History

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1. 
   nutmegger Teacher
   High School - 10th Grade

   The most fundamental difference between the two presidents is the context in which they served their terms.  Jackson served (1829-1837) his term as a time of relative peace and prosperity while Lincoln (1861-1865) presided over a nation divided and at war. 

   Jackson was a wealthy southern planter who ran as a populist.  Lincoln was a prominent lawyer from Illinois who ran as the first presidential candidate of the new Republican party.  Jackson had been a general, and was a rough man of the frontier who had personally killed other men in duels.  Lincoln was also a product of the frontier, and had served in the militia, but he was politically savy and shrewd.

   Both men wielded a strong hand with presidential power.  Jackson fended off the first secession crisis with South Carolina, and ordered the Cherokee tribe to be evicted from their land.  Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclimation, and waged a decisive war against the south.

   Jackson waged war on the national bank, while Lincoln used the federal goverment as strategically as possible to save the Union. 

   Jackson's presidency was mired in personal controversy surrounded the legitimacy of his marriage, and his involvement in duels.  To many at the time Lincoln was unpopular, but his personal life was free from scandal, but not tragedy.  Unlike Jackson, Lincoln's presidency ended with his assassination in 1865.

   Sources:

   http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html

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   Posted by nutmegger on Wednesday May 28, 2008 at 7:47 PM