How are folks coming on this book?

Joe, it is ok...I understand you viewpoint.....Jackson was eccentric..no doubt about it and he was prone to duels (who can we say is prone to duels nowadays? - (lol)

I think Meacham did a pretty good job and was fairly objective considering the character he had to work with. Jackson was not your average everyday guy we see nowadays; he wasn't even the everyday guy you saw during his day either.

And I guess we could also say that Jackson was a bit of a jerk on more than one occasion.

We don't mind your grumbling (smile).

I agree with you Vince. They were different times. I think that is why Meacham sort of gave him a pass.

Different times & different thinking is maybe more like it Bentley & Joe.
<not only <jackson but also Washington & jefferson at least kept slaves
<i think even the most enlightened only thought the blacks shoud have equal rights but were not "equals"
<jackson was a southern man of his times who worked his way up and <i agree that he was not nice but the times were different as were their values not that <i would consider them acceptable for me now but if <i had lived then?

Thank you Joe for your input. I felt the same way about Calhoun. I do think that we had the right man in the White House at the right time. Otherwise; the result might have been different. The idea of slavery and slavery itself was still going through a transition at the time of Jackson and Jackson was from the South...so his heritage and upbringing obviously got in the way of his progress.

Maybe that is why Meacham defended Jackson and because he was well intentioned. It is harder to understand what he did to the Native Americans since he fought alongside them and many had come to his defense. I think that our founding fathers and even those who came after had an elitist attitude which somehow enabled them to think that doing these things to those who were not white was OK.

It was sad; but it was the way even many good men thought. He was indeed hypocritical with his slaves...but then maybe he was thinking that everyone can get into heaven just like they can Tennessee. I do not think he ever thought that the Native Americans or even his black slaves were his equal.

Sad times and sad thinking.

This is the thread to discuss Chapter Twelve of The American Lion.

The title of this chapter is: I HAVE BEEN LEFT TO SUP ALONE.