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Father And Son Historians, Arthur M. Schlesinger Essay

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Father and son historians, Arthur M. Schlesinger and Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., asked some of the top historians in the country to rank each president in the categories Great, Near Great, Average, Below Average, and Failure based on their time in the White House (Schlesinger Jr. 179). The official ranking lists Andrew Jackson as the fifth best president overall, which landed him a comfortable spot in the “Near Great” category. Andrew Jackson’s presidency belongs in a much lower category due to his immoral character, unilateral decision-making, and his unimpressive presidency relative to that of other presidents. Before expanding on the specifics of why Andrew Jackson does not belong in the “Near Great” category, the criteria that Andrew Jackson along with other presidents will be analyzed against needs to be outlined. First, the qualifications of each president are of the utmost importance when determining presidential “greatness.” The qualifications of the president are delineated in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The president’s established qualifications outlined in Article II are as follows: to be eligible, one must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years, and must be at least 35 years of age (Cornell). Though important, these qualifications alone would allow almost anyone over the age of 35 to be qualified enough to become president.
To go above and beyond the baseline criterion, a person needs

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