Does Andrew Jackson really deserve to be on the twenty dollar bill? Most of us do not even give that a second thought when we whip it out to pay for something or receive it as change. But to some, especially Native Americans, it is an insult, and they refuse to accept the twenty dollar bill and get the bill in other denominations.
Why is this? Is not Andrew Jackson an American hero?
Well, yes and no.
During the war of 1812 against the British, Andrew Jackson was a hero. With a rag tag group of soldiers, he and them alone saved New Orleans from British invaders during the Battle of New Orleans. These 5,000 American soldiers won a victory over 7,500 British. At the end of the day, the British had 2,037 casualties: 291 dead (including three senior generals), 1,262 wounded, and 484 captured or missing. The Americans had 71 casualties: 13 dead, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. The American forces were made of a mismatched group of militia and pirates, former black slaves and Native Americans that supported the core of Army regulars.
Andrew Jackson was an American hero after the victory and looked liked the great uniter; able to look past class and race for the greater good. He could unite laborers, farmers, artisans, frontiersmen, former slaves, the Choctaw tribesmen, and Baratarian pirates for the common good. The victory pretty much ended the war and Jackson was on the path to the White House.
As a military man Andrew Jackson was great, as a president he was terrible. Why do I come to this conclusion? The Trail of Tears and the death and removal of Native Americans from their lands are all of his doing. Thousands of Indians were forced from their lands and thousands of more died because of the the laws Jackson enacted and enforced. Whatever "good" he did in office is erased because of this. Having him on the twenty dollar bill is like having Hitler on money in Germany to the Native Americans; it is an insult that should be changed. I think we should have someone like Martin Luther King Jr., Geronimo, or Dolly Madison.
I respect Andrew Jackson for his military feats and as a defender of individualism. I am always interested in his exploits and life -- his temper, his family life, duals, The Bell Witch, his "adventures", ect. -- but he was greatly flawed as a president. The sad thing is that he had the opportunity to be as great a president as a general, but he could not overcome certain burdens and ideologies to see clearly.
"In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the Chactas were leaving their country. 'To be free,' he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples." — Alexis de Tocqueville
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