Jackson Vs Machiavelli

In "The Qualities of the Prince," Niccolo Machiavelli describes how he believes a prince should rule. He had "studied the way people lived and aimed to inform leaders" of his research (par.10). He viewed "misery as one of the vices that enables a prince to rule," using techniques like deceiving and manipulating in order to accomplish a certain task (par.12). Machiavelli focuses on qualities such as Military skills, generosity and miserly and whether a prince should be loved or feared in order to be successful. One similar to these characteristics was Andrew Jackson. Jackson was a strong, aggressive political leader, who worked his way into office and overcame many obstacles during his presidency. He first joined the military at an early
age in time for the revolutionary war. He started studying law and became a lawyer and later was elected Tennessee's first representative. After many military successes such as the battle of New Orleans, Jackson was promoted to major general and the national hero. They used to say "Jackson was as tough as old hickory wood on the battlefield," because he was so willing to fight for victory (jackson bio par.5). He became the seventh president of the United States in the election of 1928 and easily won his reelection. As successful leaders, Jackson and Machiavelli had plenty of practice and experimenting to find the best techniques when ruling. However, the time periods they each lived in makes a big difference when determining the amount of power they had. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the leadership styles of Jackson and Machiavelli. Jackson was very familiar with the military concept, since he began as a soldier and eventually was promoted to the title General.
He earned his respect after multiple victories. Even though Machiavelli believes "it is not reasonable for an armed man to obey an unarmed man willingly, nor that an unarmed man should be safe among armed servants" (Machiavelli 222). However, Jackson did not need to be armed in order to be obeyed by his soldiers. Because of his hot temper, Jackson was constantly willing to fight "he thirsted not for higher office but for military action" (Life Before The President par.6). And of course Jackson was very skilled and experienced, he knew what he was doing when leading his army. An example would be when British were planning to attack New Orleans, Jackson was able to form a plan in time to prevent any attacks form the British army. However, Jackson did not make a back up plan as Machiavelli advised so that "when leading his troops no unforeseen incidents could arise for which he did not have the remedy," (Machiavelli 223). Instead of eliminating any flaws the plan may have, Jackson was brave and had full faith in his troops and choose to give all their effort into every
fight. The leaders choose whether it's more effective to have either a generous reputation or miserly reputation.
Machiavelli "viewed misery as one of the vices that enables a prince to rule" (Machiavelli's Beliefs par.7). He believe it was better to be considered miserly rather than generous, because a generous reputation creates a standard that one must achieve and a greater disappointment if they don't. If the leader is very generous all the time the citizens get used to that and wont appreciate it as much anymore. Therefore, he advises the "princes to avoid the values of justice, mercy, temperance, wisdom and love of their people in preference to the use of cruelty, violence, fear and deception," (par.8). Opposed to how a true leader should be, Machiavelli believes that one must be over aggressive in order to be obeyed. However, Andrew Jackson participated in many generous acts. Especially when he passed the abolishment of tariffs act. Tariffs were a tax on imported goods, placed in order to keep the Norths manufacturing in business, since it was competing with cheaper European products. The South argued that it was unconstitutional, so Jackson reduced the tariffs significantly low. He was always willing to be generous when it came to the common people. I understand how Machiavelli would think a miserly reputation would be easier and better suited for a prince because that makes every good deed more appreciated since its not expected of
them.