This excerpt is from The Opening of American Society (1985) by Robert Wiebe, referring to Andrew Jackson:

“In two ways Jackson’s singular route to the White House freed him for the tasks ahead. First, a cunning man on the rise learned to create and dissolve his alliances easily. Like the chief of a military junto, he did not check backgrounds or discriminate against idiosyncrasies, he required only absolute loyalty. Hence he could accept the perpetual flux of his supporting coalitions and advising associates and extract the greatest benefit from them. Secondly, his struggle against the grain of the gentry hierarchy made him an alert and implacable enemy of gentlemanly privilege in all forms.”

The jumble of interests that had collected behind Jackson’s presidency came to Washington in 1829 with a jumble of inclinations but no policy…”

From Politfact, What’s up with Donald Trump and Andrew Jackson?:

If it were possible to have a bromance across the centuries, Presidents Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump would almost certainly qualify.

Repeatedly over the past year, Trump has invoked and praised his predecessor in the White House, who served from 1829 to 1837. In addition to various mentions in remarks and on Twitter, Trump placed a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office and made a pilgrimage to the late president’s tomb in Nashville less than two months after being sworn in.

 

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