#82 - THE PRESIDENTS PROJECT: ANDREW JACKSON (part I)

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I mean we could just go out there any time, but we wanted to do the podcast out there.

SPEAKER_05 0:04

Well done.

Tim 0:32

Welcome to the President's Project Podcast. In typical Fairview Social Podcast fashion, we were ill-prepared and I just got the notes created, and there was 33 pages of them.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

So and he sent them to us like a couple hours before the podcast. That's okay.

Tim 0:54

In the last podcast, Mike and I discussed how Larry has completely dropped the ball.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

Apparently, Larry was listening and got offended.

Tim 1:02

Well, I changed his settings. Oh, you did?

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah.

Tim 1:06

How'd you change him? He provided better uh results. Larry, don't be a jerk. Pretty much is how that ended up playing out. I had to really get on to him. But anyway, so we have notes. But first of all, James is back with us because she's like the history major here. And also, you got your degree in the mail today. Congratulations. Yes. In an envelope that said, do not bend.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

And it was all bent up.

SPEAKER_05 1:33

Four spaces, four pup, four parts.

Tim 1:35

So congratulations to you on that. Well done.

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Okay, thanks. I have a degree.

Tim 1:39

Well done. Well done.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

What are you going to do with that now? We're going for more degrees. More degrees. That's on talking about many more degrees. That's what I'm talking about.

Tim 1:47

So for Andrew Jackson, we decided after seeing all these notes. Well, first of all, let's rewind for a second. So we were going to have this big blowout, this big bash. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

The big um It was gonna be like 20 people. We're gonna go to the hermitage.

Tim 2:02

And and I still want to do all of those things. We should. And we can do all of those things, but I wouldn't want to hold up the the podcast for the presidents. So we're gonna do this episode and then we're gonna try to plan for the other thing.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

I think that that's probably gonna be our I wonder if they're just it's so crazy. They weren't getting back to y'all because of what's happening next weekend with 250.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Oh, are they doing something up there? Probably. Probably. I don't know.

Tim 2:32

They're probably worried that our podcast would be a bigger celebration and they didn't want to draw a bigger crowd.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

It possibly.

Tim 2:45

But so what we're gonna do is we are gonna do that, hopefully by the fall. Um, and also we're probably gonna split this one up into two episodes. Yeah, we should we should give this one uh uh our full attention because because the John Quincy Adams, like it was the episode was okay, but there just wasn't enough information. You know, you have some of these presidents that didn't have a ton of stuff going on. Andrew Jackson was not one of them. So all right, James, you want to tell us, give us a summary of who Andrew Jackson was.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

Wait, can we do we have a nickname? Oh, yeah.

Tim 3:24

What are you thinking? I I mean the simple one's AJ.

SPEAKER_03 3:27

Yeah, that's pretty simple.

Tim 3:29

But we gotta be a little bit more creative, creative than that.

SPEAKER_05 3:31

What about $20 bill?

Tim 3:33

We can call him that, or we can call him and Jack.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

And Jack and Jack and Jack.

Tim 3:38

Let's call him $20 bill. G dubs and $20 bill. $20 bill, y'all. It's gotta be $20 bill. U try.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

U tra $20 bill.

Tim 3:50

$20 bill. $20 bill. All right, so that's who we got going here.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

All right, quick summary: $20 bill, aka aka AJ, aka and Jack, aka Andrew Jackson, seventh president, um, born in 1767. Um, he was different from the other presidents because he had a completely different background. He came from poverty, not from the wealthy elite. He was orphaned early. He was a bit of a wild man, really stinking tough. Really stinking tough. So he's one of those presidents that's just gone down in history as like one of the most controversial. And uh, we're gonna see what happened here.

Tim 4:35

I like it.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

With old $20 bid.

Tim 4:38

No, honey, not $20, $20 bill. It's $20 bill. $20.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

$20 bid. $20. $20 bill. I don't know.

Tim 4:52

All right. Well, Mike, you have anything to add to that intro to $20 bill?

SPEAKER_05 4:56

No, no, that was a well done. And I'm not surprised at how well it turned out with James. Well, James with a degree. The smart one. James with the degree.

Tim 5:07

All right, so let's get started here. We're gonna start as usual with the things that AJ was known for $20 bill. Yeah. And the first thing is the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Yeah. What you got to say about that?

SPEAKER_05 5:23

Um, let me get let me refer to my notes here. Okay. Let me get to my note here. Um, because it's not we're I thought we'd go in line in in order here. We are in order.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

You mean like with his lifetimeline?

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:36

I mean, he started off kind of in a bad spot.

Tim 5:39

Let's get go for it. Lead the way. No, I mean I was just going I was just going off the notes that Larry.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Yeah, but let's get some background.

Tim 5:48

I think we have to, don't we? Yeah, like do it from poverty.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yeah. So, what can you tell us about his young childhood, adulthood?

SPEAKER_05 5:56

Born March 15th, 17 uh 67. Thank you. Scott Irish.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

His family was immigrants, but he was the only one in his family actually born here.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

That's right. Uh, his father died before he was born. Uh, mother helped raise her mother raised him. Mother had had to do the raising. Um, and he and his brother were captured by British soldiers.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

During the Revolutionary War.

SPEAKER_05 6:23

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

As young teenagers. Young teenagers. Young teenagers. They enlisted when he was 13 to be messengers for you know the American side of the revolution. That's right. So they were riding horses back and forth, delivering messages between troops and things. They get captured by British soldiers, and they become prisoners of war when he's like 13, 14 years old.

SPEAKER_05 6:45

Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_02 6:46

No.

SPEAKER_05 6:47

Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Not at all.

SPEAKER_05 6:48

No.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

That's so young.

SPEAKER_05 6:50

We we experienced our kids at 13.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:54

You know?

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:55

And these guys are running around North Carolina, South Carolina, East Coast. Yeah. Captured.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

And old Jackson, I mean, Jackson, he was he was there for it. I mean, he was just fearless. And I mean, he he stood up to the British soldiers when they tried to make him shine his shoes. And he's like, I'm not your slave, I'm a prisoner. So I won't do it, you know?

SPEAKER_06 7:22

No.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

So there's a story about that where he gets slashed with a sword. He's standing up to this British British soldier with a sword, and I'm sure guns too. And this little 13, 14-year-old kid is like, No, I'm not doing that, you know? Stood right up to him, got a couple scars, but that's pretty tough.

SPEAKER_05 7:40

It's pretty brave.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:41

It's pretty brave. Yeah. Which is telling of a lot of these people that eventually get to these positions that we've we've we've talked about here. They're always doing something that is out of the ordinary or extraordinary. Yeah.

Tim 7:55

To put them in this position to I feel like we're just a bunch of sissies now with a bunch of kids that are sissies. Sure.

SPEAKER_05 8:02

Life is so easy.

Tim 8:04

Yeah, I know. Everything is just e even the poorest of the poor here in the United States is better off than any poorest of the poor in another country. Sure. But that's how they were living here back then.

SPEAKER_05 8:18

It is really interesting as we get it through here to think grew up in a poor immigrant and what he does down the road with the Native Americans and slaves. It really kind of, in my mind, kind of contradicts, you know, his upbringing. And it'll be interesting to see where it kind of it turns his his philosophies.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

Yeah, there's a lot of contradictions, but we've seen that with all the presidents so far. You know, it's it's it's hard to walk that fine line between what you believe and what you live and what you think is best for the country versus what you personally do for yourself and all that stuff. But yeah, we we've seen with multiple presidents now where they've changed their mind on things or done things that you know were just different from what you thought they should or would do.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

And pretty interesting to think that Andrew Jackson could have been walking through some of these woods.

SPEAKER_02 9:10

Yeah, because he was a Tennessean. Yeah. Well, not till he was in his twenties.

SPEAKER_05 9:15

In his twenties, but still think of, you know. I mean, we know getting to the Hermitage from here is what, 40 minutes, 45 minutes. Right. Right. These guys were exploring everywhere. Yeah. You know, land kind of expla uh as they're kind of growing to to to take over more space. But uh, there's an area just down off of Old Natchez here, five minutes from here where it's documented where he crossed the the Harpeth River.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Nice. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05 9:42

At Old Town down down town. Check that out. Yeah. Pretty cool stuff.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

So well, and also he and some troops have traveled to Natchez as well. So I'm sure their footsteps are all over all of it. Right there. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

Could be that right in your backyard, where our runway is supposed to be.

Tim 9:59

For the listeners, uh, Andrew Jackson is important to this group here because we are in Tennessee. This is is the Fairview Social Podcast, Tennessee. That's right. And the Hermitage where Jackson lived is what, 45, 50 minutes or yeah, about 45 minutes. And so, you know, Andrew Jackson is our president.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah.

Tim 10:21

So we wanted to make a big deal out of it. That's why we were going to have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Well, and Andrew Jackson, on in his own right, has made a big deal out of the presidency and out of his life. So um, positive and negative, it was a big deal.

SPEAKER_05 10:33

Yeah. I mean, the start of the popular vote, right? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:37

So our band of the people.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Yeah. So after being prisoner of war at like 13 or 14, uh, he becomes an orphan at the age of 14. Yeah. His mom and brothers die, and he's all alone. And then, like, three years later, decides when he's 17, I'm gonna be a lawyer. And he does it. And that's what ends up getting him out here to Tennessee. Fun fact that I did not see in the notes, um, Andrew Jackson actually, this is before presidency and all that, he actually helped write the Tennessee state's first the Tennessee's first state constitution and Bill of Rights.

SPEAKER_05 11:14

1796.

Tim 11:17

Well, listen, guys, Larry doesn't know, didn't know everything in the 33 pages and notes, considering there's probably hundreds of 500-page books written about Andrew Jackson.

SPEAKER_05 11:28

So yeah, it wasn't it wasn't really hard outside of what Larry did for just kind of doing a little little prep work, not a lot, not as much as as James old here, but yeah, I know.

Tim 11:38

Um all right, so after prisoner of war, after um what was the last thing?

SPEAKER_02 11:44

So prisoner of war, then he becomes an orphan at 14. His mom had actually negotiated for his release from from being from the British, but um, but also that whole scenario is what make gave him a lifelong hatred for the British, yeah, which shows up later. But um, yeah, so he's an orphan and then has to make his way on his own and had some family support, but you know, he's rough and tough. He's been a fighter his whole life, a gambler his whole life, and um so yeah, but he ended up at 17 deciding to become a lawyer, and he does. He moves to Tennessee, does some lawyer work, does some other things. You know, he had a lot of jobs that he did, and he got his first like um political office in Tennessee. And so yeah, that led to a military career, which really catapulted him to national stardom, honestly, and from there on the presidency. So that's a good summary of his life.

Tim 12:45

She doesn't she doesn't need us.

SPEAKER_05 12:47

No, she does not. We're just here for looks.

SPEAKER_02 12:50

Y'all are pretty.

Tim 12:52

All right. What else? What other background you got?

SPEAKER_05 12:56

Now it says here they had a thousand acres, which I guess makes some sense, you know, uh at our current, you know, our job. We've I've I've looked at that area for you know, some maintenance, landscape maintenance. So I mean it's a pretty vast area, and they're still finding, you know, um stuff that's been buried on that property. Oh, I'm sure. You know, yeah. Uh I think as recently as last year they were, you know, archaeologists dug up some stuff.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Maybe we need to get the Duck Dynasty boys out there on their treasure hunts.

Tim 13:27

Yeah, they probably won't let them dig that up though.

SPEAKER_05 13:29

Probably no, you gotta be a special person.

Tim 13:31

Didn't they like have to sell off a lot of that that we learned that they did? We learned that in the when we did the tour of the Hermitage where they had to years ago, they had to sell it off to pay for his expenses or whatever. And then and then the Hermitage that's you know, there the people that are managing it there now or that have like bought back, you know, to piece it out together.

SPEAKER_05 13:52

I know they got on both sides of Lebanon Road when you get closer to it, you know, it goes under the road, and yeah, there's two sides. So yeah. That's interesting. I didn't know that part. Yeah. I didn't know that part.

SPEAKER_02 14:03

Yeah, but that's a general summary, so yeah, I like it. That's perfect. We can go through Larry's notes and talk about the things he was most known for, least known for, and the controversial things.

Tim 14:14

Well, Mike, what do you know about the Battle of New Orleans?

SPEAKER_05 14:18

I'm gonna I'm gonna defer to my friend over here in New Orleans. Twenty bills. I don't I don't I'd have to do a little quick research here.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

I know a little bit about the Battle of New Orleans, specifically in reference to Jackson.

Tim 14:31

Um Okay, well, give us the rundown on that.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Um, so the Battle of New Orleans was at the tail end of the War of 1812, and it actually happened after there was actually a peace agreement already um agreed upon. But anyways, the Battle of New Orleans happened after that peace agreement had been made, but it hadn't been ratified by the US yet. And word of that had not gotten over to the United States yet. But there were rumors. So um, I believe the British soldiers were told that even if you hear rumors of a peace treaty, you still attack and try to conquer New Orleans. Well, Andrew Jackson, who was leading armies um in the war, he heard rumors that the British were going to attack New Orleans. So even so he kind of took it on himself to make sure to go. First, he went down to Mobile, Alabama because the British like to come up on land over to get over to New Orleans. You know, that he heard they were coming up the Gulf Coast. So he goes and does some restruct restructure, restructural work on that fort so it can defend itself better. And then he takes his crew over to New Orleans. Um, what's interesting is that he had to kind of band together this ragtag group of people. It was pirates, it was Native Americans, it was regular frontiersmen with guns, it was freed black men. I mean, he got just like basically anybody he could and assembled this army to go defend New Orleans because he was pretty sure they were coming. And um, so they go over there, and this is crazy because like the British had over 8,000 men, over 8,000 soldiers. Jackson had about 5,000, maybe a hair over. And um, so Jackson was wildly outnumbered and he had this like ragtag group of people that he just assembled. They weren't trained, most of them. Yeah, some of them were, but not a lot of them were. And the British are all trained, so they're outnumbered by very trained soldiers, and they knocked the British out of the water while they were on land, actually. But you know what I mean. I do. But the British, in under, I think it was like in 30 minutes, they killed over 2,000 British soldiers and had them fleeing, and they lost less than 100. And most of those weren't even losses, they were like injuries. So it's like, how did this happen? I mean, it was like it was basically called the miracle of New Orleans.

SPEAKER_05 17:13

Yeah, is that um, you know, when you have kind of militia kind of stuff like that, is that is that uh when you're that successful, is that good leadership? Or is that, you know, someone, you know, that's bringing together a group who's very proud.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

It's passion and leadership. Because a lot of a lot of none of this would have happened without Jackson's leadership.

SPEAKER_05 17:36

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

He was very strategic in what he did, but obviously he had to be an effective leader to get these guys rallied to to do this, including like getting in pirates.

Tim 17:46

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

And Native Americans that he was probably fighting against in other wars. Yeah.

Tim 17:50

Do you picture like a peg leg pirate with a with a parrot on his shoulder? With a parrot on the shoulder and an eye patch. You think it was that kind of pirates?

SPEAKER_02 17:58

I don't know about the parrots, but maybe.

Tim 18:02

I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 18:03

No. Anyways, it was just this rogue group of people. But I think it was like both passion and leadership, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:10

Rallying the troops, very decisive. I think you said earlier that he was a very decisive leader.

SPEAKER_02 18:15

Yeah, yeah. I mean, that doesn't that doesn't happen without very intentional work and mind thinking.

Tim 18:23

Yeah. It says in Larry's notes. Basically, Jackson assembled the Avengers of the Gulf Coast.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Yeah, that's that's right.

SPEAKER_05 18:30

Good way to put it. It's a very good way to put it.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

But yeah, that was the war, that was the battle, actually, that put Jackson on, you know, the national spotlight and put him on the road to the presidency.

SPEAKER_05 18:42

Sure. Someone who who had such disdain for the British, I probably helped with all that decisive, you know, yes. Yeah. Yeah. Very cool stuff.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

But also, you know, he kind of just went out on his own, followed his gut because everybody thought the, you know, not everybody thought the war was over because they didn't all know, they didn't all hear it. Yeah. But again, like I said before, the British were planning to attack, whether the war was peacefully, you know, like ended or not. They were still planning to and Jackson heard these rumors that they were coming up the Gulf Coast. So he's like, We're going down and we're gonna be prepared, you know. So he was he was intentional, he was prepared, he was following his gut, you know. Yeah. There you go.

Tim 19:30

You rest your case. I rest my case. Case ruled. All right. All right. America's first true populist president.

SPEAKER_05 19:39

Yeah.

Tim 19:40

Before Jackson, presidents generally came from elite circles and were expected to behave like a gentleman. Jackson changed the entire formula. He sold himself as the people's president. What do you know about that?

SPEAKER_05 19:56

I mean, makes sense. Well, you're getting all these people to follow.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

Yeah, I mean, he was the first one for a different cause. He was the first one brought up in the backwoods.

SPEAKER_05 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

And came from nothing. He didn't have money growing up. He came from nothing, and like as a self-made man, he's a picture of the American dream.

Tim 20:14

Self-made, tough, honest, anti-establishment. His opponents viewed him as dangerous, uneducated, violent, and unstable. Well, that sounds familiar.

SPEAKER_05 20:23

That's interesting. I mean, that second one, unedu uneducated, sound it's it's interesting for that for his his opponents to view him as that.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Yeah, when he had become a lawyer, but he just didn't have the same education, Ivy League schools that they did. Yeah, yeah. His he didn't have a great family pedigree. Yeah.

Tim 20:41

Well, that's a problem with all of it because every time, any election for anything, especially now, all of the opponents are gonna say those things about their opponents.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Of course.

Tim 20:54

It's like always the same thing. He even says there sound familiar. I didn't even see that. Many historians argue that argue Jackson created the modern version of American populism. He constantly framed politics as the ordinary people versus the powerful elites.

SPEAKER_05 21:11

Yeah, that's I mean, that's interesting. And I think we see this some I I get I get this, and this is someone I would probably want to follow too. Because it it doesn't have to be this way. We're now seeing it doesn't have to be this, you know, we to use the word again, pedigree of of born into it, you know, family was was uh politicians, yeah, right? He didn't even really have a family, right?

Tim 21:37

This is more like George Washington.

SPEAKER_05 21:39

Exactly.

Tim 21:40

It's like it started the cycle over in seven because it didn't wasn't John Quincy Adams like the last of the all of the founders or whatever, or was it the one before?

SPEAKER_02 21:49

John Quincy Adams was John Adams' son, right? Yeah, yes.

Tim 21:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

So he was born into that.

SPEAKER_05 21:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

You know, all of them were born into that.

SPEAKER_05 21:59

Education. you know, um travel overseas to be diplomats. Right. And this $20 bill. $20 bill.

Tim 22:08

$20 bill is kind of like Jay George. Earned it in the backwoods. G Dubs. Yeah. In the backwoods. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 22:13

Earned it in the backwoods.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Standing up to British soldiers when he's 13, 14 years old.

Tim 22:20

It says he constantly he constantly framed politics as the ordinary people versus the powerful elites. Which uh, but then it it says Jackson himself owned a large large plantation of and and enslaved people, so he wasn't exactly living in a log cabin eating beans with a common man. But politically he understood something revolutionary. People don't just vote for policies.

SPEAKER_05 22:42

No.

Tim 22:43

They vote for someone they believe is fighting for them. And that lesson still drives politics today. It sure does.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

And I wonder too, you know, he throughout his life and his political career, he was always against the powerful elites, things that drove them and didn't, you know, really help the common man. So I I just feel like there's a parallel here between him and his disdain for the powerful elites and his disdain for the British. I wonder if he just sees them very similarly.

SPEAKER_05 23:14

Yeah.

Tim 23:14

Yeah. That's possible.

SPEAKER_05 23:15

It does. It is possible. And then you get to a point in your life in in a career like this that again we'll we'll start seeing the change that when when you get power and a little bit of an ego then it changes some of your views. Yeah. And causes you to do some stuff that may be frowned upon.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

There are a few things yep there's some controversial things.

SPEAKER_05 23:41

Some controversial things that people still talk about today.

Tim 23:45

He's the founder of the modern Democratic Party. The Democratic Party that existed today traces its roots directly back to Jackson. The election of 1828 transformed American politics what do you know about um the election of 1828 James?

SPEAKER_02 24:02

What are you why are you asking me all these questions? If you want to talk about the election of 1828 you should also ref refer to the election of 1824 which we talked about on the last you guys talked about on the last one was I in the last one I don't think so no that was just you guys alligator in the toe because the two elections are very closely sure tied together and Jackson had some animosity about that first election. He actually ran in 1824 and when he first lost that he conceded graciously that's right but afterwards he got really suspicious that Adams and Clay had made a backdoor deal. And then when Clay was appointed to Adams Senate or cabinet or whatever then his suspicions grew as did a lot of other people's about that. So ever since the 1824 election Jackson felt like he had something to prove which I think he felt like that his whole life but he had something to prove and he had this like animosity towards them and he's like I'm going to beat them.

Tim 25:07

So enter 1828 she says why are you asking me because I'm an idiot and I don't want to call I don't want to call you an idiot Mike but I know that she knows I am one smarter than that.

SPEAKER_05 25:20

I wanted to learn something and I just did I remembered something too okay we'll go with what you remembered and what you know no you you you spelled it right you're exactly right to set it up but no gosh I mean you you nailed it and knocked it right out of the park here. Jeez Al pressure on you seriously but you're right with the backdoor deals the push to be that common man's president.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:43

You're exactly right I mean it it it is it's night and day from the from 1824 to 1828.

SPEAKER_02 25:49

Yeah. And that's that's just part of like what was driving him was he was angry at these powerful elites that were doing all this stuff. Right. Not just in elections but in you know banking and in policy and everything everything he looked at in government he saw it as corrupt and he didn't like politics honestly because he got in a lot of political positions prior to this that he resigned early because he just did not like that life.

SPEAKER_06 26:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

There was multiple I think he was the when he was governor of Florida he resigned early because he was like I don't like this life. I want to go back to my farm.

SPEAKER_06 26:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

You know and then there was a there was at least two or three that I know of where he resigned early because he was like I'm not made for meetings. He's made for battles.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

But no sure and now you see the opposite now if you have some animosity against people you just you keep fighting.

Tim 26:41

Yeah his goal was to fix it but he came in with a fighting spirit for sure because he just didn't like what he was seeing in government says before Jackson elections often felt like contest among elites so he built a national political movement. So just like we saw with the um the battle of new or New Orleans organized locally held rallies printed campaign materials mobilized voters. I know he didn't do that for the the battle of New Orleans but just like kind of getting his rag tag group of people to get out there and he's great at rallying people supported him.

SPEAKER_05 27:16

I mean you look at the I saw something in him it says his coalition was built around farmers laborers western settlers working class voters.

Tim 27:24

Yeah did do we not just see that in the last election you know currently yeah I mean trying to rally that group yeah get out in the vote core group of Americans right as opposed to the the coast of the elites yeah you know it's this is the same thing.

SPEAKER_05 27:41

Yeah it's the it's the middle of the country this is really kind of as as James was setting it up there I mean again I think I've said this too many times on these podcasts but how the the the foundation is just constantly built upon. Yeah and and and changed and manipulated in a little bit but it always comes back to kind of something we see present day. Yeah you know and to be a a a a president of the people you know we we could say that this round for for Trump when he was hired or when he was hired when he was elected was a similar approach.

Tim 28:20

Yeah it's exactly the same as this group of people. Yeah I mean any pr any in no matter which one which side you're on if you're you know trying to reach that group of people and you're talking to that group of people yeah you're probably more likely to win everybody's so concerned with like okay we had this group and this group and this well just don't worry about race and gender and all this stuff like these people that are that are making the country function is yeah the common right the common man the motor that keeps it running yeah yep yep he changed so he didn't just win an election he changed how elections worked yes and I think he became president around the age of 62 yes so this next one um you actually know a lot about and we kind of learned a little bit about this when we went to the Hermitage and reading all the stuff but destroying the national bank so can you kind of set I know we keep asking you because you're smarter than we are. I'm not smarter I just I'm familiar with this but can you set up like why was the bank a big deal and like how he destroyed the national bank and all that okay so you know the he this is in reference to the second national bank.

SPEAKER_02 29:39

So there was the first national bank and then the second national bank um so the reason Jackson hated the second national bank so each every time there's a national bank it's set up with like a charter which is like a timeframe where it's allowed to function and then it needs to be up for review and either renewed or knocked down or whatever. And so the second national bank um Jackson hated it for good reason he believed that it served the wealthy elites which it did. So the prop the proceeds the profits from the second national bank was split between the government that got like 20% and then the rest of the profits were being um they were um going to stakeholders which mostly were foreign people so these foreign elites who had allegiances to their own governments were getting the profits from America's second national bank because they were the stakeholders so Jackson was furious about it I mean just as he thought the wrong people were being benefited. Sure the common man was not being benefited in in his eyes this bank was keeping the wealthy wealthier and the poor people poorer and he just wanted to see an end to it and they actually they actually Congress voted to keep this bank going and Jackson who loved his veto power vetoed it and let it fail so what happened after it failed it failed I mean honestly after after it failed the nation did go into financial crisis yes there was a problem but yeah but I mean at the same time though at least he stood his ground it needed to be it needed a revision it the country financially needed a different way to function. So yes we went into cr financial crisis after that but it forced us to rework the system yeah I mean I don't I don't know any of that agree agree but again right who who was you you said it the the wealthy were benefiting from this yes and not even American okay wealthy it was foreigners were benefiting. Right I'm sure some American elites were shareholders but like a majority were foreign.

SPEAKER_05 32:15

But the but again goes what back to why he was the kept winning this popular vote and knew the veto powers that he had we are taking another step to get away from what this country was you know kind of not before before our founding fathers and PayPal um we're we're we're trying to become our own country. Yeah let's eliminate these these people foreign individuals that are benefiting from let's let's eliminate the what the wealthy from becoming wealthy. The one percenters are always gonna be the one percenters. Yeah let's bring in the common common man we're seeing again we see it today.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

I know that's what I was going to say I was just thinking that too I mean politically we're seeing that but also financially this country there's a lot of money like rolling in this country rolling out of this country to foreign nationals to and from foreign nationals to interrupt our politics and cause division and it's like get their money out of here. It's the root of evil I mean it's yeah it's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 33:22

It's the root of evil I mean paid off the national debt.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

Yeah I mean how many president presidents have done that Jackson did it.

Tim 33:29

Yeah and we'll never probably never see it happen again so it says just keep running up it says whether America excuse me whether America benefit benefited remains one of the greatest debates in history some historians blame Jackson's actions for contributing to later economic disasters others see him as a champion who took down a corrupt financial monopoly either way he picked a fight with the most powerful financial institutions in America and won. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

That's pretty ballsy.

Tim 33:59

So both things can be true he probably did screw a lot of things up.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

It wasn't the only factor in the Great Depression or anything like that. Like well no the Great Depression was like way later but in the depression that followed it wasn't the only factor.

Tim 34:14

But if you you you I think you're right I mean there there is some groundworking to the Great Depression from this because then you have if you've got it paid off you're you're getting rid of this second national bank the the next the next avenue for the wealthy to make more money would be eventually we'll see kind of development of stocks and trading and yeah yeah I mean whether it whether it was good or bad the fact that and and I think that that's why people like Trump the he did what he thought was right and he did you know and he followed through with it. You know, because there's a lot of presidents and a lot of people that are in um in politics that are just like they get in there and then they're just like swindled into sure making deals and doing all the things and with this Jackson's like nah yeah yeah and it's like because he wasn't brought up with all of that and he had disdain for all of that he never conformed to all of that.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yeah all of those backdoor deals and right the dirty stuff.

SPEAKER_05 35:19

Yeah for Andrew Jackson I mean he did his own dirty stuff but sure and and unfortunately they all do right they all do it is just kind of what is in the times that that you're you're wanting to follow or believe in or catches your attention that's going to get you to vote. But for for Jackson it was the British you know for Trump it's let's drain the swamp.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

Well and that was part of Jackson's yeah goal too that was part of his main focus was the swamp of the elite wealthy running the country and just you know like he said earlier it was like a contest of the wealthy elites every election was until Jackson came along and then suddenly the people have power which is what Jackson wanted. He thought that's what we're supposed to be doing.

SPEAKER_05 36:04

And but there's always going to be that backdoor that you know those elites the president is a pretty elite person is going to try to benefit from and we'll again we'll see it. We'll see it.

Tim 36:15

All right so we're gonna do this this next one and then we're gonna wrap it up for today and continue um later because there's a lot of stuff here. Well we get into some really fascinating there's a this is a lot of there this this is a this is a big precedent that that's why he's on the $20 bid that's right that's right so we'll do this one and then we'll wrap up wrap up part one of Andrew Jackson. Yeah so what's a good base we're setting a good base for what yeah we're setting it up yeah yeah and then me and you can also study so we don't look dumb dumb compared to her all right so Larry says the veto president before Jackson presidents use the veto sparingly it was considered almost an emergency tool Jackson completely changed that he vetoed more legislation than all previous presidents combined that sounds insane because it was Jackson believed the president was wasn't merely an administrator he believed the president represented the entire people if Congress passed something he thought was wrong he'd kill it. Wow his expanded use of the executive power permanently changed the presidency supporters loved it critics compared him to a king it's like it's always it's always that sure it's always that one famous nickname King Andrew the First political cartoons literally showed him wearing a crown we still see that today who was it john adams that they were ripped ripping on him that's what we see that with Trump too people call him king no king's protest protest all that kind of I mean God it's always they always resort back to the same thing it's like come on people be original come up with something new well that's the thing until you can find someone that's trying to develop a solution nobody wants a solution.

SPEAKER_05 38:08

Everybody just wants to sit there and bitch about everything because they don't want to find a solution they don't want to find us they don't want to work to they don't want to put themselves out and be in a in a in a negative looked at in a negative light. They just want somebody else to do it. Yeah it's a fault of all of ours yeah but that's what it that's what it comes down to. Yeah unless you're gonna don't come to me like we do it at work and in in our homes it if you got a problem then come with a solution. Yeah these are the individuals that are doing it.

Tim 38:34

And if it means being called certain stuff or you know being looked about but I mean it worked for him to get the get the common people to to follow the thing is with the this when you're when you're uh when you're a leader like he he was a leader you got people coming at you no matter what and you're gonna get people throwing shit at you and and you're gonna be strung up and it's like when you push through that that's what makes a good leader you push through that because there's gonna be a lot of people that disagree with you and that's okay but a lot of people can't take that heat an effective leader can't be focused on making friends. Well I mean you see that you see that in in politics the people that are in Congress and the Senate and everything they're getting persuaded by lobbyists and groups and pharmaceutical companies and all these things to where there's no backbone with anybody. I'm gonna go to Washington and change things and then they just end up just joining the swamp. Yeah or you get eaten alive and you can't take it. Yeah you get eaten alive and you can't take it and you get out yeah you got people like Andrew Jackson that goes in there and he's like you know what I know I'm gonna get killed for this but I strongly believe this. Yeah and we voted for you to be the president so whether we like it or not we have to trust his decisions. And there's presidents in history including this one that made a lot of bad decisions. Yeah but like how how else do you have a free country? How else do you how else do you do this? Yeah without having to take that risk.

SPEAKER_05 40:05

No thank goodness for our founding fathers.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

Well and I just I like the fact that you know look he he stands up to the British when he's young and even he gets into this presidency and he's standing up to Congress. He's never afraid to stand up to anybody which is why he walks around with bullet shells and his bullets in his body and stuff which we'll get into later but I mean he I like that he never backed down. No he did what he thought was right in the moment and made him a leader.

Tim 40:39

Yeah yeah of the men of the men and women and women so all right well we'll stop it right here for today but I think this is gonna be a good one it could be a four part thing. I don't know because there's a there's a lot there could be a lot of discussion we get into that there's a lot but on a side note I do want to say to the listeners that if you don't already know you are able to listen and watch this podcast on Apple Podcasts maybe send in send some comments in send some comments in talk you know tell us how dumb me and Mike are or tell us if we get something wrong.

SPEAKER_05 41:20

I mean my memory fails me too this is an interesting one because it of where we're located like you said at the beginning I mean if someone out there listening has something they want to add because of something know about Andrew Jackson here in in Middle Tennessee then or if you want to come to our big Hermitage blowout.

Tim 41:36

Yeah. But I will say too that maybe in the next episode or the one if if we finish it in the next episode or an episode after that if we continue to go in one of these episodes we have a bunch of pictures of the Hermitage that we're going to share. Because Nikki and I went to the Hermitage around Christmas time last year and we knew we were going to do this podcast so we got a bunch of pictures because you're normally not allowed to take pictures in there but they let us they let us because it was a special event so we have okay very cool we have pictures of like every single room in the house. No way we can like you know pretty much map out how Andrew Jackson was living is really cool. So that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

But also I'd want to encourage everybody to go check out the Hermitage.

Tim 42:18

It's pretty cool. Yeah check out the Hermitage if you can if you do live in the area but it's a it's a neat place to to go see it's sprawling.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

And you'll learn a lot and it's beautiful.

Tim 42:28

Yeah yeah all right but thank you James for being here to to support us in this for having me we're coming back next time and me and Mike will be I'll be asking you guys the questions we'll see all right see y'all on the next one goodbye