Wandering Lizard

Biographical Notes

Andrew Jackson

The war with England was not going particularly well and the British even managed to burn Washington D.C. Jackson's accomplishment against the Creek Indians was particularly well received by a concerned public. Jackson believed that the Spanish were in league with the British and, even though the United States was not at war with Spain, Jackson wanted to invade Spanish Florida. In light of his threats, the Spanish invited the British to land troops at Pensacola. Jackson beat the English to Pensacola and destroyed it. The British then launched a ten thousand man invasion force against New Orleans. The British government had never recognized Spain's retrocession of the Louisiana lands to France in 1800 and had dreams of taking control of the vast area that the United States felt rightfully belonged to it. Jackson with seven hundred troops responded to the imminent British threat by declaring martial law in the city, making an alliance with the pirate Jean Laffitte, and arming two battalions of black soldiers. It was a tense time. On December 20, 1814, General John Coffee arrived with six hundred veterans and the next day Major General William Carroll arrived with fourteen hundred Tennessee volunteers as did Major Thomas Hinds with three hundred Missouri dragoons. On January 8, 1815, two thousand Kentucky militia arrived, but only one in three had a weapon. The British forces were led by Lieutenant General Sir Edward Pakenham, brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington. He had an attacking force of about five thousand hardened veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and another five thousand in reserve. Jackson faced him with about four thousand troops - mostly volunteers with little or no training. The battle lasted about two hours and the Americans prevailed - dramatically. Jackson was a hero.

Ironically American and British negotiators concluded the Treaty of Ghent ending the war on Christmas Eve 1814, two weeks before Jackson defeated Pakenham at New Orleans. After New Orleans, Jackson turned his attention to Spanish Florida where he believed that the British and Spanish were encouraging Indians to attack settlements in the United States. In March 1818, he led three thousand men into Florida to subdue the Seminole Indian threat and continued on to capture the Spanish administrative center in Pensacola. Several members of President Monroe's cabinet wanted to censure Jackson for having unilaterally declared war on Spain, but in 1819 Secretary John Quincy Adams concluded the Adams-Onis Transcontinental Treaty which provided for the purchase of Florida by the United States. During this period, Jackson negotiated five new treaties with Native Americans including the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. These treaties opened additional millions of acres of lands to settlement by Anglo-Europeans and removed entire Indian nations from their traditional lands. The Cherokee people's move to new lands west of the Mississippi River is referred to as the "Trail of Tears." In 1821, Jackson was appointed Governor of the Florida Territory by President Monroe. After eleven weeks as governor Jackson retired to the Hermitage. In Tennessee he was first asked to run for governor and later for senator and then for president. In 1823 he was elected to the United States Senate and in 1824 was nearly elected president. The election that year was decided in the House of Representatives and John Quincy Adams was narrowly elected over Jackson.

In October 1825 the Tennessee legislature nominated Jackson as their candidate for president in 1828. Martin Van Buren assembled a national coalition of supporters for Jackson and an effective political organization was created that stretched down to the grass roots "Hickory Clubs" that sprang up all over the country. John C. Calhoun was selected as his vice presidential running mate. In the 1828 election against Adams, Jackson won 56% of the popular vote and 68% of the electoral vote. Jackson prided himself as being a representative of the people and following the inaugural ceremony at the Capitol he opened the white House to the public. A great throng of people responded to the invitation and pretty well trashed the place. Jackson was forced to spend the night in a boarding house. Throughout his tenure as president he championed the working man over the aristocratic elite. In 1828 Congress enacted a protective tariff law that Southerners felt favored the North over the South. They were already angry at similar laws passed earlier, but this time around South Carolina refused to abide by the new law declaring it null and void inside the state. Jackson declared that action as being unconstitutional. South Carolina threatened disunion if forced to honor the tariff. The issue of nullification precipitated a long simmering feud between Jackson and his Vice President and, in his second term he replaced Calhoun with Martin Van Buren. During the eight years of his presidency Jackson was faced with a number of serious problems including Indian relocation, nullification, banking reform, states rights, infrastructure development issues, independence of Texas, and deterioration in North South relations over the issue of slavery. He was generally popular with the public, but at the end of January 1835 he survived an assassination attempt when his assailant's pistol misfired.

On March 4, 1837, Martin Van Buren was inaugurated President and Jackson retired to the Hermitage. He supported Van Buren in the election of 1840 and was disappointed in his defeat by William Henry Harrison. After Harrison's death, John Tyler was elevated to the presidency. Tyler's Secretary of State was Jackson's old antagonist, John C. Calhoun. Tyler and Calhoun supported statehood for Texas, but Van Buren opposed it. Jackson ardently supported statehood for Texas and shifted his support from Van Buren to James K. Polk in the election of 1844. Polk was victorious and his close ties to Jackson resulted in his being called "Young Hickory." On June 8, 1845 Jackson died at the Hermitage and was buried there.

Previous...