Andrew_Jackson

Andrew Jackson The book The Jacksonian Era by Robert V. Remini is a book in which the military, and political career of President Andrew Jackson is discussed rarely briefly, but also rather thoroughly on many of Jackson’s most valuable achievements. Andrew Jackson was a man who built his reputation by achieving hero status in the War of 1812. By destroying the British forces on January 8’th, 1815, Jackson was looked at as a national hero because the Americans had never beat the British in a battle during the American Revolution like they did in the Battle of New Orleans. As the war ended, Jackson’s popularity was very high and like the war hero of the American Revolution, George Washington, he expressed interest in going for the presidency. In the election of 1824, Jackson had won the popular vote and more electoral votes, than his opponent, John Quincy Adams, but unfortunately due to the influence of House Speaker Henry Clay, the electors voted for John Quincy Adams. A very upset Jackson condemned the victory, but immediately prepared for the election of 1828, in which he won a very one-sided election over President Adams. As president, he had many problems, such as the Native Americans, the Bank of the United States, and slavery. Robert Remini really explained Jackson’s policies towards these major issues very clearly in this book. One of Remini’s major strengths is his ability to give such accurate information about these issues. For example, in chapter 3, Remini talks about Jackson’s policies towards the “removal” of the Native Americans that were east of the Mississippi River. He talked about all the tribes that cooperated with this, and the tribes that rebelled against the act of removal. Remini also talked about the hard fought battles on the frontier to remove the Natives westward. He also gave a brief description about the “Trail of Tears” in which about 4,000 Natives were killed on an 800-mile hike westward. The way Remini explained this issue so thoroughly in a matter of 12 pages is very impressive. Even though it was a brief description, it was filled with so much detail that the important points were explained very validly. The style of Remini’s writing in this book is so descriptive that in some of these stories, a reader can sometimes feel like he or she is present in this era. For example, when Remini writes about the Battle of New Orleans in the beginning, he describes the weather and the mist of fog surrounding the soldiers, and how the rockets to go up to warn the British that the Americans are ready. As he describes the battlefield, he also illustrates General Andrew Jackson on horseback, so he can paint the picture of Jackson in the reader’s mind. There are many things about Remini’s writing that is very likeable. First off, when another person comes into this story, such as Martin Van Buren, or Henry Clay, Remini gives a brief biographical summary about all of these people, so the reader can use some background information to understand the character of these people. Another likeable part about Remini’s writing is how he used many of Andrew Jackson’s quotes throughout the book. These quotes helped give a better idea of what Andre Jackson was really all about. For example, in chapter 2, page 35 Jackson uses Jackson’s famous quote “The bank is trying to kill me, but I will kill it.” This quote showed how determined Jackson was to destroy, the Second Bank of the United States, because before he finished serving his second and final term, he got rid of the Bank. This really gives the reader an idea on how Andrew Jackson never backs down from any challenge. That is also one of the reasons why Jackson is one of the greatest US presidents in history. His desire to never give up made him a very strong person. These are very likeable things about the book. Although this isn’t a very important, there is one weakness about the way Remini wrote this book. When Remini wrote this book, he made a chapter for each significant part of Jackson’s career. The weakness of this book is that he did not put these parts in a timeline order. I would prefer to read the accomplishments in some sort of a chronological order by year. It would make the book much easier to read, and the reader would have a much easier time looking how he worked with certain issues at certain times, and see how he handled them at once. That is the only weakness that seems visible in this book. Overall, this book was a very well written piece of work, and I must admit, I really enjoyed reading it. Robert Remini has a way to make certain stories sound like they some of the most interesting facts that you can possibly read. There was not one part of this book that was not interesting, and boring to read. If u really want to learn a lot about “Old Hickory”, this is definitely a book I would recommend, because it is very brief, and very descriptive. Robert Remini also had a way of showing how great a President, and General, Andrew Jackson really was. Bibliography: