WEBVTT

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A national hero? Or public enemy number one?

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Historical figures are often controversial,

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but few were as deified or vilified

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in their lifetime

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as the seventh President of the United States.

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This is History vs. Andrew Jackson.

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"Order, order, hm, uh, what were we...ah yes, Mr. Jackson!

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You stand accused of degrading the office of the presidency,

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causing financial collapse

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and wanton cruelty against American Indians.

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How do you plead?"

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"Now, Your Honor, I am not a big city lawyer,

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but I do know a few things.

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And I know that President Jackson was

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a self-made frontiersman,

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a great general,

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a real man of the people."

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"Your Honor, this 'man of the people' was a gambler,

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a drunk, and a brawler.

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Why, I've heard it said that

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he would fight at the drop of the hat

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and then drop the hat himself.

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I ask you,

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was such a man fit for the most distinguished office in the nation?

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Can we forget the debacle of his inauguration?

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Who ever heard of inviting a drunken mob

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into the White House?

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It took ages to get the upholstery clean."

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"That drunken mob, sir, was the American people,

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and they deserve to celebrate their victory."

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"Order, order! Now, did this celebration have pie?"

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"Very well. Mr. Jackson, is it not the case

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that immediately upon assuming office

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you introduced the spoils system,

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replacing hundreds of perfectly good federal employees

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with incompetent party loyalists?"

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"Your Honor, the President did no such thing.

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He tried to institute rotation in office

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to avoid any profiteering or funny business.

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It was the rest of the party

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who insisted on giving posts to their lackeys."

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"But Mr. Jackson complied, did he not?"

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"Now, uh, see here."

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"Moving on.

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Mr. Jackson, did you not help to cause

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the financial Panic of 1837,

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and the ensuing economic depression

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with your obsessive war

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against the Bank of the United States?

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Was not vetoing its reauthorization,

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as you did in 1832,

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an act of irresponsible populace pandering

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that made no economic sense?"

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"Your Honor, the gentleman has quite the imagination.

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That bank was just a way for rich Yanks

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to get richer.

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And all that money panic was caused

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when British banks raised interest rates

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and cut lending.

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To blame it on the President is preposterous, I say."

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"But if Mr. Jackson had not destroyed the National Bank,

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it would have been able to lend to farmers

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and businesses when other credit dried up,

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would it not?"

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"Hm, this is all highly speculative.

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Can we move on?"

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"Certainly, Your Honor.

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We now come to Mr. Jackson's

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most terrible offense:

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forcing entire tribes out of their native lands

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via the Indian Removal Act."

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"I resent that accusation, sir.

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The U.S. of A. bought that land from the Indians

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fair and square."

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"Do you call coercion and threats

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by a nation with a far more powerful army

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fair and square?

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Or signing a treaty for removing the Cherokee

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with a small group that didn't include

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their actual leaders?

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They didn't have time to properly

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supply themselves before the army came

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and forced them to march the Trail of Tears."

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"Now, hold on a minute.

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This was all Van Buren's doing

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after President Jackson left office."

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"But Mr. Jackson laid the groundwork

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and made sure the treaty was ratified.

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All President Van Buren had to do afterwards

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was enforce it."

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"Look here, Your Honor.

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Our government's been purchasing

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Indian land since the beginning,

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and my client was negotiating these deals

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even before he was President.

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President Jackson truly believed

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it was best for the Indians

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to get compensated for their land

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and move out West,

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where there was plenty of space

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for them to keep living

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the way they were accustomed,

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rather than stick around

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and keep butting heads with the white settlers.

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Some of whom, I remind our court,

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wanted to exterminate them outright.

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It was a different time."

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"And yet, even in this different time,

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there were many in Congress

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and even the Supreme Court

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who saw how wrong the Removal Act was

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and loudly opposed it,

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were there not?"

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"My client was under a great deal of pressure.

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I say, do you think it's easy

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governing such a huge country

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and keeping the Union together,

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when states are fixing to nullify

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federal laws?

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President Jackson barely got South Carolina

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to back down over those import tariffs,

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and then Georgia had to go discover gold

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and start grabbing up Cherokee land.

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It was either get the Indians to move

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or get in another fight with a state government."

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"So, you admit that Mr. Jackson

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sacrified moral principles to achieve

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some political goals?"

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"I do declare, show me one leader who hasn't."

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As societies change and morals evolve,

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yesterday's hero may become

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tomorrow's villain, or vice versa.

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History may be past,

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but our understanding of it is always on trial.