The 7th U.S. President

Andrew Jackson

Born: March 15, 1767

Died: June 8, 1845

Term in Office: 1829-1837

This guy was the first of the 'frontier' presidents. He was a pretty rough and tumble guy, fighting duels and such, supposedly killing a man in one duel for insulting his wife. He was a military man who enjoyed widespread popularity for his role in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 and his reputation as an Indian fighter. 

I'm not going to recap any facts, accomplishments, or such other than his involvement in, and responsibility for, the infamous Trail of Tears that removed thousands of Native Americans from their homes and caused the deaths of as many as half of them. This chapter is such an abomination and stain on our country's history that I can't get past it when thinking of 'Old Hickory.'

I'll let this account from https://www.ushistory.org/us/24f.asp tell the story. It tells of this president's disdain and lack of respect for our justice system, as he  chose to completely ignore a ruling by the Supreme Court...

The Cherokees of Georgia... used legal action to resist (forced removal from their ancestral home). The Cherokee people were by no means frontier savages. By the 1830s they developed their own written language, printed newspapers and elected leaders to representative government. When the government of Georgia refused to recognize their autonomy and threatened to seize their lands, the Cherokees took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court and won a favorable decision. John Marshall's opinion for the Court majority in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia was essentially that Georgia had no jurisdiction over the Cherokees and no claim to their lands. But Georgia officials simply ignored the decision, and President Jackson refused to enforce it. Jackson was furious and personally affronted by the Marshall ruling, stating, "Mr. Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!"

Finally, federal troops came to Georgia to remove the tribes forcibly. As early as 1831, the army began to push the Choctaws off their lands to march to Oklahoma. In 1835, some Cherokee leaders agreed to accept western land and payment in exchange for relocation. With this agreement, the Treaty of New Echota, Jackson had the green light to order Cherokee removal. Other Cherokees, under the leadership of Chief John Ross, resisted until the bitter end. About 20,000 Cherokees were marched westward at gunpoint on the infamous Trail of Tears. Nearly a quarter perished on the way, with the remainder left to seek survival in a completely foreign land...

The Trail of Tears is the most sorrowful legacy of the Jacksonian Era.

Hmm... what qualities of this guy made him Donald Trump's favorite president? Do you wonder?

Peace to all, and maybe a good cry over our country's past affronts is in order.