It is true that people tend to create heroes and villains, and they like their heroes totally good and villains totally bad. Before the Civil Rights era, and the recognition of minority rights generally, Jackson was held in higher esteem than now: tough, violent, confident military men in general were once more admired. Whether smashing the Bank of the US was a good thing or a bad one can depend on your political affiliations. But probably most people would agree that a good thing he did ( or, perhaps more precisely, what he instigated) was to make the American political system less elitist. It had been dominated by New England and Virginia upper-class well-educated men. Jackson really did try to make it a government of, by and for the common people. This was not without its problems- the common people were perfectly capable of being racists, and perfectly happy to take Indian lands at the point of a bayonet. But in the long run, it has meant that more people have tended to assume they play a part in running the country.

Schlesinger: The Age of Jackson

Remini: Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom