proud and does not care for style."[166] The era of vulgarity in
national politics was ushered in by Jackson, who as President introduced
the custom of rewarding political workers with offices, an innovation
entirely indefensible; he ought to have continued the practice of his
six predecessors. The interaction between government and politics on the
one hand and the life of the people on the other is persistent, and it
may be doubted whether the United States would have seemed as it did to
Dickens had not Jackson played such an important part in the
vulgarization of politics. Yet it was a happy country, as the pages of
Tocqueville bear witness.

Jackson was a strong executive and placed in his Cabinet men who would
do his will, and who, from his own point of view, were good advisers,
since they counseled him to pursue the course he had marked out for
himself. Comparing his Cabinet officers to those of the Presidents
preceding him, one realizes that another plan of governing was set on
foot, based on the theory that any American citizen is fit for any
position to which he is called. It was an era when special training for
administrative work began to be slighted, when education beyond the
rudiments was considered unnecessary except in the three professions,
when the practical man was apotheosized and the bookish man despised.
Jackson, uneducated and with little experience in civil life, showed
what power might be exercised by an arbitrary, unreasonable man who had
the people at his back. The brilliant three--Webster, Clay, and
Calhoun--were unable to prevail against his power.

Jackson's financial policy may be defended; yet had it not been for his
course during the nullification trouble, his declaration, "Our Federal
Union: It must be preserved," and his consistent and vigorous action in
accordance with that sentiment it would be difficult to affirm that the
influence of his two terms of office was good. It cannot be said that he
increased permanently the power of the executive, but he showed its
capabilities. It is somewhat curious, however, that Tocqueville, whose
observations were made under Jackson, should have written: "The
President possesses almost royal prerogatives, which he never has an
opportunity of using.... The laws permit him to be strong; circumstances
keep him weak."

The eight Presidents from Jackson to Lincoln did not raise the character
of the presidential office. Van Buren was the heir of Jackson.