Many people argue that Andrew Jackson was one of our best presidents. Others argue that he proved to be more trouble than he was worth with his inconsistent ways. Many situations occurring throughout Andrew Jackson’s presidency strengthened the argument that Andrew Jackson was a paradoxical president, including “The Eaton Affair”, Trail of Tears, and the conflict over the Second Bank of the United States. Andrew Jackson should be considered a paradoxical president due to his absurd decisions and his self-contradictory attitude toward problems and his own conflicting discourse.
One situation that showed Andrew Jackson’s paradoxical ways was “The Eaton Affair”. During his first term, Andrew Jackson’s Secretary of War was John Eaton. Conflict arose after the marriage of John Eaton and Margaret Timberlake, due to Timberlake’s questionable past. Timberlake had been just previously widowed by her husband's death at sea, which led to extreme controversy. The other cabinet members and their wives refused to deal with Margaret Eaton, which led to Andrew Jackson defending her position. Jackson felt he had to defend Mrs. Eaton because John Eaton had defended his wife, Rachael Jackson, previously. This angered many of the cabinet members, which led them to
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The “Eaton Affair” showed that Jackson would help solve one problem, by creating another. The veto of the Maysville Road Bill seemed vacuous, but proved to be positive in the long run. The Trail of Tears and the Indian Removal Act started out fair, but then turned into a tragedy with one poor-planned decision. The Second Bank of the United States controversy created many enemies, but also earned Andrew Jackson re-election. Lastly, Jackson’s reaction to the rejection of Martin Van Buren by the Senate proved to be an opposing statement. All of these reasons help support the argument on why Andrew Jackson should be considered a paradoxical