I think Darwin would have been appalled. I know that he was intensely repelled by slavery and was critical of treatment of Native Americans in South America.
Your words were "worthless piece of shit" I pointed out a few items of "worth". Not good at his job as President is a far cry from "worthless piece of shit".
But your default on Jackson is worthless piece of shit, which is demonstrably false, yet you adhere to it slavishly. I've already pointed out several instances where he was lacking or outright wrong. You can't say one good thing about Jackson?
Someone is deriding Jackson, while defending Lincoln? Lincoln, the guy who not only knew, but allowed Sherman to kill, rape, and burn his way across lands and murder citizens the man swore an oath to defend?
I find it hard to judge Presidents. Take Lincoln. He had to make decisions that went against everything the Constitution stood for just to save the Constitution. And modern Presidents probably have it 10x worse with the global civilization we live in today. Even Jefferson went against his diehard principles to (some say) illegally do the Louisiana Purchase.
The question of rape in the ACW is pretty loaded... I actually wrote a paper years ago on the subject and to the best that I could confirm, less than a dozen VERIFIABLE rapes occurred on Sherman's March. There are plenty of anecdotal claims (the story of the New Manchester Mill women is particularly interesting to me as I live close to the mill ruins...) but as far as ironclad occurrences go, there's very little to go on and soldiers found guilty could expect the harshest of repurcussions. The way the wheels of justice turned back then would almost certainly result in death by firing squad and Lincoln himself would have had to make the final call. It's doubtful he'd have had much mercy for a convicted rapist...
You've proven he's not a thief? Do tell. I don't see where you've proven anything false, much less several. Your one possible justification of any note was that Jackson was that he eliminated the national debt, yet I noted how this was done in a less than reputable fashion and created an even worse financial situation. So, as a president, no, I don't have much good to say about Jackson.
So his keeping South Carolina from seceding doesn't move you at all as noteworthy or worthwhile? If he was a thief, he's in good company among US Presidents... The current (and previous) occupant included...
Jackson's policies were certainly a contributing factor but by no means the ONLY factor. Problems in Britain (both agricultural and financial) contributed also to the panic and Martin Van Buren's failure to take measures that could very well have alleviated the duration of the depression are also at issue.
Van Buren was barely in office before it hit the fan and, no, it wasn't solely Jackson's fault, but it's hard to tout Jackson's financial accomplishments when those policies played an instrumental part in the financial crisis.
Obama didn't steal an entire people's land to sell off to bloodthirsty settlers and pocket the profits. He's nowhere near Jackson. For what it's worth, this is also why I can't rate FDR as a great president, although I am wont to do so, but the thieving of Japanese land, homes and businesses is just too much. The only difference between him and Jackson is that the relocation of the Japanese was a little more humane and private citizens stuffed their coffers with stolen Japanese lands and other items instead of the federal government.
Van Buren could have taken measures to contain the downward spiral but chose not to. As a result, the downturn lasted longer than it would have had he been a bit more flexible...
I was actually thinking of asking your take on FDR and the internment... Woodrow Wilson did the same type of shit with the German American population iirc... What's particularly egregious about the Japanese internment is that the vast, vast majority of these people had been bona fide American citizens for many years.
As far as Obama (or Bush or Clinton or....) goes... Whether a mofo steals $2 or $2,000,000 he's still a thief. The degree doesn't really matter to me as much as the mindset.
I live about 45 minutes away from Warm Springs and go down to Pine Mountain frequently. Have visited the Little White House many many times and there is a lot of Rah Rah love for FDR there, as you might well imagine. Not much (if any) mention of his policies towards the Japanese Americans... If you're ever in the area, make a side trip to Dowdell's Knob in the FDR State park... It was a favorite picnic destination for Roosevelt and considering all the world changing decisions he probably contemplated there is pretty amazing.
