Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1944-01-02
Capital SideIights
Bu VIII P. Kennedu.

NdPlldl OluClISntS
Bu VIII P. Kennedy.
President Andrew Jackson was the
son Of an Irish immigrant from Car
rickfergus. This unlettered backwoods-
man succeeded the most cultured of all
our Presidents-John Quincy Adams
the sharpest contrast in the entire presi-
dental procession. When fame beck
oned, jackson was a storekeeper and
farmer on the Tennessee frontier, living
In . four-room farmhouse which he
called the Hermitage. The American
Revolution was his first teacher. At the
age Of II, he was in 1t, then taken cap
tive, SCARED for life by the sword OF
British onicer whose muddy boots he
Indignantly refused to clean. At foul
prison camp he fell victim to Hrulent
smallpox, which left him for a time in
serious mental distress. From a ragged,
rowing waif Of the Revolution, wild as a
weed" he pulled himself up literally by
his boot straps" to chore boy, sadler's
apprentice, lawyer and judge of the Su-
preme Court Of Tennessee He mar
ried his landlady's daughter, only to find
after two years that her earlier mar
riage had not been dissolved-so they
went through a second ceremony to make
1t legal. She was q most devoted wife,
but slanderous tongues gossiped. So
jackson kept his shooting irons In per-
feet condition Of any one who dared
breathe her name except in honor" For
sneering at her over . bar, Charles Dick
inson was shot to death by the avenging
husband in 1906. Jackson's last duel was
in 1913, when he was IS and plunged into
q tavern brawl at Nashville With Thomas
H. Benton, later Senator from Missouri,
in which the future President was Grip
Piled for life by two balls and a slug,
which Bentons brother shot into his
back.
With his arm still in sling, Jackson
went into the War of 1912, shaking of
his protesting physician, his wound still
unhealed, the left sleeve of his uniform
empty, his shoulder too sore to bear an
epaulette. In seven stunning victories
in as many months he broke the strength
Of the Greek Nation, powerful savage
ally Of England. After one of those
battles he took an Indian baby from the
arms Of his dead mother, carried him
home to the Hermitage, where he grew
up as II his own son. He repealed the
British at Mobile, expelled them from
Pensacola, became the hero of New
Orleans" In % minutes the British lost
ALT men to the Americans 10 after the
war had been over Is days. Jackson
next became Governor of the Territory
Of Florida.
He had made only one speech while
in Congress and in the Senate didn't
bother to answer roll calls He re-
signed in year. When folks talked
Of him for President, he laughed at
them; but when they laughed at him
he changed his mind. His enemies
rather than his friends made him q
candidate for the presidency as vindica-
ton from their bitter abuse.
started the third American revolution"
in 1928. The first, in tits, had left the
new Nation under Colonial aristocracy
The second, led by Jefferson in 1900,
called the masses into the court Of
public opinion, but the old governing
class still held all the offices. The third
or Jackson, revolution Of 1928 threw open
the doors Of Government to all citizens
for public honors and political power
1t changed the name of Jefferson's
party from Republican to Democratic.
Mindful Of his deceased wife's sufferings
from scandal mongers, he championed
Peggy ONeal and brought about the
most historic schism in Washington
society.
One Of the two outstanding events Of
Jackson's administration was the over
throw Of the United States Bank He
vetoed bill for . recharter, took his
case to the people in . reelection cam
paign, and on their verdict closed the
bank by the simple process Of with
drawing Federal deposits. For this the
Senate censured him in 1884, but his
former duel antagonist. at that time
Senator, was his champion and the reso-
luton was expunged. Then for three
quarters Of q century the country waited
for real financial system until it was
provided by President Woodrow Wilson
and Senator Carter Glass Of Virginia in
the Federal Reserve Bank Act of 1914.
Jackson as President was also unique
as the only President to "hand-pick" his
successor, Martin Van Buren,. He in
augurated the national convention sys-
tenn Of selecting candidates for the
presidency. Retiring June ., ls45, aged
~, he was the most popular man who
ever sat IN the presidential chair"