter today, and most people are Catholics. But he marches to the St. Louis Cathedral, which is the center of the French Quarter. The area around it is now called Jackson Square and has been for almost since then. There's a big statue of Jackson on a rearing horse, and he goes into the cathedral and he kneels before the altar and he places his sword upon it, as a French leader of the era would have done, you know, even though he is not a Catholic and he is not a Frenchman. And then he and his senior commanders sit through a Mass celebrating the victory. Again, they're not Catholics, but he knows this is how a French hero would behave. So he's quite good at basically taking his victory lap, but also doing it in a way that the local French Catholic population feels is appropriate.
- [16:59]
Dan Snow
Wow. And how quickly does he try and turn this into political office? Seeking political office?
- [17:06]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Not immediately, but, you know, he is. I mean, he's getting a bit older. He is married now, actually.
- [17:13]
Dan Snow
Sorry, I should say not immediately, because he basically kind of illegally invades Florida, doesn't he?
- [17:18]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
So, I mean, you know, he now rightly thinks of himself as a very skilled military commander, and that's kind of where his skill set lies. But, you know, he is also getting a little older by this point. He's getting into his 50s and 60s. I think his wife is like, honey, you could stay home a little bit, maybe. And so he does start thinking about what else do I want to do? And if I really, you know, I can do important things on the battlefield, but I could do important things elsewhere. So by 1824, he gets it in his mind that he is going to run for the presidency of the United States. And he is going to do it as the representative of this newly forming Democratic Party, which is organized around the idea that the common man should be represented in American politics, not only by loosening voting restrictions so that men who are not wealthy or elite can vote. If a Democratic leader wins, the Democratic leader will be always asking about any policy. How will the common man benefit from this? Not, what about the planters? What about the lawyers? What about the merchants?
- [18:26]
Dan Snow
And am I just being a cynic? Because when I hear politicians saying, what about the common man? I think, okay, well, that's your shtick. I mean, do you think, did he mean that?
- [18:34]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I think he was very sincere about that. He didn't have to get involved in politics. He was now quite a prosperous man. His plantation was doing well. He really loved his wife and liked being home to spend time around her. He was a national hero for his military career. He was enjoying breeding and racing his horses at the Hermitage, his plantation in Tennessee. So he could have just had a fairly pleasant, you know, late middle age hung around the house. I think he really did feel that even though he had seized his opportunities at this point, you know, he is a wealthy, influential, respected man that we're now getting up to 50 years after the outbreak of the American Revolution and that while the United States might not have some of the extremes of poverty and disempowerment that you find in Britain and Europe at this time, that still the common man is not getting the greatest deal. And the presidents before him are all Virginia slave holding planters or Harvard educated New England lawyers. They're not representative of ordinary people. I mean, he likes power, he likes being praised, but I think he actually was pretty sincere about this.
- [19:46]
Dan Snow
He runs just for the nomination then in the presidential election, he runs against people who are seen as political insiders, doesn't he? I mean, did he establish this tradition in US History or has this been there from the beginning, which is this idea of this famous outsider who's nationally recognized either through usually war, but it could be business, could be appearing on TV shows, but a very famous outsider who is going to go in there and mix it up and show those insiders what the hell's going on. This is the beginning of that great trend in US History.
- [20:14]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Absolutely starts with this. So I mean, George Washington, the most loved and respected man in America, the Virginia planter, the leader of the Continental Army, John Adams, you know, a very important leader in the Continental Congress, member of the Sons of Liberty, then Thomas Jefferson, another Virginia planter, the author of the Declaration of Independence, James Madison, Virginia planter, the man who was essential to the writing of the Constitution. Then James Monroe, also a Virginian planter, and part of this generation with Madison and Jefferson. And then you know, the man who eventually does defeat him in 1824, John Quincy Adams, a diplomat, a Harvard graduate, but the son of former president John Adams. So we're even getting this dynastic idea. You know, you have Adams 1 and Adams 2. So this is the first time that someone is saying, hey, I'm not one of these, you know, effete Easterners. I'm not one of these privileged people. My father died before I was born and he was not a man of any wealth or power. I'm coming in and there are these people, whether they're presidents or very powerful senators like Henry Clay. And they run things. They're the insiders. I'm going to drain the swamp, as it were.
- [21:33]
Dan Snow
You listen to Dan Snow's history, talking all about Andrew Jackson, the President. More Coming up.
- [21:44]
Progressive Insurance Ad
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [22:03]
Aura Ad
This podcast is brought to you by Aura. Imagine waking up to find your bank account drained, bills for loans you never took out, a warrant for your arrest. All because someone stole your identity. Hackers aren't waiting. Why are you? That's why we're thrilled to partner with Aura. Your personal data is a goldmine for hackers, and Aura helps lock it down. Aura monitors the dark Web, blocks data brokers from selling your information. Includes a VPN for private browsing and a password manager to secure your accounts before criminals break in. For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14 day free trial plus a dark web scan to check if your personal information has been leaked. All for free@aura.com safety. That's Aura.com safety to sign up and start protecting yourself and your loved ones. That's a u r a.com safety terms apply. Check the site for details.
- [22:56]
Holly Fry
Our Skin Tells a Story Join me, Holly Fry, and a slate of incredible guests as we are all inspired by their journeys with psoriasis. Along with these uplifting and candid personal histories, we take a step back into the bizarre and occasionally poisonous history of our skin and how we take care of it. Whether you're looking for inspiration on your own skincare journey or are curious about the sometimes strange history of how we treat our skin, you'll find genuine, empathetic, transformative conversations here on our skin. Listen to our skin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [23:42]
Dan Snow
And then I guess you always want politicians lucky and he loses. He lose the election a bit in a way that puts him onto a great footing for winning the next one. Tell me about the the corrupt bargain. Tell me about the election of 24.
- [23:56]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I mean people say, oh, politics is horrible now I'M like it's been that way for a long time. I mean he and Adams really hate each other. He thinks of Adams as this boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Daddy was the President. He is very educated, speaks many languages, was an American ambassador in Europe. This intellectual who's never probably held a gun in his entire life. And Adam's thinks, you know, who is this guy? Yeah, he's rich now and he has nice clothes and yes he was a military hero, but you know, he's this roughneck, he can't really spell, he never went to a school. I mean he can read and write and he's far from a stupid man. But he's no intellectual. And you know, he really is this kind of demagogic person who has no respect for tradition, no deference to better educated, more experienced politicians. So they loathe each other as people as well as political rivals. And it's a dirty election with a lot of proxies spreading slander against one another. And in the end there's a tie in the electoral college vote. So the election is thrown into Congress and Henry Clay, who was actually kind of the number three guy, throws his support to John Quincy Adams. And as a thank you. So when John Quincy Adams does get to become president, one of his first acts is he makes Henry Clay Secretary of State, which is what Henry Clay wanted if he couldn't win the presidency. And Jackson and his supporters call this the corrupt bargain.
- [25:29]
Dan Snow
And if your thing has been, I'm gonna run against these swampy Washington based effete easterners. And if you've just lost the election like that, you couldn't ask for a better example of that.
- [25:40]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Even Clay isn't an effete easterner. Clay is from Kentucky. Clay himself. You know, in some ways he was actually quite like Jackson. He's kind of self made, he loves the racetrack, he likes to get drunk and bet on horses. You know, he's not the Harvard intellectual, but still he is Mr. Insider in politics. You know, he's been a very influential senator for decades. He's a Washington fixer. So Jackson says to his supporters, look, this is exactly what I was talking about. He is Mr. Nose in the Air John Quincy Adams. And why is he president? Did he really win the election? No, he just made a corrupt bargain with his and daddy's friend Henry Clay. And now Henry Clay gets to really the second most powerful position in the American government. And isn't this just how these people look after one another and shut you, the common man out and so he.
- [26:33]
Dan Snow
Loses the election, but he wins the war. Cause he crushes it in 1828, doesn't he?
- [26:37]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Absolutely. So it's a rematch. It's Adams versus Jackson. Adams was in some ways not the most effective president. He's a very intelligent man, very experienced man in diplomacy like his father. I would say he doesn't have the best personal skills. He's a brilliant man and a great diplomat. He doesn't work that well in Washington. Meanwhile, the minute the 1824 election ends, Jackson and his supporters are on the war path, saying, just wait until 1828. The next day, they're already planning for the next election as a rematch. And Jackson overwhelms Adams in 1828, and he very much says, I have been given a mandate by the American people.
- [27:18]
Dan Snow
So the drain, the swamp guy is furious about losing the election. He and his supporters plan for the rematch from day one. And he wins a crushing victory in that rematch. Okay. And then he reshapes America. Good stuff. Excellent. Tell me, how does, right from the beginning, how does Jackson, President Jackson, reshape the American republic?
- [27:37]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Well, he pretty much breaks with precedent in every way he uses. I mean, the Constitution does give the president veto power over legislation passed by Congress, but Jackson uses the veto more times in his two terms than all six previous presidents put together. The veto is not just for legislation that he thinks is unconstitutional. It's, I don't like it, not going to happen. He brings in what becomes known as the spoils system. Up to this point, the idea is that the civil service in Washington is apolitical, that people are appointed based on their skills, and if they can do a good job, presidents can come and go. But somebody might have the same position for decades if they're seen as competent. But Jackson makes this a test of loyalty. So if he doesn't like you, even if you're actually pretty good at your job and you seem an honest person, he's like, nope, my guy's coming in, you're going out. He doesn't pick people that are incompetent, but he's really evaluating them. Are they my loyalists? He fights with Congress a lot. He still sees Congress as not really representing the common man. And he is to be the champion of the common man against interference by the swamp dwellers of Congress.
- [28:55]
Dan Snow
And there is that description, isn't there, when Jackson takes over the White House and there's all these kind of backwoodsmen in the White House itself and the carpets get all dirty and this is seen as the.
- [29:04]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
He has the big inauguration party. And you would think it would be for the senior civil servants, the diplomats, the elite of Washington. That's what it would have been under Adams and his predecessors. But he basically says, come on in. I have booze and food. And there are people who are somewhat unrefined. And yeah, they do get mud all over the carpets. It's a big mess. Onlookers are just, who are these people in the White House? What kind of troglodytes are they? But Jackson says these are the American people, these are the voters. They have as much right to be here as someone who is rich and educated. So he really starts as he needs to go on.
- [29:42]
Dan Snow
What does he actually do beyond gestures? What does he do for those normal, everyday people in the Republic?
- [29:51]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Well, that's a good question, because some of the things that he cares the most about are actually not incredibly relevant, particularly to rural people. I mean, he's not what you would call an anti capitalist. He isn't really a redistributor of funds. And he continues to be a very wealthy slaveholding planter. You know, he is not going to give up his estate, his racehorses, his slaves, et cetera. I mean, a lot of it is what could be called gesture politics, by which I don't mean that it's not significant, but he's very good at framing certain kinds of people as enemies. So one person he really hates is Nicholas Biddle, who is the head of the bank of the United States, kind of the equivalent of the Federal Reserve. And Nicholas Biddle is a Philadelphian. The Biddles, even by the 1830s, are an old Philadelphia family. Biddle again, highly educated, a very elegant man. And Jackson decides that Biddle is again one of these people who doesn't care about ordinary people that just helps wealthy people like him. And that the financial system is really keeping the common man down, keeping him from gaining economic power. So he eventually breaks the power of the bank of the United States and takes the federal funds and distributes it to a number of smaller banks throughout the United States, which his opponents call his pet banks, again, run by his loyalists. So was the average backwoodsman really helped by this? Probably really not. I mean, backwoods people often really weren't in the cash economy. They were trading or making things for themselves. But they liked the idea of abasing Nicholas Biddle, who they probably never heard of until Andrew Jackson made him, you know, an object of hatred. But they like the idea of, yeah, he's this snooty guy, old money and we don't like him. So to see him humbled was important, even if it wasn't actually going to make your day to day life much better. And of course he really, even though he is a Southern slave holding planter, in many ways, he doesn't like most Southern slave holding planters. So he really picks probably the biggest fight of his presidency over tariffs. Because at this time, the people that are doing best in the global economy are Southern planters, especially cotton planters. Everybody wants cotton and it's these Southern planters who are producing epic amounts of it. And so they want free trade because they have a product that people in Britain and Europe desperately want. Some of the richest people in America at this time are Southern cotton planters. So they don't want any tariffs. They say, well, we're doing great, we sell our stuff to Britain, Britain wants it, they'll take every bit of cotton we can send them. We're happy. But Jackson wants to start putting tariffs on things, particularly to stimulate American industry. So if you're a factory owner, you would like a tariff. If you're a planter, you wouldn't. And in particular in South Carolina, which is really the heart of the Southern plantocracy and with some of the most fiery politicians, including Jackson's Vice President, John C. Calhoun, they hate what they call the tariff of abominations. And they say we're being sacrificed on the altar of Northern industry. They're the losers. We're the guys that are important globally, but we're being held back by these tariffs. And so there was real groundswell of rebellion. Calhoun ends up quitting as vice president, so he can basically be the political leader of the cotton planters. And the South Carolina legislature passes an act of nullification, which basically is, we're going to ignore your law because we think it's bad. And Jackson says you don't have the power. You can't nullify congressionally passed legislation approved by the President. So there's a big war of words and what looks like it could actually be a shooting war between federal forces and the militia of South Carolina. Of course, that never comes to pass. The South Carolinians aren't suicidal. They realize that they're not going to win a war against the American forces, but they protest to the last. Jackson does get Congress to pass what is known as the Force act, which basically says that he has the right to call up the American army to crush this rebellion if need be. To have Americans go fight other Americans doesn't come to that. But you know it's a real show of strength by Jackson saying, you don't have the right to do this and if you try, I'm sending my army to put you down. And of course the rebellion never comes to an actual shooting, but of course 30 years later the situation is very different. So you could say that in some ways that the outbreak of the American Civil War is really the nullification crisis.
- [34:51]
Dan Snow
This is Dan Snow's history hit. Don't go away. We've got more Andrew Jackson after this.
- [35:03]
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- [36:42]
Dan Snow
He is happy to fight certain other Americans. Tell me about his relations with the indigenous people.
- [36:47]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
What he's most remembered for is the so called relocation of the five Civilized Tribes, particularly the Cherokee. So they were the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Chickasaw, the Seminole, and the Creeks. And they live on land in the American Southeast in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi. And this is prime cotton land. So on the one hand, Jackson doesn't like these arrogant southern cotton planters, but he also sees that they are very important to the nation. So there's all this great land, perfect for cotton, and these Native Americans are just sitting on it, not really doing much with it, according to him. So he says, you guys have to move. Don't worry, we'll give you some other land. But you can't stay here because you're in the way of economic progress. Understandably, the five tribes are not happy about this. They take their case to the Supreme Court, but they lose. And they are forcibly relocated with the help of the American military away from Georgia and Florida, and they moved across the Mississippi. So now, you know, most Cherokees, for example, live in places like Oklahoma, so they have to walk hundreds of miles. Men, women, children, elderly people. And sometimes this is at the point of a gun. And they do get land, but it's land. And not only is it far away, but it's not the lush, semi tropical land that they've lived on for centuries. It's kind of barren. So many people literally die on what becomes known as the Trail of Tears. People die of exposure or hunger or just despair. Some of the soldiers who were sent to accompany the relocated Native Americans said that they felt that they had become monsters, that what they were doing was so wrong that they were forcing old men and little children along this trail of despair. So we can see why Native Americans to this day loathe Andrew Jackson. But Jackson was sort of weird in that he said the Native Americans are not part of the story of American progress, so they need to go somewhere where basically no white people live, where they're not going to bother anybody. But he also had a weird sentimentalization of Native Americans. Part of his thing about the common man was even though the Native American man was a savage, he was unchristian and uncivilized. But he was also kind of a real man. He didn't need money and material things. He was stoic. He could walk in the winter in his loincloth. He could live off what he found in the forest or by hunting. So actually, he did have kind of a primitive but admirable masculinity. And so Jackson says, I am your great white father. You are my red children. So because I'm your father, I have the right to tell you what to do. But I'm not telling you. At least him as the conqueror, I am telling you as your father, I am making decisions that you may not like. But just as a father can tell his son, you have to do this. It's for your own good. Even if you don't like it, this is what I'm doing for you. So it's quite a paradoxical attitude.
- [39:55]
Dan Snow
Just how important is Jackson in the story of the American Republic.
- [40:00]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I think he's very important. I mean, he really upends American politics as it was practiced from the beginning of the presidency up to the first six presidents. He really changes the relationship that the American president as the individual has both to the rest of the federal government and to the American people before that. I mean, obviously you had to appeal to the voters. But Jackson is the one, you know, that actually starts. He doesn't personally, but the people who work for him start basically making banners and lapel pins. You identify as, I'm a Jackson man. If you ask someone, well, why do you think that George Washington is so great? Why should he be America's president? You might go, well, he's the father of our country. You know, he fought, we won the war against the British, and he's this honorable Virginia gentleman. And he's the perfect blend of a tough, seasoned general, but also a genteel kind of aristocratic man at home in a drawing room. And I just have so much respect for him. Do you think you're just like George Washington? Oh, no. George Washington isn't like me or most other people. You know, if I met him, I'm sure he would be respectful and kind to me because he's a good man. But he's up there and I'm down here and that's okay. I look up to him because I'm not like him. He is special and better. But Jackson said, I am just like you. Yes, I have more money and power, but I represent you, Mr. Ordinary Backwoodsman, Mr. Slum Dweller. And I think that's very important. So it was the way he conducted politics, but also just the way he thought about politics. And what should the American President be doing and who should his actual constituents be?
- [41:45]
Dan Snow
And speaking of constituents, does he extend the franchise to more of those people?
- [41:49]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Well, it's not really up to him. And by the time he gets in, I mean, what is it that he can get in is pretty much by this point, white American men have the vote. So the property qualifications are being stripped away. If you are a native born white man, you should be able to vote. But I think he's the first person to really reach out to these people and see them not just as, you know, the great unwashed. These are the people that are going to want to vote for me and the ones I'm going to want to represent. You know, John Quincy Adams was not looking to go tell the immigrant slum dweller or the illiterate man in the Kentucky cabin to vote for him.
- [42:34]
Dan Snow
It's that dangerous thing about history. It feels both very familiar, but also we have to remind ourselves it is different. So he does in some ways feel like a populist, someone who's expert in riling up those low propensity voters, those low education voters, good at picking enemies that enrage people and drive them to vote. But actually there's more going on with him, it sounds like.
- [42:57]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I think he's an incredibly complicated man. I think in some ways he was really quite unknowable. I mean, it fascinates me about him is that, I mean, he was so savage in fighting, both as a soldier, but in all these duels he had a terrible temper. People were afraid of him. But he also had this other side. He loved one woman. He loved. He, I was absolutely devoted to his wife. She was ill. He personally cared for her. And after she died, he basically never looked at another woman. I mean, he didn't visit sex workers, he didn't have a mistress. He did not prey on the enslaved women. He basically lost all interest in love and sex. Basically his heart was in the grave with her. So he did have this side that was a little bit different. I suspect maybe only his wife ever really saw it.
- [43:46]
Dan Snow
And was there an heir to sort of Jacksonian Democratic politics or was he able to start a kind of a movement in American politics? Or did his own charisma, his own story, make him impossible to repeat replace?
- [44:00]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
I would say both are true. I mean, on the one hand he really is a one off. He is an outsize personality and he takes advantage of that. So he doesn't have an obvious heir. But the forces he unleashed for good or ill in American politics long outlive him. And even though I would say that Abraham Lincoln was a very different man, you know, in terms of his temperament, but he also played on the idea of. Well, you know, I'm a backwoodsman. I grew up in a log cabin on the frontier. I never had any formal education. I mean, he didn't have the military background and he was a much more reserve public Persona. And he wasn't so into riling people up to get votes. But Hess Party, you know, the Republican party, you know, starts off as the free soilers and their slogan is free soil, free labor, free men. So even though Jackson is the Democrat, you know, in some ways has called for America to be the land where the common man has good opportunities. Jackson of course, was not anti slavery and he owned many enslaved people himself. And he did not see that there was anything wrong with owning slaves. He thought that African Americans were an enslaveable group of the American population. So he's very different from Lincoln in that. But they both felt that too much power concentrated in the hands of slaveholding planters. Regardless of whether you were pro or anti slavery, it was innately bad because that crossed out opportunities for poor white men. I don't actually know what Lincoln thought about Jackson, but in some ways you could say that Lincoln was his heir, even though they didn't know one another. And I don't think they would have particularly liked one another if they had. But this idea that American exceptionalism is you can be born poor, you can even be an immigrant, but if you're willing to work hard and obey the law, no one's going to just give you some money. But you should have good opportunities and the government should be run not to help the people that are already rich, but to help those. But again, of course, those white men who haven't had many opportunities. And that if you're passing a policy, you just think, well, how does Joe Average benefit from this? So the whole concept of Joe Average is important, not just because there are a lot of them and they have a lot of votes, but Joe Average should be at the heart of American policy. That really is Jackson's legacy, I think.
- [46:36]
Dan Snow
Well, thank you so much, Natalie. That was a tour de force. Thanks so much. Coming back on the podcast, I loved it. I'm going to have you back on again, I'm afraid, talking about these huge, chunky figures from American past.
- [46:44]
Dr. Nathalie Zacek
Happy to do it.
- [46:56]
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- [47:49]
Holly Fry
Our Skin TELLS a story. Join me, Holly Fry and a slate of incredible guests as we are all inspired by their journeys with psoriasis. Along with these uplifting and candid personal histories, we take a step back into the bizarre and occasionally poisonous history of our skin and how we take care of it. Whether you're looking for inspiration on your own skincare journey or are curious about the sometimes strange history of how we treat our skin, you'll find genuine, empathetic, transformative conversations here on our skin. Listen to our skin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.