# The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Jackson, Andrew

Edition of 1879. See also Andrew Jackson on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
JACKSON, Andrew, seventh president of the United States, born in the Waxhaw settlement, N. C., March 15, 1767, died at the “Hermitage,” near Nashville, Tenn., June 8, 1845. His parents, who were Scotch-Irish, emigrated from Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 1765, and settled on Twelve-mile creek, a branch of the Catawba river. They had been very poor at home, the father tilling a few acres, while his wife, Elizabeth Hutchinson, belonged to a hard-working and scantily paid family of linen weavers. Mr. Jackson never owned any land in America, and after his death, early in the spring of 1767, his widow removed to Waxhaw creek, where her relatives resided. It was in the house of her brother-in-law, George McKemey, that the future president was born, a few days after the death of his father. Shortly afterward Mrs. Jackson removed to the house of another brother-in-law, Mr. Crawford, whose housekeeper she became, because of the illness of his wife. Little is known of Andrew's childhood. He is described as a frolicsome, mischievous generous, brave, and resolute boy,
passionately fond of athletic sports, in which he was excelled by no one of his years. He was not addicted to books, and his education was limited, though it is said his mother wished to train him for the pulpit. At an early age he took up arms, and was a witness of the defeat of Sumter at Hanging Rock in 1780. He had previously seen the dead and wounded of the Waxhaw militia, after the massacre by Tarleton, and had assisted his mother and his brother Robert in ministering to the wants of the disabled Americans. The two brothers were active whigs, and were captured by the enemy in 1781. The British commander ordered Andrew to clean his boots, and on the boy's refusal struck him on the head and arm with his sword, inflicting two wounds. Robert, who displayed equal spirit, was knocked down and disabled. Imprisoned at Camden, Jackson was an eye-witness of the defeat of Gen. Greene at Hobkirk's Hill. While the brothers were suffering from the smallpox, in prison, their mother effected their exchange, and took them back to Waxhaw, where Robert died; and it was many months before Andrew's health was restored. His mother then proceeded to Charleston to aid the imprisoned Americans, and soon died of ship fever. Left utterly destitute, Jackson had to labor hard for subsistence. He worked for a time in a saddler's shop kept by one of his relatives, and taught school. Before he had completed his 18th year he commenced the study of law at Salisbury, N. C., in the office of Mr. Spence McKay. He did not neglect his studies altogether, but paid more attention to horse racing, foot racing, cock fighting, and similar amusements common at that time, than to the law. Finishing his studies in the office of Col. Stokes, he was licensed to practise before he had reached the age of 20. In 1788 he was appointed solicitor or public prosecutor of the western district of North Carolina, embracing what is now the state of Tennessee. He arrived at Nashville in the autumn, and entered immediately upon an active career. His practice was large. He had to travel much, making 22 journeys in seven years between Nashville and Jonesborough, 280 m., always at the risk of his life, owing to the numbers and hostility of the Indians. In the summer of 1791 he married Mrs. Rachel Robards, a daughter of Col. John Donelson of Virginia, one of the founders of Tennessee. Her first husband was Mr. Lewis Robards of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Robards were boarding with Mrs. Donelson, then a widow, when Jackson arrived at Nashville, and took up his residence in the same family. In 1790-'91 Mr. Robards applied to the legislature of Virginia for an act preliminary to a divorce, stating that his wife was living in adultery with Andrew Jackson. The act was passed, under it a jury was summoned late in 1793, and the court of Mercer co., Ky., declared the marriage between Lewis Robards and Rachel Robards dissolved. Jackson and
Mrs. Robards believed the act passed by the legislature was itself a divorce, and they were married at Natchez two years before the action of the court. At the suggestion of their friend Judge Overton, who also was surprised to learn that the act of the legislature had not divorced Capt. Robards, they procured a license in January, 1794, and had the ceremony performed again. When Gen. Jackson had become the chief of a great party, the circumstances of this marriage led to very serious misrepresentations. Mr. Robards was prone to jealousy without cause, and Jackson was not the first man of whom he was jealous. His statement to the legislature of Virginia is believed to have been wholly unfounded. His relatives all sided with his wife, and never supposed her to be guilty of even an act of impropriety. In all his relations with women Jackson's conduct was singularly pure. Thomas H. Benton, who knew the parties intimately many years, says: “There was an innate, unvarying, self-acting delicacy in his intercourse with the female sex, including all womankind; and on that point my personal observation (and my opportunities for observation were both large and various) enables me to join in the declaration of the belief expressed by his earliest friend and most intimate associate, the late Judge Overton of Tennessee. The Roman general won an immortality of honor by one act of continence; what praise is due to Jackson, whose whole life was continent? I repeat, if he had been born in the time of Cromwell, he would have been a Puritan. Nothing could exceed his kindness and affection to Mrs. Jackson, always increasing in proportion as his elevation and culminating fortunes drew cruel attacks upon her.” Jackson became district attorney of Tennessee when that country was made a federal territory; and when the territory became a state, in 1796, he was a man of some wealth, owning much land. He was chosen one of the five members from Davidson co. of the convention which met at Knoxville, Jan. 11, 1796, to make a constitution for the new state, and he was appointed on the committee which drafted that instrument. In the autumn of 1796 he was elected to represent the state in the popular branch of congress. He entered the house Dec. 6, 1796, when Washington was on the eve of retirement. Jackson belonged to the republican (afterward democratic) party, then forming under the lead of Thomas Jefferson, who had just been elected vice president. He was one of the twelve representatives who voted against the adoption of an address to President Washington, in reply to his last annual address to congress, as he could not conscientiously approve of all the acts of the administration. His first speech was made on Dec. 29, in support of claims for services against the Indians. He pushed the question with his usual earnestness, speaking more than once, and succeeding in his purpose. During the session he voted in favor of laying taxes
on slaves, of completing three frigates, against buying peace of the Algerines, against a large appropriation for furnishing the president's house, and against the removal of the restriction confining the expenditure of public money to the specific objects for which each sum was appropriated. His course was highly approved by his constituents; and he was made a member of the senate, in which he took his seat Nov. 22, 1797. Nothing is known of his senatorial career. So far as appears, he never made a remark or cast a vote as a senator. In April, 1798, he returned to Tennessee on leave, and resigned his seat. He was elected a justice of the supreme court of Tennessee by the legislature, at a salary of $600 a year, and held courts in various parts of the state. None of his decisions remain. While he was on the bench he was involved in a quarrel with Gov. Sevier, which came to a crisis in 1801, when Jackson was elected a major general of militia over Sevier. Jackson suspected Sevier of having been engaged in certain land frauds. An informal duel at Knoxville, in 1804, was prevented at the last moment by the interference of friends. In 1798 he had sold lands to a Philadelphian, and on the basis of the notes he received bought goods for the Tennessee market; but the failure of the Philadelphian threw him into difficulties, and in order to clear them off he resigned his judgeship, July 24, 1804, sold a large amount of property, and relieved himself from debt. He removed to what subsequently became known as the “Hermitage,” with his slaves, and dwelt in a log house. He extended his business, being chief of the trading firm of Jackson, Coffee, and Hutchings, and raised cotton, corn, wheat, horses, cows, and mules. He had a cotton gin, then a rarity. The firm traded to New Orleans, and built boats for other traders; but it lost much money, and came to an end. Jackson was an exact and judicious business man, and succeeded in all undertakings managed by himself. His commercial failure grew out of the proceedings of the firm during his absence. In the opening days of 1806 commenced a quarrel which led to a duel between Gen. Jackson and Charles Dickinson, and to the latter's death. Mr. Dickinson had previously used disparaging words of Mrs. Jackson, which he had explained away; but he repeated them, whereupon Jackson remonstrated with his father-in-law, Mr. Ervin, saying: “I wish no quarrel with him; he is used by my enemies in Nashville, who are urging him on to pick a quarrel with me. Advise him to stop in time.” Becoming involved in a quarrel with a Mr. Swann relative to the terms of a horse race, Jackson found the name of Dickinson offensively introduced into the letters written by Swann, which drew from him certain characteristic comments, and these were carried to their subject, as was the intention of their writer. Dickinson, on Jan. 10, just before starting for New Orleans in a flat-boat, wrote to Jackson,
charging him with equivocations, falsehood, and cowardice. During his absence the controversy between Jackson and Swann was continued, and led to a tavern fight, begun by the former. Dickinson returned to Nashville on May 20, and on the 21st he published a severe attack on Jackson, provoked in part by the language of the latter in the Swann quarrel. Jackson challenged him, and the parties met on the banks of the Red river, in Logan co., Ky., early in the morning of May 30. The place is a long day's journey from Nashville, and the duellists had to leave their homes early on the 29th. Dickinson was accompanied by a number of his associates, as he was very popular, and stood high in the society of Nashville. His second was Dr. Catlet, and Jackson's was Gen. Overton. The distance was eight paces, and Overton won the right to give the word. Dickinson fired at the word, breaking a rib, and raking the breast bone; but Jackson gave no sign of being hit, and his antagonist, who had made sure of killing him, exclaimed: “Good God! have I missed him?” Jackson then fired, and Dickinson fell mortally wounded. He died that night, not even knowing that his ball had hit Jackson, with whom it was a point of pride not to let him know that his aim had been effectual. His reason for concealing his wound, as he once said to a friend, was, “that as Dickinson considered himself the best shot in the world, and was certain of killing him at the first fire, he did not want him to have the gratification even of knowing that he had touched him.” But, according to Mr. Parton, his “wound proved to be more severe and troublesome than was at first anticipated. It was nearly a month before he could move about without inconvenience, and when the wound healed, it healed falsely; that is, some of the viscera were slightly displaced, and so remained.” This duel made Jackson unpopular in Tennessee, until his military exploits had withdrawn public attention from it. In 1805, when Aaron Burr made his first visit to the west, he twice became the guest of Jackson. The western people were anxious for a war with Spain, and Burr was popular with them, because he was believed to represent and support their opinions. Jackson was of the war party. After Burr's return to the east he and Jackson corresponded, the latter even making out the lists of officers for two regiments which the former suggested might be raised in Tennessee. Burr arrived at the Hermitage in September, 1806, and was warmly received; and at the instance of his host a public ball was given in his honor at Nashville, though rumors adverse to him and his doings were then current. Jackson, in military costume, led Burr into the room, and introduced him. In November Burr sent an order to Jackson for boats and provisions, which was fulfilled. A week later (Nov. 10) Jackson received intelligence that led him to doubt Burr's integrity; he directed that no
further engagements should be made with Burr, and wrote to him, demanding to know the truth. He also wrote a warning letter to Governor Claiborne of Orleans territory, and another to President Jefferson, tendering the services of his militia division to the general government. Burr arrived at Nashville Dec. 14, and sought Jackson, whom he assured of the falsity of the charges against him. They had a pecuniary settlement, and Burr departed, taking but two of the eight boats for which he had contracted. Shortly after his departure the president's proclamation denouncing him arrived, and he was burned in effigy. On Jan. 1, 1807, Gen. Jackson received orders from the government at Washington to hold his command in readiness to act. The revolutionary veterans in Nashville tendered their services to Jackson, who accepted them. He exerted himself with his usual energy; but his active loyalty did not save him from the suspicion that he was leagued with Burr. Summoned to Richmond as a witness in the trial of Burr, he acted as one of Burr's most zealous partisans. “There he harangued the crowd in the capitol square,” says Mr. Parton, “defending Burr, and angrily denouncing Jefferson as a persecutor. There are those living (1859) who heard him do this. He made himself so conspicuous as Burr's champion at Richmond, that Mr. Madison, the secretary of state, took deep offence at it, and remembered it to Jackson's disadvantage five years later when he was president of the United States, with a war on his hands. For the same reason, I presume, it was that Jackson was not called upon to give testimony upon the trial.” Jackson at this time belonged to that portion of the democratic party which sought to have Mr. Monroe nominated as President Jefferson's successor, the president himself preferring Mr. Madison. For some years he held no office, living at the Hermitage, and devoting himself to agriculture. His life was not altogether quiet, however, as, besides lesser disputes, he had an animated quarrel with Mr. Dinsmore, agent of the Choctaw Indians. — When, in 1812, war was declared against England, Gen. Jackson promptly tendered his services, and those of 2,500 men of his division of Tennessee militia, to the national government, and the offer was as promptly accepted; but it was not until Oct. 21 that the government requested Gov. Blount to send 1,500 men to New Orleans. Jackson appointed Dec. 10 for the meeting of the troops at Nashville. A force of infantry and cavalry, 2,070 strong, was organized, and on Jan. 7, 1813, the infantry embarked, while the cavalry marched across the country. On Feb. 15 the little army assembled at Natchez, where it remained by direction of Gen. Wilkinson. At the close of March Jackson received an order from the secretary of war to dismiss his corps, but he conducted his force back to Tennessee before disbanding it. It was on this march that the soldiers gave him the name of
“Hickory,” because of his toughness, and in time this was changed into “Old Hickory.” He tendered his corps for an invasion of Canada, but no answer came from Washington, and on May 22, at Nashville, the men were dismissed. Government allowed his transportation drafts to be protested, and his private fortune would have been irretrievably ruined had not his friend Col. Benton made “an appeal from the justice to the fears of the administration.” When the administration found that the state of Tennessee would be lost to it if this scandalous act were persisted in, justice was done. In 1813 Jackson's friend William (afterward Gen.) Carroll became involved in a quarrel with Mr. Jesse Benton, a brother of Col. T. H. Benton, and challenged him. Carroll asked Jackson to be his second, which he declined, until Carroll told him there was a conspiracy “to run him (Carroll) out of the country,” when he resolved to interfere. At first he was successful in his remonstrances with Benton, but the latter finally resolved that the duel should go on. Jackson acted as Carroll's second. Benton sent an offensive account of the affair to his brother, who was then serving Jackson so well at Washington. Other enemies of Jackson sent him similar accounts. This led to an angry correspondence between Gen. Jackson and Col. Benton, and the latter made use of the harshest language in speaking of the former, all of which was reported to the general, who threatened to horsewhip the colonel the first time they should meet. On Sept. 4 Jackson, accompanied by Col. Coffee, met the Bentons in the streets of Nashville. Bidding him defend himself, and avowing his purpose, Jackson advanced upon Col. Benton, who sought to draw a pistol, but was anticipated by his antagonist, who drew one and aimed at him. Benton retreated, and Jackson followed him, until they reached the back door of the city hotel, when Jesse Benton fired at Jackson, shattering his left shoulder, the pistol being charged with two balls and a slug. Jackson fell; and Coffee, who entered on hearing the report, fired at Col. Benton, but missed his aim. He was then about to strike down the colonel, when the latter stumbled down a staircase. Meantime Mr. S. Hays, a nephew of Mrs. Jackson, who knew that it was Jesse Benton that fired at the general, volunteered in his relative's aid, and a fierce conflict ensued between him and Jesse, he making use of a sword cane first, and then of a dirk, and throwing him down. Benton was wounded in several places, and would have been killed had not a bystander caught Hays's hand. Nothing but Jackson's own resolution prevented the loss of his left arm, as all the doctors but one recommended amputation. — The massacre of Fort Mimms by the Creek Indians, Aug. 30, 1813, created an extraordinary excitement throughout the southwest. Jackson addressed the volunteers, and appointed Fort St. Stephen as the rendezvous for all who would arm themselves to
take part in a war of Indian extermination. On Sept. 25 the legislature of Tennessee called 3,500 volunteers into the field, besides the 1,500 that were in the national service. Jackson, though too feeble to leave his bed, issued addresses, and aided in the organization of the troops. Still suffering from his wounds, he was at Fayetteville with his division on Oct. 7. On the 11th his force moved, and is said to have marched 32 m. in six hours, in the hope of meeting the Indians. Operations were delayed by a defective commissariat. On Nov. 3 Col. Coffee, who had been sent out with a cavalry force, defeated the Creeks at the town of Tallushatchee, inflicting heavy loss, and destroying the place. On Nov. 9 Jackson defeated the Creeks at Talladega, where hundreds of them were killed or wounded. The want of food prevented these victories from being very useful. The troops were starving and mutinous. A misunderstanding as to the term of service of the volunteers occurred between them and their commander. With fewer than 1,000 newly raised men, besides Indians, he entered the enemy's country in January, 1814. He defeated the Indians at Emuckfau and Enotochopco, Jan. 22 and 24, and these were among the severest reverses they ever experienced. The details of the battle showed much skill on the side of the victors, Jackson's energy and bravery being very conspicuous. The troops were then dismissed, but a new force was speedily formed, composed in part of regulars. In February Jackson was at the head of 5,000 men. The Creeks made a final stand at Tohopeka, or the Horseshoe, a peninsula in the Tallapoosa river; and their position was very strong, though defended by inadequate numbers. Jackson arrived before this post, March 27, 1814, with 2,000 troops, and attacked it the same day. It was taken, and of its 900 defenders 750 were killed or drowned, the victors losing 201 men. This victory ended not merely the Creek war, but the power of the Indian race in North America. Jackson's victories settled for ever the long quarrel between the white man and the red man. Weathersford, the principal Creek chief, surrendered to him, and was protected. Some of the Indians fled to Florida, but most of them obeyed Jackson's order to retire to the north. In the summer of 1814 Gen. Jackson and Col. Hawkins made with them the treaty of Fort Jackson, the terms of which were as moderate as regard for the peace and safety of the white settlers allowed. The chiefs gave Jackson three miles square of land, and President Madison was desirous that he should be allowed to accept the gift, in which view congress could never be brought to concur. Gen. Jackson had now obtained a national reputation, and on May 31 his appointment as a major general in the United States army was officially announced. Thus in the national service, he became the acknowledged military leader of the southwestern part of the
Union, various circumstances having placed him in a position to which six other generals had claims. The English were preparing a grand attack on the southwest, and in July, 1814, Jackson left his home for Mobile, against which the first blow of the enemy was to be delivered. Florida was then a Spanish province, but the English used it as if it were their own; and from Pensacola, the best harbor on the gulf, they organized expeditions against the United States, and aided the Indians. It was now the rendezvous of their forces, and the Spaniards had neither the power nor the disposition to prevent this abuse of neutral territory. The headquarters of the British commander were in the house of the Spanish governor, Manrequez. When Jackson arrived at Mobile, he found but a small force at his command, yet he resolved to seize Pensacola. He wrote to the secretary of war, asking permission to attack that place, but the secretary's reply reached him only at the end of six months. He opened a correspondence with Manrequez, which led to no change of conduct on the part of the Spaniards, Col. Nichols, the English commander, continuing his preparations at Pensacola for an attack on Mobile. Assuming the responsibility, as was his custom both in politics and in war, Jackson determined to act without orders. He gave direction that the Tennessee levies should march upon Mobile. The call he made upon his old comrades was so well obeyed, that men paid large sums for the privilege of filling vacancies in the corps that had been mustered into the service. Meantime he threw a small force into Fort Bowyer, on Mobile point, commanded by Major Lawrence. This fort, which was incomplete, was assailed, Sept. 15, by a British fleet, aided by a combined force of Indians and marines. The enemy were repulsed, losing one of their ships and 72 men. A mutiny in the ranks of the Tennessee troops delayed the arrival of the force under Gen. Coffee, and it was not till Oct. 26 that Jackson found himself at their head, his entire force consisting of 4,000 men, 1,000 of whom were regulars and 1,500 mounted volunteers. He hung six of the mutineers, and his conduct was the subject of much hostile discussion at a later period. He marched immediately upon Pensacola, at the head of 3,000 men. Negotiations failing, he seized the town by force, Nov. 6; and the British blew up the fort that commanded the mouth of the harbor, their seven vessels leaving the bay. On Nov. 11 Jackson was again at Mobile, where he remained till the 22d to meet an expected attack, and whence he sent a force that expelled Nichols and his Indians from Florida. He sent the mass of his troops to New Orleans, and reached that place himself Dec. 2, 1814. The city was miserably defended, and had the English moved with ordinary rapidity it must have fallen into their hands. Jackson immediately prepared to meet the enemy. On Dec. 14 a powerful British naval force captured five
American gunboats and a schooner, which gave the enemy command of the route to New Orleans, had they known how to use it. The next day Jackson declared martial law, having already called out the whole of the state militia. The forces under his orders consisted of Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi militia, a few regulars, Baratarian privateersmen, and a battalion of colored men. The vanguard of the British army, under Gen. Keane, was landed on Dec. 16, and marched to within 9 m. of New Orleans on the morning of the 23d. Jackson heard of their arrival before 2 P. M., assembled a motley force 2,131 strong, of whom only about 1,800 were engaged, and, aided by Lieut. Henley in the schooner Carolina, attacked the enemy. A very hot action was fought, with decided advantage to the Americans, as it prevented the enemy's advance upon the city; and the victory might have been made complete had not large British reinforcements arrived during the night. New Orleans was really saved on the night of Dec. 23, as the enemy were made over-cautious by the result of that battle. Jackson fell back to a canal 4 m. from the city, where his famous line was constructed, and provided against attacks from other directions. Sir E. Pakenham arrived on the 25th, and made new arrangements in the British army. The Carolina was destroyed by his batteries that evening. He attacked Jackson on the 28th, and was repulsed. On Jan. 1, 1815, another attack was made, principally with artillery, and again the enemy were signally beaten. These results were owing to the skilful manner in which Jackson managed the resources at his command, and to the enthusiasm with which he had inspired his inexperienced troops. He caused the invaders to be constantly harassed by night attacks. On Jan. 1 he was reënforced by the arrival of 2,250 Kentucky militia, mostly unarmed, the arms that had been ordered from Pittsburgh to New Orleans having failed to reach that place. Reënforced on Jan. 6, the entire British army, including seamen and marines, probably consisted of 14,000 effective men; but British authorities place it as low as 8,000, and greatly exaggerate Jackson's numbers, placing them as high as 25,000. His line on the left bank of the Mississippi was about a mile long, with 12 guns, and was defended by only 3,200 men, while 800 more were distributed in positions hard by. It was a strong position; the cannon were well served by Lieut. (afterward Gen.) Armstrong, and by the Baratarians; and so slippery was the soil that, according to Major Latour, an eye-witness, a man uuincumbered and unopposed would have found it difficult to mount the breastwork at leisure and carefully. Its weakness was, that it was commanded from the right bank, where were American batteries, manned by seamen, and supported by Kentucky militia. The English enlarged the Villeré canal, and prepared to
throw a force upon the right bank of the river, to storm the American position there before commencing their attack on Jackson's line. Col. Thornton was despatched, at the head of two regiments and 600 marines and seamen, across the river, on the night of the 7th; but delays were experienced, and it was not until the event of the campaign had been decided on the left bank that he was able to advance. Meantime, on the left bank the British columns were directed against the American line; but they were received with a severe fire and beaten back, Gen. Pakenham being killed, Gen. Gibbs mortally wounded, and Gen. Keane severely wounded. The attack was repeated, but with no success. The weight and precision of the American fire were irresistible. A small British force succeeded in carrying a battery near the river, after losing three fourths of its number, but abandoned it. One regiment, the 93d highlanders, distinguished for its services in many parts of the world, lost more than half its men, having been brought to a point where it could do no good, but where it could be most effectually operated upon by the Americans. The British troops never behaved better, but they were badly handled; and it is the evidence of one of their own officers that Sir E. Pakenham's impatience in giving the signal of attack too soon, instead of waiting for the development of Thornton's movement, was the cause of his severe loss. The merit of Jackson consisted mainly in the fact that he adapted his means of defence most shrewdly to the character of his own forces no less than to that of the enemy. His opponents have never hesitated to admit his merits in the strongest language. The number of the British engaged on the left bank is variously stated, the lowest figure on the British side being 5,195. On the right bank Col. Thornton's attack was entirely successful, owing to one of Gen. Morgan's aids having directed a retreat that was rapidly converted into a flight. The seamen, under Capt. Patterson and Lieut. Henley, who served a heavy battery on the right bank, though compelled to abandon it, spiked their guns and threw their ammunition into the river. Their success on that side gave the British virtual command of the left bank and of New Orleans; but they had been so roughly handled before Jackson's line that they had no heart to pursue the signal advantage they had gained over his lieutenant. Gen. Lambert, who had succeeded to the command of the British army, proposed an armistice. Jackson consented, on condition that while hostilities should be suspended on the left bank, they should not be so on the right bank, and that neither party should send reënforcements there. Gen. Lambert ordered Col. Thornton to return to the left bank, and the British gave up their solitary advantage. The enemy's loss on the left bank was about 2,000 in killed, wounded, and prisoners; the American
loss, 7 killed and 6 wounded. On the right bank neither party suffered much, but even there the loss was mostly on the side of the enemy. Jackson watched the enemy until the 18th, when they retreated, abandoning their guns, and leaving 80 wounded men to the care of the Americans. Jackson was involved in much trouble by the conduct of many civilians during the campaign, who forgot that a dictatorship alone could save the state, which the enemy, had they been victorious, would possibly have tried to retain, in spite of the treaty of Ghent, on the ground that the treaty of 1803, by which France had ceded Louisiana to the United States, was void, because she had no claim to the territory. A Frenchman, M. Louaillier, a member of the legislature of Louisiana, was conspicuous among the general's enemies, and Jackson had him arrested on March 5. Judge Hall, of the United States district court, granted Louaillier's petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and was himself arrested and imprisoned, and then banished from the city. On March 13 martial law was abrogated by Jackson's order, and Hall returned. Jackson was then arrested on a charge of contempt of court, and fined $1,000. He refused the offers that were made from all sides to pay the fine, and paid it himself, protecting the court, which could not have stood a moment against his opposition. After his retirement from public life some of his friends requested congress to refund the amount. After considerable opposition, the bill refunding the money, principal and interest, was passed in February, 1844. — The brilliant successes of the Louisiana campaign made Jackson very popular throughout the country. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the southern division of the United States in April, 1815, and received the thanks of congress. Even at that early day he was thought of as a candidate for the presidency, and his political prospects were not injured when it was known that he advised President Monroe to pursue a liberal course toward the federalists, whose political importance had vanished, and to select his cabinet without regard to party. Toward the close of 1817 a war with the Seminoles was commenced, and Jackson was ordered to take the field in person. He formed a large force, consisting of regular troops, militia from Tennessee and Georgia, and Creek Indians. He was successful, and without much fighting. He seized the Spanish fort of St. Mark's, where he found a Scotchman named Arbuthnot; and at the Indian town of Suwanee he captured one Ambrister, a native of the Bahamas. These British subjects were tried before courts martial, and condemned on the charges of having stirred up the Indians against the United States, and of supplying them with the means of war; and they were executed. The court softened Ambrister's sentence to whipping and imprisonment, but Gen. Jackson hung him nevertheless. Two Indian chiefs, one of them the prophet
Francis, were promptly hanged by his orders. He then marched upon Pensacola, and, in spite of the remonstrances of the Spaniards, seized it. These proceedings created great sensation. The execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister was the cause of much irritation in England, and Lord Castlereagh, secretary of state for foreign affairs, told Mr. Rush, the American minister, that he could have had war with the United States merely by holding up his hand. The administration of President Monroe was divided on the subject. J. Q. Adams, secretary of state, ably defended the course of Jackson in his correspondence with the Spanish minister, who had demanded an apology and an indemnity for the seizure of the two places in Florida, and in the cabinet against Mr. Calhoun, secretary of war, who was in favor of putting him on his trial; which last fact was unknown to Jackson, who believed that Calhoun had acted with Adams, and that Mr. Crawford, secretary of the treasury, was his enemy. In congress his conduct was the subject of vehement debates, but resolutions of censure and condemnation were rejected by the house of representatives, and the senate did not come to any decision on the question. The report made to the senate, by Mr. Lacock of Pennsylvania, was very full and very severe, but was never acted upon. So offensive was it to Jackson that, it is said, he threatened to cut off the ears of certain senators. His anger was caused by his belief that he had acted in strict conformity to the wishes of the administration; and it is by no means certain that he did not. In 1819 he made a visit to the north, proceeding as far as New York, and was everywhere well received. The government of New York city employed Vanderlyn to paint his portrait. When Spain ceded Florida to the United States, Jackson was appointed governor of that territory, March 10, 1821, and took possession of it July 18. He held the office only a few months, but during that time he had a dispute with Col. Callava, late Spanish governor of Florida, relative to certain judicial papers which the latter was endeavoring to carry out of the country. Callava was imprisoned, but released on the seizure of the papers. Judge Fremontin granted him a habeas corpus, which Gov. Jackson disregarded, and summoned the judge before him. The judge did not obey the summons, and the governor's course was condemned by some members of congress, in debate; but they failed to obtain a formal censure. President Monroe offered the post of minister to Mexico to Gen. Jackson, which he would not accept. — In 1823 the Tennessee legislature elected him a United States senator, and nominated him for the presidency. “At first,” says Mr. Tucker, “this nomination afforded matter of jest and merriment rather than of serious animadversion in other states, since, unquestionable as were Gen. Jackson's military qualifications, he was not thought to possess the information, or respect
for the civil authority, or temper, deemed requisite in the office of president; and very few believed that the favor which his military successes had produced for him in his own state would find much support in other parts of the Union.” But in the ensuing presidential election of 1824 Jackson received 99 electoral votes, 84 being cast for John Quincy Adams, 41 for William H. Crawford, and 37 for Henry Clay. No candidate having received a majority, the choice devolved upon the house of representatives, and Adams was elected. Jackson then apparently retired from public life; but the entire opposition to the administration of Adams supported him for the presidency in 1828, and he was elected, receiving 178 electoral votes, while only 83 were cast for Adams. The contest which thus resulted was among the most bitter in American history. Jackson's whole public career was severely assailed, and his private life was not spared. The circumstances of his marriage were grossly misrepresented, and it is said with fatal effect on Mrs. Jackson, who died only a few days after it was known that her husband had been chosen president. Assuming the presidential office, March 4, 1829, he commenced a course of vigorous government, which he maintained for eight years. Mr. Calhoun, who had been vice president under Adams, and reëlected when Jackson was chosen president, headed an influential section of the democratic party, and expected to succeed his chief, who had avowed his intention not to be a candidate for reëlection. The president was personally alienated from Calhoun on being informed that he had been his enemy in the Monroe cabinet at the time of the Seminole war, and became politically hostile in consequence of Calhoun's assertion of the doctrine of nullification. The democratic party, outside of South Carolina, supported the president; and in 1831 a new cabinet was appointed. Mr. Ingham, secretary of the treasury, and a friend of Calhoun, made way for Mr. McLane; Mr. Branch, another friend of Calhoun, left the navy department, which was taken by Mr. Woodbury; and Mr. Berrien, attorney general, was succeeded by Mr. Taney. Mr. Van Buren gave up the state department to Mr. Livingston, and was appointed minister to England; and Mr. Eaton retired from the war department, which was taken by Gen. Cass. Scandal attributed these changes, and the rupture that had preceded them, to the influence of Mrs. Eaton, wife of the secretary of war, with whom the wives of the Calhoun leaders, as well as many other ladies, refused to associate. Her husband was an old and intimate friend of the president, who zealously espoused Mrs. Eaton's side of the quarrel. When the question of Mr. Van Buren's confirmation came before the senate, in 1832, it was decided in the negative by the casting vote of Calhoun. When congress in 1832 rechartered the bank of the United States, President Jackson vetoed the bill, July 10. His course relative
to appointments gave much offence, as numerous removals were made on political grounds alone, and the vacancies were filled by the selection of ardent partisans; and this proceeding was the more censured, because the president had advised Monroe to disregard party in making appointments to office. The followers of Calhoun had now become “nullifiers,” and threatened open resistance to the government. They demanded the reduction of duties to the extent of the disavowal of the protective principle, threatening that South Carolina would nullify the revenue laws if they should not be repealed. A state convention of South Carolina was held at Columbia in 1832, which took measures for resisting the tariff laws. Jackson was opposed to a high tariff, and was ready to continue his constitutional exertions in behalf of such modifications of existing laws as would leave no reasonable ground for complaint on the part of South Carolina; but while the tariff laws endured, he was determined that they should be rigidly enforced; and he early let it be understood that he would show no quarter to active disuionists. The presidential election of 1832 came on while the troubles concerning the United States bank, nullification, and removals from office were at their height. Jackson had reconsidered his intention not to be a candidate, and was formally nominated, Van Buren being the democratic candidate for vice president. His chief opponent was Mr. Clay, who represented the interests of the friends of the national bank and of protection. Mr. Wirt was nominated for the presidency by the anti-masonic party. The contest, though vigorous, was less personal than that of 1828. When the election was over, it was found that Jackson had been supported by every state but seven, Clay receiving the votes of six states, and Wirt those of Vermont only. The nullification crisis occurred in the interval between the decision of the con- test of 1832 and Jackson's second inauguration. The president issued his proclamation against the nullifiers on Dec. 10, 1832; and the “force bill,” to enable him to maintain the supremacy of the laws, was passed. Fortunately, a compromise was effected, under the lead and influence of Clay, by which the tariff was essentially modified, and an excuse for not proceeding to extremities was afforded to South Carolina. Jackson's second term of service was even a more exciting period than his first. The “bank war” was renewed with vigor. He recommended in his annual message of 1832 that the stock in the bank owned by the government should be sold; and though the house of representatives had declared in favor of continuing the deposits of the public money in the bank, the president resolved upon their removal. This was effected on Sept. 22, 1833, when an order was issued by Mr. Taney, secretary of the treasury, directing the collectors to cease making deposits in the bank, as no removal of money actually on deposit was
contemplated by the president. The measure was the president's own. He called a cabinet council on Sept. 10, at which he read a paper in support of it, but found few of his advisers reedy to agree with him. Mr. McLane having been appointed to the state department, Mr. Duane was placed at the head of the treasury, for the purpose of executing the intention of the president; but as he refused to act, he was summarily dismissed, and Mr. Taney, who succeeded him, carried out the measure, whereupon the senate refused to confirm his appointment. The senate also rejected four of the persons appointed government directors, and insisted upon its rejection when they were a second time nominated. That body made a call upon the president for a copy of the paper read to the cabinet on Sept. 10, 1833; but he refused to furnish it. A formidable combination against the president was effected in the senate, headed by Calhoun, Clay, and Webster, and a resolution condemning his course was adopted by a vote of 26 to 20. The president sent in a protest, which the senate voted a breach of its privileges. The house of representatives sustained the president. A panic existed for some time, and the opposition was supported by a powerful popular party. The gold currency was revived, and gradually confidence was restored; and in 1837, just before the expiration of his public life, the censure passed upon President Jackson was expunged by the senate, 24 to 19. The foreign diplomacy of President Jackson was very successful. Useful commercial treaties were made with several countries, and were renewed with others. Indemnities for spoliations on American commerce were obtained from France, Spain, Naples, and Portugal, and the most amicable relations were sustained with England. During his second term the national debt was extinguished, the Cherokees were removed from Georgia and the Creeks from Florida, the original number of the states was doubled by the admission of Arkansas and Michigan into the Union, and the gold currency was greatly increased. On the other side, the agitation of the slavery question was then renewed with more vigor than ever before, and the Seminole war was recommenced. He issued a farewell address to his countrymen, and on March 4, 1837, retired from public life. Leaving Washington on the 6th, he returned to the Hermitage, where he resided until his death, ever taking a lively interest in politics, and especially in the welfare of his party. The immediate occasion of his death was dropsy, but throughout most of his life he had suffered severely from various diseases; and some of those actions of his which have been most warmly condemned were largely owing to the irritation of illness. He was a thoroughly honest man, as straightforward in action as his thoughts were unsophisticated. His charities were frequent and unostentatious; and in his last days he made an open
profession of those religious sentiments which he had always entertained. His chief intellectual gifts were energy and intuitive judgment. In private life at the Hermitage he is described by Benton as a careful farmer, overlooking everything himself, seeing that the fields and fences were in good order, the stock well attended, and the servants comfortably provided for. “But he needed some excitement beyond that which a farming life can afford, and found it for some years in the animating sports of the turf. . . . His temper was placable as well as irascible, and his reconciliations were cordial and sincere.” — The following are the most noted biographies of Andrew Jackson, and works relating to his career: “Life of Andrew Jackson, Major General in the Service of the United States,” by John Henry Eaton (Philadelphia, 1824; 1st ed. about 1818); “Life of Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America,” by William Cobbett, M. P. (New York, 1834); “A Narrative of Events in the South of France, and of the Attack on New Orleans, in 1814 and 1815,” by Capt. John Henry Cooke (London, 1835); “The Campaign of the British Army at Washington and New Orleans, in the years 1814 and 1815,” by the author of “The Subaltern” (London, 1837); “Life of Andrew Jackson, Private, Military, and Civil,” by Amos Kendall (New York, 1844); “Thirty Years' View, or a History of the Workings of the United States Government for 30 Years, from 1820 to 1850,” by Thomas H. Benton (2 vols., New York, 1854-'6); “Jackson and New Orleans,” by Alexander Walker (New York, 1856); and “Life of Andrew Jackson,” by James Parton (3 vols., New York, 1860).