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The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Andrew Jackson - Oct 18th, 2003
http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/bios/07pjack.html ^

Posted on 10/18/2003 12:01:28 AM PDT by SAMWolf



Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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General Andrew Jackson
(1767-1845)

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A rough-hewn military hero, he was regarded by many as the symbol and spokesman of the common man. Jackson entered the WHITE HOUSE in 1829 after winning the second of two vigorously fought ELECTION campaigns. Through his forceful personality, he restructured the office of the president and helped shape the DEMOCRATIC PARTY as the prototype of the modern political organization.

Less educated and less schooled in government than many of his political opponents, Jackson had leaped to national fame in the War of 1812 as the hero of the Battle of New Orleans and had captured the imagination and dedicated loyalty of a vast segment of the American population. He was widely acclaimed as the symbol of what the new American thought himself to be--a self-made man, son of the frontier, endowed with virtue and God-given strength because of his closeness to nature, and possessed of indomitable will and moral courage.



The nation found its old way of life being reshaped by the impact of the Industrial Revolution, the flood of settlers into the West, the rise of great urban centers, and dramatic advances in transportation. Old political, social and economic folkways were annihilated by these fundamental changes, and the old leadership seemed unequal to the task of mastering these vast new forces, which promised riches and political advancement to the many instead of the few. The traditional, almost professional, politician now appeared impotent and aristocratic, determined to continue men in the accustomed condition of their lives and to maintain political and economic power in the hands of those who had enjoyed it in the past. Thousands of Americans sought a leader who would admit all men to the exciting contest for the good things of life. They turned to the "Hero of New Orleans."

The results of the election of 1824 gave credibility to the idea that Jackson was indeed the champion of a popular majority besieged by selfish and corrupt interests. In such fashion was born the concept of Jacksonian Democracy, which Jackson brought to fulfillment with his election as president in 1828 and which continued to be the dominant issue in American political life through his two administrations and until his death in 1845.

Jackson's administrations were highlighted by the frustration of sectional attempts to weaken the central government by state nullification of federal law, and by the President's confrontation with the Bank of the United States.



In a positive sense Jackson profoundly affected the development of the U.S. presidency. He concentrated power in that office through wide use of the veto and through his insistence that the chief executive alone represented the will of the whole nation. Committing presidential power to the protection of the people against the threat of constantly expanding governmental authority and corrupt private interests was a traditional Jeffersonian principle. In carrying it out, Jackson took what was for his period an advanced position on civil equality and thus eventually came to be regarded as an equal to JEFFERSON as a founder of the Democratic party ideology.

Early Life


Andrew Jackson was born at a settlement on the banks of Crawford's Branch of Waxhaw Creek in South Carolina on March 15, 1767, the third son of immigrant parents from northern Ireland, Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson. His father died a few days before Andrew's birth. Bereft of his mother and two brothers by sickness during the American Revolution, in which he had himself served as a mounted courier when he was 13 years old, Jackson spent the postwar years in North Carolina. There he devoted himself to legal studies and was admitted to the bar at the age of 20.

Marriage



Rachel Jackson


The next year, 1788, he followed the Cumberland Road to the rude frontier settlement of Nashville, carrying with him an appointment as public prosecutor of the western district of North Carolina. Here he prospered, dabbling in his first land and slave speculations, and here he met Rachel Donelson Robards, who was to be the consuming passion of his life. The daughter of Jackson's landlady, she was also the unhappy wife of the coarse and violently jealous Capt. Lewis Robards, whose temper had driven her to the refuge of her mother's house. Immediately smitten, Jackson devoted himself to her protection, and they were married in 1791 in the false, but honest, belief that Captain Robards had been granted a legal divorce by the Virginia legislature.

Actually, Robards did not have the marriage dissolved until 1793, and it was news of this valid divorce that revealed to Jackson and Rachel the illegality of their relationship. Stunned, they promptly remarried in January 1794, but Robards and later enemies of Jackson were wont to charge him with having stolen another man's wife and, worse, having lived with her in adultery from 1791 to 1794. They did so at their peril, for the most oblique hint at any lack of virtue on the part of Rachel was sufficient to spur Jackson to violent action with horsewhip or dueling pistol. The most famous of his encounters of this sort was the duel in which he killed Charles Dickinson, a fellow Nashville lawyer, in 1806. This deed gave wide fame to Jackson's iron will and determination but also provided his enemies with the claim that he took pleasure in violence and brutality.

Congressman and Judge




The quiet effectiveness of Jackson's initial political experience as a member of the Tennessee constitutional convention of 1796 brought him election that year as the state's first representative in CONGRESS. Then his strong anti-British sentiments put him in opposition to the WASHINGTON administration. An alliance with William Blount, U.S. senator from Tennessee, against the Tennessee faction led by Gov. John Sevier resulted in Jackson's rise to the U.S. Senate in 1797, but personal financial difficulties led him to resign that post in April 1798. Appointment to the superior court of Tennessee in September 1798 relieved his economic situation and soon brought him respect as a jurist whose opinions, though unsophisticated, reflected his often expressed charge to the jury: "Do what is right between these parties. That is what the law always means."


ANDREW JACKSON, c. 1815


Jackson's judicial career lasted until 1804. It was a placid and pleasant period in his life, during which he expanded his holdings and achieved recognition, in 1802, as the new major general of the Tennessee militia. Then, having retired from the bench, he dedicated himself to development of a new home at the Hermitage, a few miles northeast of Nashville, where the uncertainties of cotton growing were partly forgotten in the joys thoroughbred horses. Here he received Aaron BURR as his guest in 1805, deceived like so many others into believing that the adventurer was engaged in a simple project to seize Spain's Mexican possessions. Jackson soon became suspicious of Burr's actions, but in later years he was to reaffirm his faith that Burr was a misunderstood patriot beset by the pursuing enmity of Thomas Jefferson.

Military Career


Indignant at what he identified as cowardly submission to Britain in Jefferson's and Madison's foreign policy, Jackson rejoiced in the eruption of war in 1812 and eagerly offered his services for invasions of Canada or Florida. But his past activities had hardly endeared Jackson to the "Virginia Dynasty," and he had to be content with a commission as major general of U.S. volunteers, ordered to lead a force to Natchez, Miss., in support of Gen. James Wilkinson. Jackson's command was soon disbanded as useless, without once having seen its foe, but his political adversaries had unwittingly given Jackson yet another hold on fame, for his tough efficiency in the grueling march back to Tennessee won for him the appellation "Old Hickory."


Major General Andrew Jackson, also known as Long Knife


The Creek Indian massacre of settlers at Fort Mims, Mississippi Territory, in September 1813 brought Jackson back into the field. Despite serious problems of supply and a mutinous spirit among his militia troops, he crushed the Creeks in a series of engagements that culminated in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend on March 17, 1814. On May 1 he was commissioned a major general in the regular army with command of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Perceiving the danger of a British move against New Orleans after a strike along the Gulf Coast, he wrecked any such plan by a decisive repulse of an attack on Mobile, Ala., in September. By November he had driven the enemy from its position in Pensacola, Fla., and was free to journey to New Orleans to inspect the defenses of that key to the Mississippi.

Battle of New Orleans


He arrived none too soon, for in mid-December the British anchored their fleet in Mississippi Sound and deposited their troops on the banks of the Mississippi some 10 miles (16 km) below New Orleans. From their position on the Plains of Chalmette they launched a series of strikes against the city. Jackson countered with a polyglot mixture of Louisiana militia, Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen, and Baratarian pirates. The campaign culminated in the British frontal assault on Jackson's lines on Jan. 8, 1815, in which the attackers were cut down by concentrated rifle and cannon fire with losses of almost 2,000 dead and injured. American casualties were 6 killed and 10 wounded.

The Battle of New Orleans was the last campaign of the War of 1812, actually fought after the signing of the Peace of Ghent on Dec. 24, 1814. There is no merit, however, in the frequent assertion that Jackson's great victory was won after the war was over, for the Ghent treaty specifically called for continued hostilities until ratification by both governments, which was not effected until February 1815.


General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans


After so many distressing months of failure in a war in which the enemy had burned and sacked the federal capital and which had led disaffected citizens to question the value of the Union itself, Jackson's victory at New Orleans seemed to wipe away the nation's memories of incompetent leadership. Overnight, Old Hickory was transfigured into a symbol of distinctive American strengths and virtues, and his path was turned inevitably toward the White House. But for the moment the Virginia Dynasty still commanded, and Jackson retired with his honors to his beloved Hermitage.

Florida Campaign


Continued attacks on the Georgia frontier by Seminole Indians and runaway slaves based in Florida led to Jackson's recall to active service in December 1817. He pursued the retreating foe into Spanish Florida, captured St. Marks and Pensacola, and in the process executed two British subjects.

The invasion caused an international furor. President MONROE and Secretary of War John C. CALHOUN denied having authorized Jackson's deeds, and for a while the cabinet considered apologizing to Spain and Britain and even debated possible disciplinary measures against Jackson. Secretary of State John Quincy ADAMS strongly demurred, however, and persuaded Monroe to justify his general's behavior as having proceeded from Spanish negligence. Adams succeeded in exploiting the whole affair to win, in 1819, the final cession of the Floridas to the United States, together with a favorable definition of the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase.

Return to Politics


Jackson's military career closed on June 1, 1821, when he resigned his commission to become provisional governor of Florida. His activities there were again surrounded with conflict, highlighted this time by his jailing the former Spanish governor, José Callava, for refusal to transfer official documents to U.S. custody. Displeased by Monroe's neglect of his recommendations, particularly those concerning appointments, Jackson resigned as governor on Dec. 1, 1821.



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: andrewjackson; battleofneworleans; biography; florida; freeperfoxhole; johnnyhorton; neworleans; oldhickory; president; seminolewars; southcarolina; tennessee; usbank; veterans; warof1812
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To: The Mayor
Good morning Mayor. I need lots of coffee today!
21 posted on 10/18/2003 6:32:02 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: Matthew Paul
Good Morning Matt, Good Afternoon Poland!!
22 posted on 10/18/2003 6:32:57 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it
Did I mention that our climate in the South is a little bit wramer too? I think the cold comes into your part of the world first and then goes South with time.
23 posted on 10/18/2003 6:35:20 AM PDT by E.G.C.
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To: snippy_about_it; SAMWolf
Good morning everyone.
24 posted on 10/18/2003 6:36:07 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (Poets' Rock the Boat!!)
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To: E.G.C.
That's right, you're in OK. It's for sure that Ohio is cold, in fact freezing way before you all get cold. I guess here it would be almost impossible to have outside dogs unless they were real "winter" dogs.
25 posted on 10/18/2003 6:39:17 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: bentfeather
Good morning feather.
26 posted on 10/18/2003 6:39:54 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Fall in --> The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul.)
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To: snippy_about_it
Me too, I'm off to work for a while..
27 posted on 10/18/2003 6:54:58 AM PDT by The Mayor (We honor God when we honor one another.)
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To: SAMWolf
Who? Andrew Jackson Lummus.

Thanks for you foxhole posts, I learn a lot from them.
28 posted on 10/18/2003 8:36:04 AM PDT by Coleus (Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive.)
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To: Neil E. Wright
Good Morning Neil.
29 posted on 10/18/2003 9:20:10 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: snippy_about_it
Good Morning Snippy. Get that frost last night?
30 posted on 10/18/2003 9:20:35 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: E.G.C.
Morning E.G.C. We actually got warm and sunny for today.
31 posted on 10/18/2003 9:21:13 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: manna
Hi Manna!


32 posted on 10/18/2003 9:21:51 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: aomagrat
Morning aomagrat. Making a bit of smoke isn't she?
33 posted on 10/18/2003 9:23:42 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: snippy_about_it
Yeah. Usually all you hear about him is his involvement in the Battle of New Orleans.
34 posted on 10/18/2003 9:25:11 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: The Mayor
Hi Mayor.
35 posted on 10/18/2003 9:26:26 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: Matthew Paul
Hi Matt. We lucked out an got some sunshine today in Oregon.
36 posted on 10/18/2003 9:27:20 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: SAMWolf
Must have been that lousy unleaded coal the EPA made them use back then.
37 posted on 10/18/2003 9:28:12 AM PDT by aomagrat (IYAOYAS)
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To: Valin
1973 Walt Kelly, US comic strip artist (Pogo), dies at 60


38 posted on 10/18/2003 9:31:01 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: bentfeather
Morning Feather
39 posted on 10/18/2003 9:31:57 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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To: Coleus
Who? Andrew Jackson Lummus.

Stay tuned for tomorrow. :-)

40 posted on 10/18/2003 9:33:45 AM PDT by SAMWolf (Poverty begins at home.)
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