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Re: art/$20 bill
Posted By: Cynthia, on host 12.223.36.136
Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2004, at 11:28:44
In Reply To: Re: art/$20 bill posted by Stephen on Monday, June 14, 2004, at 23:20:32:

> Not exactly, but his total refusal to listen to the Supreme Court is indicitave of the man's character.

... are you arguing your point of view or mine here? ;) (I know; I know.)

> And it's not even like he was out to purposely kill the American Indians, but he honestly seems to have thought that just up and moving them all was the best solution for all involved. It seems completely crazy today, and I'm not going to claim it's morally justifiable, but sometimes we have to consider historical figures within the context of their time.

I'll grant you that he really did think that moving them all was the best solution, but only because he believed that "they have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition,"[1] which really makes my blood boil, given that in that speech he was mainly discussing the Cherokee, who at that point had adopted not just democracy, but Christianity as well (whether Christianity makes you civilised is a debate for another day), and had a system of writing.

> You're totally forgetting that he humiliated the Brits at New Orleans! He's an American hero!

Wasn't the war technically over by the time he did that? (Yeah, I know, neither side *knew* that yet, but it still amuses me.)

> Also, how can the presidency of a man dead more than a century be a "sore spot" with you? It's not like people are always going around talking about how great Jackson is. If they are, though, that's pretty cool.

Short version: one of my great-grandmothers was Cherokee. Longer version: It just drives me up a wall that the nation still thinks enough of Jackson to leave him on money. His presidency is less of a sore spot than the currency issue.

> Myself, I want Polk on currency, though we should probably figure out a way to get FDR on something first. I'll give either Kennedy's fifty-center, easy. I'd also support putting Earl Warren on something, too, seeing as how he was way more influential than most presidents.

Those are all really good ideas. Polk actually kept his campaign promises, if I recall correctly, and it'd be hard to argue with giving Earl Warren his own piece of currency, too.

> Ste "James Garfield got shot too, but nobody dotes over him the way we do JFK" phen

-Cynth"McKinley, too"ia
[1] Fifth Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1833

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