Jackson was a man of the people. Born in the backwoods of the Carolinas, he understood the common man and was able to connect with the majority of Americans in a way that previous presidents hadn't. He was immensely popular but also immensely unpopular.

As all the greats are.

His presidency would formally and decidedly split the Republican Party into two separate parties. The Democratic-Republicans who supported him would become known as simply Democrats, while the National-Republicans who opposed him would become the Whigs.

Jackson was something of a mystery. He ran for office pledging to restore the voice of the people to American politics. But on several occasions he attempted to overturn the will of Congress, the most democratically chosen of the governmental branches.

He was a staunch believer in states' rights. But he threatened to send troops into South Carolina when the state claimed that it had the right to nullify a federal law.

He adopted a Native-American child and encouraged intermarriage between Native Americans and whites. But as president, he forced 90,000 Native Americans living in the eastern part of the United States to move thousands of miles onto desolate new lands west of the Mississippi River.

And he destroyed the Bank of the United States, leaving the nation without a central bank capable of monitoring the nation's money supply.

The Jackson years were anything but dull. Above all, they were instrumental in America's history for helping to define a new type of democracy for all: Jacksonian Democracy.

We will likely never know with 100% certainty how America won the Revolutionary War or why Thomas Jefferson wore that powdered wig (aside from the obvious—it was jammin'). Without a time travel device, there will always be questions.

Andrew Jackson is no exception to this phenomenon. As a man of the people, Andrew Jackson's popularity was only enhanced by the fact that he got a raw deal in the election of 1824. He had won more of the electoral vote and the popular vote than any other candidate, and he still managed to get the shaft.

But his presidency was complex, to say the least. He was a man of the people who also threatened to use military force to make a state obey the law. He ignored Congress, who were directly elected by the people, on many occasions and used his presidential veto to overrule them. And he signed the Indian Removal Act that would force thousands of Native Americans off their land. 

Andrew Jackson isn't just one thing or another. He was a believer in the common man, but he was also a believer in the law and in preserving the Constitution.

Aside from his duels with Congress, his contradictory actions on states' rights, and his terrible relationship with Native Americans, he also fought in several wars and multiple duels, living the last 30 years of his life with a bullet lodged in his chest. 

Hey, maybe that could explain a few things?

During his presidency, Jackson would use his presidential power again and again to further cement his status as top-dog, alpha male, leader of the pack. Jackson used his veto power a grand total of 12 times: more than any president before him. And in today's politics, we see many of the same issues: politicians who claim to be of the people, but fight tooth and nail for their own causes regardless. All in all, America had another thing coming when we chose Jackson, but as controversial as he was, many politicians today tend to follow suit. 

Minus the bullet in the chest thing.