"John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it."
- attributed to Andrew Jackson
I love that quote, it's the very essence of the "screw this, I'm doing things my way" ideal. And the fact that this statement
was supposedly aimed at a United States Chief Justice makes it that much more powerful (and screwed up). Andrew Jackson is our
favorite U.S. president here at Twisted Jenius. As Vicious has pointed out, most people don't know much about Jackson and those
who do, don't normally considered him to be their favorite president. But it is precisely all of the malevolent behaviors which
many people tend to link to Jackson that makes him appealing to us. Simply put, Andrew Jackson is probably the most Villainesque president in American history.
This is a man who fought a total of thirteen duels in his life, one in which he killed Charles Dickinson; an individual who had
killed 26 people in his many previous duels. Since Jackson knew that Dickinson was an expert duelist, he allowed him to
shoot first, hitting Jackson in the chest, narrowly missing his heart. As Dickinson tried to reload, Jackson, still standing,
took his time aiming and killed Dickinson. Aside from this, Jackson was also involved in what is arguably the most fierce and
dirty presidential election in American history (you think that our elections are petty now, at least contemporary candidates
don't generally go around publicly accusing their opponents' wives and mothers of being prostitutes). Jackson did technically
merry another man's wife, openly threatened and vowed revenge against other prominent politicians and, after a botched assassination
attempt (the first ever attempted assassination of a U.S. President), he flew into a rage and attacked his own would-be assassin
with his walking cane. He is also often credited with this little incident known as the "Trail of Tears"; which you may have
heard something about.
Anyone who has done much reading on Andrew Jackson tends to have some strong opinions about him and his subsequent legacy. He
really is one of those "love him or hate him" type of historical figures. It can be argued that he did a lot of good and a lot
of bad. Personally, as the amoral, misanthropic individual that I am, I find his exploits to be pretty entertaining (especially
when compared to that of others who have held that office) and I find his darkest moments to be the best. Suffice it to say,
he was one politician who definitely had a firm grasp of his own principles and knew how to get things done. Andrew Jackson was
not the kind of person that you wanted to fuck with.
- False Prophet
