Introduction:
The chosen topic for this assignment is the comparison between two populist presidents Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson. Mr. Jackson is the seventh president of the country, and Donald Trump is the 45th president of the country. Both of these presidents formed the governments with a clear majority and ran a populist election campaign. Following assignment will compare both the president based on different factors.
Body:
Some relevant factors taken into consideration for comparison of both the presidents. Following are some of the important factors that considered for the comparison between these two presidents (jacobson and Waycoff).
- Military Service:
Donald Trump joined the New York military academy at the age of just 13 years old, but he never served the armed forces. In the similar age, Andrew Jackson fought with the irregulars in the American Revolution, and the British troops captured him. He spent a lot of years in the military and got promoted to the rank of major general in the army. In the war of 1812, he won the battle of New Orleans, and he fought various Indian tribes and conquered Florida.
- Political Experience:
Donald Trump is the first president of the country that hasn’t been a part of the political office or the army. He became head of state of the country by gaining most of the states in the country over Hilary Clinton even without having a smaller public vote of 46%. Furthermore, despite being a part of the Republican Party, he differs in most of the issues with his party members. Whereas, Andrew Jackson was the only elected head of the state that was not a member of the political dynasties but he was the part of parliament and senate of United States. In the year of 1812, he got the majority in public votes but didn’t got majority in Electoral College. The house selected the president and chose John Quincy Adams as the next president. After four years Jackson ousted Adams with 56% of the popular vote and earned a second term with 54% of the popular vote in the next election.
- Philosophical Comparisons:
Donald Trump is known as the fruitful and wealthy businessman who styled himself as the man of the people to win the presidency from the elite political powerhouses of the country. He claimed himself as the outsider in the election and deemed every politician in the office as puppets of their donors. Whereas Jackson was a wealthy slaveholding plantation owner that was known for a blustering style and regarded himself as the man of the people. He also ousted ruling political dynasties of his time to earn the office. He fought many battles for United States and passed a law that forced the Cherokee Nation to move out from his land that later called as Trail of Tears. Most of the critics called Jackson the American Bonaparte because of his dictatorial streak. But Jackson was popular among the people of the country as he viewed as the champion of the citizens (Ryan).
- Courting Conflict:
Donald Trump was a part of the reality TV show in which he pitted contestants against each other and fired them basing on their performance. Furthermore, he also feuded with major celebrities of the country and most of the politicians even within his party during the elections. Similarly, Jackson had a neck for fights and Jackson dueled with his competitors most of the time. Furthermore, he fought between 5-100 duels according to historians. In one of his duels, he killed a man who insulted him in a bad way (LearningEnglish).
- Battle with the courts:
Trump has faced a lot of battles in court most of the time before being president as the business man. Recently he faced a travel ban, and it got blocked in court. Mr. Trump comments about the judge were very harsh as many declared his comments racist. Whereas, after the chief justice of the country ruled in a case involving the seizure of the Cherokee Land in Georgia, Jackson replied in a controversial manner as he said that “the president of the supreme court has made his decision now let him enforce it.”
- Political Change:
Donald Trump slogan for his presidential campaign was to bring change by removing the political regime of the country as he is the outsider in the election. Similarly, Andrew Jackson also ran a campaign of change in the political system of the country as he promised the people of the country to remove the political dynasty from the country (Collins).
Conclusion:
There are some striking similarities among the two presidents of United States of America if we look into the bigger picture rather than the details of the comparisons. The most significant comparison between Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson is the way of thinking about the world of both the presidents. Both got great support from the public of the country and won the election with the fair majority. There are some essential differences as well between both the presidents. Andrew Jackson had great political experience and was also self-aware whereas Donald Trump didn’t have any political experience before the presidency of the country. It concludes that both of the presidents came into the presidency with a strong public support having a slogan of change and removal of the corrupt political regime of the country.
References:
Collins, Micheal. Donald Trump as Andrew Jackson? Meh, this historian says. 5 February 2017. 9 June 2017 <https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/05/historians-throw-water-comparisons-trump-andrew-jackson/97462252/>.
jacobson, Louis and Sarah Waycoff. What’s up with Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson? 2 May 2017. 9 June 2017 <http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2017/may/02/whats-up-with-donald-trump-andrew-jackson/>.
LearningEnglish. Trump Being Compared to Former President Andrew Jackson. 29 January 2017. 9 June 2017 <https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/donal-trump-andrew-jackson/3694593.html>.
Ryan, Josiah. Lord: Trump’s Andrew Jackson remark ‘perfectly reasonable’. 2 May 2017. 9 June 2017 <http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/02/politics/donald-trump-andrew-jackson-civil-war-cnntv/index.html>.
