[married21]

I read a biography of Jackson. He just sort of shot from the hip— no big picture consistency. Everything was situational. No self-awareness of inconsistencies. On his behalf, re: the Trail of Tears, he believed that the Americans were going to keep pouring into Indian lands and that he did not have the military/practical resources to prevent it and protect the Indians from them. He thought the best option was moving the Indians out of the way. The Trail of Tears was awful, no doubt. But it is a shame that s was when better leadership, plans, etc, we’re needed, our country, and not only Jackson himself, came up short.

[Antoninus]

He thought the best option was moving the Indians out of the way.

That's probably true. What I didn't know--and what almost no one who talks about the Trail of Tears knows--is that Jackson adopted three Indian boys himself. This kind of argues against the new conventional wisdom that Jackson was a racist tyrant.