Why is the man responsible for the Trail of Tears still on the $20 bill?

[Bruce Wayne]

26. Right. And Jackson was responsible for more than Indian removal.

For that matter, Jackson didn't even initiate the Indian removal policy. It was a state-level initiative (Georgia, I think) that Jackson simply refused to get involved with. The "let Justice Marshall enforce his court order" quote is apocryphal.

Jackson can be credited with expanding the franchise to many non-property owner--a major democratic step that reversed the trends of increased voter restriction in the generation before him--and the inclusion of more voters in the political nomination process, reducing the power of party bosses half a century before this was widely popular. Most importantly, he supported the tariff that increased the political power of the country's industrial base--which grew at the expense of the slaveocracy's agricultural base. This led directly to the 1835 Nullification Crisis in which anti-tariff South Carolina essentially threatened secession and Jackson established the precedent of presenting the US Army as bulwark against secession--which would be pretty important in Mr. Lincoln's showdown against the slaveocracy 26 years later.

Politicians are complex creatures. Picking on pet issue on which to villify them doesn't ever particularly enlighten us.