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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

“American Lion,” By Jon Meacham

Before hippies made “power to the people” their slogan, Andrew Jackson actually made it happen. The nation’s seventh president presided over a crucial era in our history, when the legitimacy of the government was challenged from all sides. Jackson’s presidency redefined the office and continues to hold relevance for all who hold the office.

“American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” (Random House, $30) is the latest in a long line of books published since the dawn of the new millennium to cast a look back on the men who helped found this nation. Jon Meacham steps into the role previously occupied by authors like David McCullough, whose “John Adams” set the trend for re-examining the Founding Fathers and other men essential to the birth of the nation. Andrew Jackson may be best known for being the face of the $20 bill, but Meacham’s book goes a long way towards correcting that.

Jackson, a military hero who rode into office on a wave of popular support, was the first president from west of the Appalachians (the previous six officeholders had been from Virginia or Massachusetts). His election in 1828 came after a contentious 1824 run, which saw his lead in the popular vote undone by John Quincy Adams’ ability to secure the Electoral College (shades of the 2000 election controversy). Jackson was our first populist president, a man of the people who despised the idea of government being run by “elites” who disregarded the will of the people. And, in case you’re wondering, he was definitely the first president you’d want to get a beer with; his first inauguration featured a barbecue dinner and a trashing of the White House.

Jackson faced serious issues, and his record is a mixed one. On the crisis of nullification which nearly destroyed the nation 30 years before the Civil War, Jackson was steadfast; he managed to keep South Carolina from seceding and taking the rest of the South with it. But Jackson was an old Indian fighter, and once in office he engineered the process of removing tribes from their ancestral lands so as to “protect” them from white settlers greedy for the land and resources found there. He was a man of his times, especially when it came to the question of slavery (he didn’t free a single slave that he owned in his will). As Meacham points out, however, not every great man is a good man. Jackson’s flaws on some issues help to illustrate why he was right on so many others. A fierce defender of the fragile young nation, Jackson swore to die with the country if it came to that during such turbulent times.

Meacham points out that Jackson’s presidential fiber was underestimated because of his rough-and-tumble origins: An orphan because of the Revolutionary War, Jackson was self-made on the frontier of the new nation. His opponents thought he was a rube from the sticks, but Jackson proved to be an erudite, intelligent statesman who rarely let his emotions get the better of his judgment once in office. He did stand up for himself when faced with a challenge, however; when half of his cabinet refused to meet with Margaret Eaton (the wife of Jackson’s Attorney General and a woman of “bad reputation” much like Jackson’s late wife Rachel), he sent them packing. His ability to know when to stand his ground and when to back down set the tone for presidents to follow.

There’s a lot to learn from “American Lion,” not just about Jackson as a historical figure from a distant time but also as a contemporary influence on American politics. His many contradictions might make him less than noble in the final analysis, but his impact cannot be underestimated. His tenure helped redefine what it means to be the president of the United States, and as we stand on the cusp of another historic presidency it’s important to see how Andrew Jackson set the tone for all that has followed. You’ll certainly never see the $20 bill the same way again.