Early take on PBS' Andrew Jackson show

Two continuous hours of TV devoted to the greatness of Andrew Jackson. It doesn't get much better than that. I mean, unless they had gotten Jennifer Garner to play Rachel Jackson or something like that. I'm talking about Tuesday night's documentary Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil and the Presidency.

I would give it a B grade. Which is good, because to get an A rating from me they would have had to include a computer animation of Old Hickory emerging from his grave and storming into Dick Cheney's office to tell him that he's even more of a national disgrace than John C. Calhoun. I was going to give it a B-. But the last segment covering his battle with the Bank of the United States and its plutocratic supporters was so good I have to go with a straight B.

The segment on the Nullification Crisis was good, though they should have emphasized how this was a conflict between slavery and democracy and Jackson came down solidly on the democracy side in that key confrontation. I also didn't catch any mention of the Force Act which Jackson pushed through Congress to make it clear that the South Carolina slaveowners would not be allowed to carry out state secession. I posted on the Nullification Crisis in one of my earliest blog posts, Andrew Jackson, states rights and the South 10/24/03 and in When Old Hickory saved the Union (1) 04/02/06 and in Part 2 04/03/06.

The segment on the Indian Removal Act and related issues about Jackson and the Indians was overall pretty decent.


But one important point was confusing. In talking about the Supreme Court decision on Georgia's authority as a state to expel Cherokee Indians, it failed to make clear that the Indian Removal Act overrode "states rights" in favor of federal action - and it was supported more consistently by members of Congress from Southern slave states than Calhoun's nullification measure was. And while the Indian Removal Act did result in terrible consequences on the Trail of Tears, the bulk of the expulsions actually took place under Jackson's annointed successor as President, Martin Van Buren. That's not to minimize Jackson's responsibility but facts are important in history, no matter what our theocratic postmodernists say. I posted in more detail on Jackson and Indian issues in Old Hickory and the Indians 04/08/04.

As I said, the segement on the fight over the Bank of the United States was actually surprisingly good for this sort of documentary. It talked about the rise of the labor movement and workers' support for Jackson. It said that Jackson saw his central mission as President to do what he could to protect working people from the destructive actions of concentrated wealth. And they included Sean Wilentz saying that Jackson's problem with the Bank was that it had "too much power outside of any public accountability." I have a brief post on the Bank Fight, Now this is cool! 07/25/07

The documentary also did a good job on the classic love story of Andrew Jackson and Rachel. And on the Peggy Eaton affair. Although the nasty society ladies of Washington weren't entirely wrong to wonder about the strict propriety of Peggy's love life, Jackson defense of her is one of his most memorable actions and one that gave a real glimpse of his postive qualities. William Faulkner said that Old Hickory's defense of Peggy Eaton showed that he knew honor had to be defended, whether it existed or not.

I've also posted on Contradictions of Jacksonian democracy 04/04/06, a topic which the documentary touched upon at the end.

So many great Old Hickory stories. So little blogging time.

Tags: andrew jackson, old hickory's weblog

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