Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) - 7th president (1829-1837). Jon Meacams Jackson biography.
Simon Laub
in which the people, not distant elites,
were the guiding force in american politics.
Just read Jon Meacams account in the biography "American Lion",
and will recommend it. A brilliant read!
---
New blood is of course always necessary. And often
changes comes violently.
According to Jeffersson: "The tree of Liberty must
be refreshed from time to time with the blood
of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural
manure."
But sometimes, in democracies, those in power can be unseated
and something new can come about in an orderly way.
Which was what happened in 1828.
All good. Still, as the french political philosopher
Joseph de Maitre observed,
"Every nation has the government it deserves".
And Jackson for sure was both good and bad.
Brilliant and blind at the same time. He forced indians
from their native lands, and risked everything to give more power
to ordinary citizens.
Even though his world was the one who eventually gave way
us our world - It was a different world.
Jackson was the only president to take a bullit in
a frontier gunfight, and the only one to assault
his own would be assassin. He was an uneducated boy born far away
from eastern elites.
He was elected president in 1828. In a campaign
that was more on personality than on issues.
It was the experienced, reserved John Quincy Adams against the
national war hero with humble origins.
Quincy Adams eastern aristocracy against the
the swelling ranks of frontier settlers and manual laborers.
In the end Jackson won with 647.292 (56%) votes against Adams
507.730 (44%) votes.
---
With hindsight it might be obvious that America
should have had an orphan as president. And that
this person should grow up to fight both the british and
indians before settling in as president.
However, as it happens, when history unfolds
it is not so obvious.
Jacksons father had died before he was born.
In 1779 Andrews brother Hugh, just 16, had died fighting the british
at the battle of Stono Ferry, southwest of Charleston.
At 13 JAckson joined the continental army along with his brother Robert.
In 1781 the brothers were surprised by a british unit and
taken prisoner. A british officer ordered the boys to clean
his boots - which they refused. The officer then
took out his sword, cut Andrews left hand to the bone,
and left a prominent white scar on his head.
The officer then smashed the sword over Roberts head -
who died as they were taken to prison camp.
With two Jackson brothers dead at the hand of the british
his mother nursed him back to health only to leave
him to care for other relatives. Where she dies in the fall
of 1781.
Even by the standards of frontier America this was
an extraordinary run of terrible luck.
Somehow he survives though. Marries beautiful Rachel
(then married to someone else - a scandal at the time) -
and joins the army.
Before he can arrive at the White House there were wars
to attend to:
Following the Creek Indian uprising in 1812 in which 250 whites
were massacred at Fort Mims, Alabama. Major General Jackson
led 2500 Tennessee volunteers against the Creeks in
1813. Defeating a force of 1000 indians, killing 300 and
putting the remainder to flight. Horseshoe Bend (1814).
On january 1815 Jackson led his forces to a victory
over British veterans advancing on New Orleans.
Under cover of morning fog, Jacksons troops
dropped more than 2000 British troops, while
american casualties was just 21. Battle of New Orleans (1815).
Which made him a national hero. On it goes.
During the first Seminole war (1817 - 18) he
invaded Florida, responding to raids from
on Georgia settlements by Seminole indians and
fugitive slaves. Destroyed seminole villages and overthrow the
spanish governor.
----
When he was elected president in 1828 the cumulative
toll of the campaign and the coming admistration had put
his wife Rachel to bed, her cries echoing in her slave Hannahs ears.
She lingered for 5 days and then died.
They had been married for over 40 years. Through
wars, indian fighting, financial chaos and
life at the american frontier. She gave him
peace and a sense of family. Which was now all gone as
he was on his way to Washington.
When Jackson was away - in war or killing indians -
Rachel was given to crying and worrying.
He loved her, but didnt listen that much to her.
He would leave no matter what when duty called.
He was nevertheless very protective.
When someone mentioned her in a quarrel in 1803 -
several shots were fired in a crowded street.
In 1806 there was another dispute - apparently
it also included a slur against Rachel. Which lead
to duel between Jackson and a Nashville man named Charles
Dickinson.
so, at 7 O'Clock Friday, May 30, 1806 in
Logan County, Kentucky, Jackson and Dickinson
faced each other at 24 feet. Dickinson fired first
and hit Jackson in the chest with a bullit.
Though wounded, Jackson leveled his pistol
at fired, killing Dickinson in cold blood.
He carried Dickinsons bullit in his body until
he died.
In another incidence of frontier violence,
Jackson was shot in the arm in an 1813 Nashville
quarrel. Physicians wanted to amputate his left arm.
But he wanted "to keep my arm". And so it was.
Without Rachel he was then president in 1828.
President of a republic of 24 states that is.
To eliminate the closed political system of wealth
and privilege, Jackson introduced a system of
"rotation in office". The procedure meant to shake up bureaucracy,
and reward friends became know as the "spoils system".
Good!? More dubious is his support of the
indian removal Act of 1830. Which authorized
forced removal of indians from traditional homelands.
Savage!? To some. When Harvard bestowed an honorary degree
on president Jackson in 1833, former president
John Quincy Adams, a Harvard graduate, refused to come:
"I would not be present to witness the her disgrace
in confering the highest literary honors upon
a barbarian who could not write a sentence
of grammar and hardly could spell his own name".
Dramatic. Always!
On May 6 th 1833 the president was on a steamboat
excursion to Fredericksburg, Virginia, when
a disturbed former navy officer Robert
Randolph leaped to assualt the president.
He bloodied his face, but was then stopped.
It was the first physical assault on an
american president. The specatacle of
assassination belonged more to ancient Rome
and old corrupt kingdoms of Europe, than
the new democracy of America.
On January 30 1835, in the 58 year
of the Republic, there was a second attempt.
An unemployed house painter, Richard Lawrence,
armed with two guns, standing less than
10 feet from Jackson raised the first gun
and fired. The cap exploded, but the powder did not light.
Lawrence dropped the gun and produced
a second, which also failed to fire (the
odds of two guns failing to fire
during the attack was later determined to 1 in 125.000).
Now the president pursued the assailant with
his cane and a nearby navy officer knocked
Lawrence to the ground.
Jacksons men blamed the presidents opponents to
be behind the attack and Jackson himself believed
Senator Poindexter was behind it.
Obviously the senator professed his innocence.
But people were shocked to learn that "normal"
party hostilities could lead to such allogations.
---
From the days Helen of Troy, "trivial things"
had led to wars, revolutions, and reformations -
and so was his years. His days were
not large ideas about policy and destiny,
but affections and animosities.
For the learned of the eastern elites this were hard to swallow.
Still is, actually.
In the article "Intellectual leadership
Platos dream, Poppers nighmare" C.A. Pasternak
(grandson of Boris Pasternak) suggest that
the world sets up "statecraft academies",
where potential, high calibre leaders can improve their
skills. And it is from such a pool the public should
elect their leaders. Charisma, TV ratings
and other indices of popularity should play
second fiddle to to intellectual rigour.
Maybe we could then avoid the need for the occasional
earthquakes to keep the tree of
liberty fresh, according to Pasternak.
In modern terms Pasternak gives us the example of
Brussels, "where overpaid bureaucrats dream up
yet more ludicrous directives that will eventually render the European
economy less competitive than that of Burkino Faso".
Jackson obviously didnt come from such
a "statecraft academy". Still he kept
the system fresh. His faults would be corrected later on ...?
According to the book: The moral of the great events of those days is
this, that the people can discern right, and will make their
way to a knowledge of right.
Or as Jackson would have put it: "The people, sir - the people
will set things to rights."
Andrew Jackson in the White House
American Lion.
Jon Meacam
Random House publications 2008
Dec. 29th 2009
-Simon