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In response to an earlier post about Jackson’s veto of the Maysville Road bill and his caring about world opinion, let me say a few things.

First of all, Jackson opposed the Maysville Road bill because in his view of the constitution, spending federal money on a project in one state was an abuse. Jackson was not for government waste or big government. His dislike for Henry Clay (which was well founded) not withstanding, he did not veto it simply out of dislike for the man. To say so, would be to say that he declared war on South Carolina during the Nullification Crisis just so he could punish John C. Calhoun. Of course this did not happen.

Secondly, you are right, Jackson didn’t care as much about world opinion...he cared more about what Americans believed. And he didn’t always do the most popular thing, but the right thing. His denounciation of nullification was certainly not popular in his own party, and his destrcution of the bank was not popular in some circles. No, Jackson was not a people pleaser, he was not someone serving because it made him look good....as many of our politicians do today. Jackson served because people wanted him too, and believing he had a mandate, he actually did what few politicians in our time do today....he lead! Great leaders do not bend in the wind, and occasionally their decisions will be unpopular. My last example here: In 1833, Jackson was in the process of destroying the national bank. When one of confidants asked him if he was worried about the what the bank war would do to his reputation, he stated he believed he was doing what the people wanted...and if they asked him to leave...he would do it. By the way, when folks asked him to take out parts of his Nullification Proclamation that would damn the idea of secession, Jackson stated: “These are more words...and I will not have them removed, or stricken out.” Jackson and his cabinent knew that idea wasn’t going to be popular. And Jackson stuck to his views, despite the anxiety of those around him. Thats leadership.

Lastly I’d like to address Jackson’s “not caring what others thought of his actions.” This is not true either. To get Jackson, you have to look past what he did before President, and you have to look past what he said he would ‘like’ to do in private. Let me use the example of the Nullification Crisis. Most folks at the time, thinking back to things like Jackson’s duels, the Battle of New Orleans, and his impromtu invasion of Spanish Florida, believed he would blindly strike out against South Carolina and Calhoun. Nothing is further from the truth. Jackson methodically beefed up fortifications in Charleston, and day after day in January 1833, he denied request by his agent in the state, Joel R. Poinsett, to insert federal troops into the area for fear of inflamming the Nullifiers. That same month, a response from Jackson to Poinsett’s pleas for a federal presence demonstrates how much Jackson actually did care about what others thought of him. He told Poinsett: “Were I to act without the permission of Congress, I would be branded with the epithet, tyrant.” The Jackson that most people have in their head, would not care if he was called a tyrant or not. And that is the wrong idea of the man. The Force Bill his party members finally shoved through the House, would make it possible for the President to call upon Congress to allow him to put down an insurrection. And if thats not enough to prove to you that he cared about what folks thought of him, consider this: Jackson didn’t need congress’s approval in the first place, President Washington had already established precedent for the executive to unilaterally put down rebellion in a state, without first asking Congress. Jackson being a military man, knew this, and yet he still went the extra mile. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking this man did not care about what others thought of him. His honor, a novel idea to us today, meant everything to him.