The Seditious Six Scandal continues to mushroom, with FBI interviews to be scheduled for the six members of Congress who made the video encouraging members of the military to refuse any “illegal orders” from President Trump, despite the lawmakers being unable to specify any example of such an “illegal order” having ever been made.
Apparently, the Democrats were projecting again after January 6, 2021, when they condemned a so-called Republican “insurrection.” Amazing how the projecting keeps happening.
Nevertheless, this is a serious business in American history. But it is not unprecedented. Another president who dealt with an analogous situation was Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the U.S.
As you may know, many political commentators have compared President Jackson’s foreign policy to President Trump’s. However, perhaps there is more to this comparison?
SEE ALSO: Trump Is a Jacksonian President—and Reagan Might Have Been, Too
In the 1830s, President Jackson dealt with two specific but overlapping domestic enemies from within his own Democrat Party. They were: 1) the Nullifiers, i.e., Southern Democrats determined to protect slavery and strongly opposed to a high tariff, who promoted the idea that a state could “nullify” federal government actions on these (and potentially other) issues; and 2) the Insurrectionists, i.e., Southern Democrats who were so angry about the above issues that they were willing to leave the Union over them, or commit violence.
Jackson, although himself a slaveholder from the Southern state of Tennessee, was opposed to these two groups, as he was a strong Union man, and he was not hard-core regarding the tariff.
Today, we see these same two overlapping groups among the Democrats. For example, on the issue of illegal aliens, Democrats are making a priority of fighting against, or nullifying, the Trump administration’s constitutionally and legally valid border crackdown. Some Democrat-run states and cities are claiming that they will refuse to enforce federal actions against illegals, some Democrat judges are blocking federal actions to deport illegals, and some regular Democrat citizens – including a Democrat Congresswoman – are actually attacking ICE agents who attempt to arrest the illegals.
And now, we can see that there are modern-day Democrat insurrectionists, as well.
So, how did Andrew Jackson handle the nullifiers and insurrectionists of his day?
Throughout his eight years in office, Jackson dramatically reinvigorated the presidency and its powers. He fought his opponents through a combination of (usually) open, unrelenting, and fierce political warfare, but also mixed it with some legislative compromises, some attempts to obscure his actions, and occasionally, some threats of force.
After South Carolina passed a nullification law opposing the federal tariff, Jackson wrote:
…our social compact, in express terms, declares that the laws of the United States, its Constitution, and treaties made under it are the supreme law of the land, and, for greater caution, adds “that the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.”… I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Constitution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object far which it was formed.”
Jackson also asked Congress for authority to send troops into South Carolina to enforce the law. At the same time, he urged Congress to reduce the tariff rates it had enacted a few months earlier. “On March 1, 1833, Congress sent to the president two companion bills. One reduced tariff duties on many items. The other, commonly called the Force Bill, empowered the president to use the armed forces to enforce federal laws.” South Carolina eventually backed down.
In opposition to the National Bank, Jackson expressed his belief that the Courts did not necessarily have the final say regarding Constitutionality:
The Congress, the Executive, and the Court must each for itself be guided by its own opinion of the Constitution. Each public officer who takes an oath to support the Constitution swears that he will support it as he understands it, and not as it is understood by others. It is as much the duty of the House of Representatives, of the Senate, and of the President to decide upon the constitutionality of any bill or resolution which may be presented to them for passage or approval as it is of the supreme judges when it may be brought before them for judicial decision. The opinion of the judges has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has over the judges, and on that point the President is independent of both. The authority of the Supreme Court must not, therefore, be permitted to control the Congress or the Executive when acting in their legislative capacities, but to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve.
So, based on his philosophy, Jackson may not have been willing to honor every judicial decision that went against him. Although the common (mis)perception that Jackson ignored a contrary Supreme Court decision is not correct – that Court decision overruled a Georgia state court holding and did not implicate federal power.
And when individual nullifiers threatened actual violence, Andrew Jackson was quite vocal. He warned:
Tell the Nullifiers from me that they can talk and write resolutions to their hearts’ content. But if one drop of blood be shed there in defiance of the laws of the United States, I will hang the first man of them I can get my hands on to the first tree I can find.
Spirited language, from an emotional president, don’t you think? It reminds me of someone.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy RedState’s conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join RedState VIP and use the promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership!
