The Twilight Report

My second presidential stop on my road trip is The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson, or as his friends called him “The General”. That the tyrant had any friends at all is remarkable, and that a man who fought so hard to disregard the constitution it may seem surprising that he is celebrated prominently on the $20 bill. The man made his reputation in defeating the Brits at the Battle of New Orleans, in the War of 1812, a month after the war between Britain and the United States was officially over. The engagement was a tiny footnote compared to contemporary battles such as at Waterloo, and the whole North American campaign was for the Brits a peripheral and secondary dispute, while they were more worried about Napoleon.