Although Andrew Jackson’s parents, when he was born in 1767, were relatively recent immigrants (Scots/Irish) and farmers of modest means, long before he became President, Andrew had become prosperous.

By 1804, he had acquired the Hermitage Plantation and hundreds of slaves.

I don’t think he personally could be considered to represent the “lower class”, (though it could be argued that his politics “represented” the lower class).

There were several other Presidents who grew up poor. Among them were:

Abraham Lincoln certainly grew up as “lower class” as Andrew Jackson. Lincoln was born in a one room log cabin on a farm in Kentucky. Lincoln’s grandfather was killed in an Indian raid on the Kentucky frontier in 1786, when Lincoln’s father, Thomas, (who witnessed the attack) was six years old.

Without a father, Thomas had to make his own way working odd jobs, though he eventually acquired enough money to get a farm (one that was plagued with legal ownership disputes).

By the time Abraham Lincoln became President, he was a prosperous lawyer (though probably not as wealthy as Andrew Jackson was when he became president).

Although Dwight D. Eisenhower’s father was a college educated engineer, at a time when college education was rare, the store he owned in Kansas went bust, Eisenhower’s parents moved to Texas, and when they moved back to Kansas, in 1892, when Dwight was 2 years old, the family had $24 to their name.

In Kansas, David Eisenhower got jobs as a mechanic with the railroad and then a creamery, and by 1898 the family had recovered to some sort of middle class prosperity. Still, the family could not afford to send Dwight or his brother Edgar to college. The two brothers made a pact that one of them would get a job and support the other at college for a year, then they would trade off. Edgar went to college first, and Dwight worked two years as night supervisor in a creamery to fund his education, then Dwight was accepted into West Point (which did not require tuition).

By the time he became President, Dwight Eisenhower’s military career had not made him any great amount of money, though his memoire of WWII, “Crusade in Europe” was a financial success, earning him $635,000.

James Garfield was born in a log cabin in Ohio in 1831. His father died when he was two, and he grew up in poverty. His mother re-married in 1842, but the marriage did not last and ended in a scandalous divorce. He left home at 16 to find work driving the mules that hauled canal boats. Garfield left the canal to get an education at Geagua academy, which he funded by working as a carpenter’s assistant and a teacher. He eventually went to college (Western Reserve Eclectic Institute and Williams College) supporting himself as a janitor, a teacher, and a preacher.

Garfield then went into politics, serving in the Ohio State legislature. He was a Union general in the Civil War. He was elected to the US Congress in 1862. He became a Senator in 1880, but was nominated as the dark horse Republican candidate for President that year, and won a close election to become President in 1881. Garfield was assassinated later that year.

When he became President, Garfield was not particularly wealthy, having only had his salaries as Congressman and General. He died leaving virtually nothing, and Congress voted a pension of $25,000 a year to support his wife.

Andrew Johnson grew up poor. He was born in a log cabin in North Carolina in 1808. His father was becoming established, but died when Andrew was three, and the family was supported by his mother’s work as a washer woman. Andrew was apprenticed to a tailor at the age of 10, but ran away after 5 years. He went West, and eventually established a tailoring business in Tennessee. Andrew’s tailoringbusiness prospered, and allowed him to invest in real estate. Andrew went into politics, serving in the Tennessee legislature and becoming a US Congressman in 1843. He served 5 terms, then became governor of Tennessee, before becoming a US Senator and eventually Lincoln’s Vice President and then President upon Lincoln’s assassination. After being a controversial President (Impeached) he was elected again as US Senator in 1875 (the only US President to serve as Senator after his term). He died in office.

Lyndon Johnson grew up poor on a farm in Texas. He worked his way through college, taking time off to make money by teaching at a Mexican American school in Texas. After graduating, he became a teacher, and then went into politics. He became a US Congressman, then served in the Navy in WWII. In 1948, he was elected to the US Senate. He served there until becoming Kennedy’s Vice President, and then President upon Kennedy’s assassination.

Before becoming President, Johnson had become prosperous. He inherited a 250 acre ranch from an aunt in 1951, and gradually built it up to 2,700 acres.

So, I have not read Pessen, and don’t know how he defines “lower class”. “Class” in America has always been a fluid and difficult to define categorization. I would say, however, that there have been a number of Presidents with just as valid a claim to “lower class” status as Andrew Jackson.