June 1, 2015

7) Andrew Jackson - Napoleon of the Woods


Andrew Jackson was born in 1767 in Western South Carolina. Jackson’s life would be marked by tragedy from an early age; his father died while Jackson’s mother, Elizabeth, was still pregnant with him. In 1779, Jackson’s older brother died at the Revolutionary War Battle of Stono Ferry. Shortly thereafter, Andrew, and his remaining brother Robert, were captured by British soldiers and imprisoned. Andrew was beaten badly for refusing to polish a soldier’s boots and both boys were exposed to smallpox. During an exchange of prisoners, Elizabeth secured the release of her sons and five neighbors. On just two horses, they made the 45-mile journey home. Unfortunately Robert succumbed to smallpox two days after returning. Once Andrew had recovered, Elizabeth made the long trip to the Charleston harbor, where she would help nurse two nephews, and others, who were being held prisoner aboard boats by the British. Elizabeth would contract cholera and die in Charleston. At 14 years old Andrew Jackson had lost his entire family.

Two years of law apprenticeship and Jackson was ready to practice, he headed west and settled in Nashville. The rudimentary and corrupt legal system gave Jackson ample opportunity to build a practice. At times Jackson was responsible for half of the cases being tried in the county.

It was in Nashville where Jackson began to build his reputation. He served on the Constitutional Committee formed to win Tennessee’s statehood. He went on to serve one term as Tennessee’s first representative in Washington. Next, he was elected to the US Senate, a post he was unprepared for and would quickly resign. Jackson’s election to the state’s Superior Court allowed him to begin to shine. Despite a lack of formal legal education, Jackson became known for being a fair, effective, typically correct, and swift judge (he once heard 50 cases in 15 days).

Jackson yearned for military glory, and wanted the generalship of Tennessee’s militia. This was an elected position that local Revolutionary War hero, John Sevier, also wanted. The two ultimately tied, with the Governor breaking the tie in Jackson’s favor. Jackson and Sevier would become lifelong enemies and the Governor’s decision caused a political break between Eastern (Sevier) & Western (Jackson) Tennessee.

Jackson’s time in the military was eventful. Early on he aided Aaron Burr, evidently ignorantly, in Burr’s infamous plot to divide the union. As the War of 1812 broke out, Jackson was called on to defend New Orleans, however he received orders from Secretary of War John Anderson, the man who almost cost the US Washington DC later in the war, to disband prior to reaching New Orleans. Jackson ignored the order and marched his men 450 miles back to Nashville, in doing so he earned the nickname Old Hickory.

Jackson soon led his men to fight the Creek Indians, in what would be known as the Creek War. The Creek War was a civil war among the Creeks that Jackson used to the US’s advantage. Jackson routed the Creek’s leading many flee to Florida; the Creek’s who stayed behind had been friendly to the Americans and Jackson took advantage of them. He negotiated a treaty that turned over 3/5 of present day Alabama and 1/5 of Georgia to the Americans. Jackson had turned an Indian civil war in to an enormous land grab for the United States.

Jackson’s men had been campaigning for about a year after the Creek War, but instead of returning home Jackson led his men to occupied New Orleans with designs to take it from the British. The battle would be another decisive American victory with around 70 American casualties comparing to well over 1,500 for the British. The Battle of New Orleans would cement Jackson’s status as living legend, however there were a couple of wrinkles in the New Orleans story. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, had already been signed when the Battle of New Orleans was fought, and even if it hadn’t it was likely that New Orleans would have ended the war. However, Jackson kept the city under martial law until official word of the war’s end arrived two months later. This strange decision rankled residents and it led to Jackson’s arrest and a guilty verdict for which Jackson paid a fine of $1,000. Supporters raised the money to cover his expenses, but ever the politician, Jackson donated the money to the families of deceased soldiers.

After New Orleans, Jackson was instructed to execute Article IX of the Treaty Of Ghent. The article called for the return of property taken from peaceful Indians after 1811. Whether Jackson didn’t believe that any Indians would be peaceful toward settlers or he just outright ignored the order, it is clear that Jackson did not return any land. In fact, he continued to sign treaties with Indians, usually under the direct or implied threat of force, to secure land in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. At the end of this time was the First Seminole War in which Jackson used the threat of the Seminole Indians as justification to invade and ultimately take Florida from the Spanish.

By 1822, Jackson was ready to return home.  He was physically exhausted, suffering from both dysentery and malaria. His name was again put forward for a Senate seat, a post for which he was now more prepared and a role that would strengthen his now inevitable presidential bid. In his first presidential bid, the election of 1824, Jackson won the popular vote but the Electoral College was split throwing the decision to the House of Representatives. Henry Clay delivered Kentucky and thus the presidency to John Quincy Adams despite Kentucky not giving Adams a single electoral vote. Clay then accepted Secretary of State in Adams’ administration. Jackson’s supporters deemed this “the corrupt bargain” and it effectively ended Clay’s political ambitions.

The Election of 1824 convinced many that there was a major corruption problem in the federal government and the Democratic Party grew out of a desire to return to Jeffersonian republicanism, reclaiming the government for the people. Jackson won in 1828 and there was mandate for change.  What opponents began to call the “spoils system,” Jacksonians called rotation. This was the practice of replacing officeholders in an attempt to root out corruption, entitlement to office, and lack of accountability. Over his two terms, it is estimated that about 8% of the federal workforce was replaced.

Jackson’s eight years in office were eventful. Despite his numerous accomplishments prior to the presidency, my opinion is that Jackson is the first president, save perhaps Jefferson, whose most impactful days came during his presidency. The three most impactful and controversial events of his presidency were the Indian Removal Act of 1830, his veto of the 2nd Bank of the US, and the nullification crisis.

The Indian Removal Act passed the Senate on party lines, but barely passed the House. A section of the country didn’t support removal, however the majority of Americans either quietly or vocally supported removal. The legislation would force all Indians living within state boundaries to move into pre-designated territories in Oklahoma. The horrors of removal are undeniable, at least 45,000 Indians were removed during Jackson’s presidency and thousands died along the way. While not a defense of removal, it is important to note the support of removal by a majority of Americans, who viewed Indians as terrorists. Also, removal likely prevented Southeastern tribes from annihilation that would have come at the hands of settlers. This is the reasoning Jackson used to justify his actions.

The 2nd Bank of the US was a federally chartered bank that held the government’s money. Jackson believed it to be an undemocratic monopoly benefitting only the rich, so when its charter for renewal passed through the Senate and House he vetoed it. This veto was extremely important as it fundamentally redefined the presidency. Never before had a president vetoed something for reasons other than constitutionality. The bank veto effectively redefined the executive branch as paramount to the legislative and judicial. Jackson had a weak grasp of financial matters, as did many of the men he surrounded himself with, while he understand many of the negative aspects of the bank he couldn’t grasp its importance to the American economy. The bank’s dismantling had a predictably negative effect made worse by the Bank’s tightening of credit in an attempt to stir up support. Jackson never wavered saying of those lobbying against the veto, “If they send ten thousand of them…I will not relax a particle from my position.” The Whig Party grew out of the Democratic Party’s split following the veto.

The nullification crisis was the first real sign of the coming Civil War. South Carolina passed a law nullifying federal tariffs, thus raising the question of whether federal laws could be invalidated within a state’s boundaries. Jacksons’ response was clear and forceful, stating that the United States superseded the states themselves. Jackson’s proclamation against nullification is one of the most important presidential documents in American history as it would form the basis for Lincoln’s actions against secession 30 years later. 


Portrait of an elderly Jackson
by the prolific George Peter
Alexander Healy
This the most I’ve written on any one president and it still feels incomplete to me. I’ve said nothing about Jackson’s duels, the first assassination attempt on a president, the scandal surrounding his marriage(s) to Rachel or her subsequent death, the John Eaton affair, his efforts to bring Texas into the union, or slavery. Jackson was a complicated man, one whose positive impact on his country’s development has been greatly overshadowed by his mistreatment of the Indians. I will end with what I found to be the greatest irony in Jackson’s legacy: Jackson despised paper money, he called it “ragg money” and believed it weakened society and benefitted the rich at the expense of the poor. Ironic then that his face has been immortalized on the $20 bill.

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