Boundary Violations of the U.S. Constitution: The Case of Old Hickory.

The U.S. Constitution's authors sought through a deliberately designed equilibrium to maintain boundaries delineating the branches and constraining the reach of America's federal government. The Framers aimed to pit opposing agendas of powerful persons and of aggregate interest groups against each other in order to mute political excesses. However, this constitutional architecture neglected the potential of intrapsychic conflict within individuals to resonate through group psychodynamic processes and thereby weaken constitutional boundaries safeguarding republican institutions. Andrew Jackson's presidency is analyzed in that context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]