The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Andrew Jackson - Oct 18th, 2003

http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/ea/bios/07pjack.html ^

[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.

[SAMWolf]

I remember my dad helping to bring in the coal before the building was converted to oil.

[snippy_about_it]

Yes SAM, there was frost on the pumpkin. :) Brrrr.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Afternoon friends.

[snippy_about_it]

Good afternoon Victoria.

[manna]

Boo!

[SAMWolf]

Good Afternoon, Victoria. Nice day here today. Running around getting the backyard ready for winter.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! That time of year is coming.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Good afternoon Sam and Snippy.

OK, hope to see you later, Sam.

[PhilDragoo]

William Cronon is the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

New River Media Interview with: William Cronon Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies University of Wisconsin

QUESTION: Talk about the Frederick Jackson Turner and the American Frontier.

WILLIAM CRONON: Frederick Jackson Turner's significance to the frontier in American history is that his is arguably the most influential essay that an American historian has ever written. In it, he tries to argue that the movement of European immigrants onto North American land is the defining experience of American history. The movement of Europeans and Easterners into the wilderness, and the transformative effects of the wilderness on American culture, American identity, and American politics is what makes America or the United States what it is.

Turner's argument was that as Europeans moved into the wilderness, they had an encounter with what he called "savagery‚" which didn't just mean Indian people, although it certainly did mean that as well. And as they moved into this savage place, they shed the trappings of civilization. They were forced to go back to primitive ways of life, and they, in effect, rediscovered their racial energies, rediscovered themselves, went back to first principles, and reinvented both their character and their democracy as a result. In Turner's view, people left crowded environments in European cities, in Northeastern American cities where work was hard to find - where the possibility of class conflict was great - and were able to move out onto free land and find a new life for themselves. They did this in a way that focused them on farm making, community-making, rather than on class conflict. And he referred to this as the safety valve function of the frontier, that by, in effect, providing an alternative outlet for what might otherwise be dangerous political tendencies, the frontier had protected America from violent class conflict of the kind that happened, say, in 1871 in Paris. It's not a very accurate reading of American labor history, but it was an argument that had a lot of political force at the time.

QUESTION: Did Turner believe that America was a good thing?

WILLIAM CRONON: I think you won't understand Turner if you don't recognize what a profoundly nationalistic person he was. He was immensely proud of the United States of America, regarded, with many of his generation, as one of the most compelling stories, not just in our history, but in all of human history. So, one of the things he's seeking to do in the frontier thesis is to argue that there's something exceptional about America, and that democracy and other institutions that he believed no European nation had achieved, were things that made America unique, and in his view had flowed off of the frontier experience.

Phil's note: My high school U.S. History teacher John Holmes explained the Turnerian Thesis in objective terms. It has intertwined with Manifest Destiny in my concept of America.

The Frontier Theory and the Frontier Myth

Turner attributed quite a bit to the frontier environment-experience. Its influence was found in nationalism, democracy, and the American character. He believed the frontier was an agency for Americanization, using the word, "crucible". Most of his supporting references were to the Scotch-Irish and Germans of the Old West frontier. In legislation, the frontier areas always worked to strengthen national power. Turner cited as evidence of national power, the Louisiana Purchase and the demands for federally financed internal improvements.

Turner was not the first to equate the frontier with democracy. The editor of The Nation, E.L. Godkin, had suggested the mutual dependence of the two in an essay he published in 1865, but Turner made the more forceful statement of the relationship. For example, in a commencement address in 1914, he stated that "American democracy was born of no theorist's dream; it was not carried in the Susan Constant to Virginia, nor in the Mayflower to Plymouth. It came out of the American forest, and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier."

His democracy theme was also emphasized in the 1893 essay. The individualism or self-reliance attributed to frontiersmen worked toward social and political democracy. This assertion was supported by references to voting patterns and to the frontier origins of great American democrats. It was western New York which forced an extension of the right to vote in 1821. Revered leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and Abraham Lincoln were all raised near the edge of settlement. Turner especially stressed the rise of equalitarian doctrines associated with the election of his namesake, Andrew Jackson, whom he seems to have regarded as the Moses of democracy. One other idea which was suggested rather than elaborated at length was that of the safety valve. The frontier was a "gate of escape" from the oppressions of a closed society, and its existence helped to nurture democracy.

Finally, his essay was a classic statement about the American character. "To the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics." Among these traits were individualism, practicality, materialism, and optimism. The "myth" of frontier individualism has been dissected by several writers, and other critics were to claim that these were the traits of all Americans and not just frontiersmen. Implicit in Turner's analysis was the assumption that America and Europe were at the opposite ends of a scale, and that the further west one went the more "American" he became.

Turner's paper did not cause many ripples when it was first presented. But the author developed his theme further, as in an 1896 article for the Atlantic Monthlv, and within a decade the "frontier thesis" was well known in the historical profession and among educated readers. Theodore Roosevelt wrote Turner that: "I think you have struck some first class ideas, and have put into definite shape a good deal of thought which has been floating around rather loosely." This was Turner's real genius and real achievement: he brought all these half-conscious and unformed ideas together in one bold and coherent statement.

In his first Annual Message to Congress, Jackson recommended eliminating the Electoral College.

The Bank War inspired numerous cartoons. The boxers are Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson. The lady holding a bottle of port says, "Darken his daylights, Nick. Put the Screws to him my tulip!" Daniel Webster: "Blow me tight if Nick ain't been crammed too much. You see as how he's losing his wind!" Henry Clay: "Hurrah Nick my kiddy! Hit him a pelt in the smellers!" Martin Van Buren: "Go it Hickory, my old Duffer! give it to him in the bread basket, it will make him throw up his deposits!" Major Jack Downing (a mythical Jacksonian hero): "I swan if the Ginral hain't been taken lessons from Fuller!" The man standing next to the whiskey bottle: "Hurrah my old yallow flower of the forrest, walk into him like a streak of Greased lightning through a gooseberry bush!"

Caroline Squire Duels Andrew Jackson

In the cool morning, the two men faced off for their shots. Jackson new Dickenson to be a much faster, surer shot, and fully expected to be hit. He was counting on his stern will to help him absorb Dickenson's ounce of lead before he returned the shot.

According to the "Code Duello" honor would be satisfied by a wound, but things had gone so far between them that Jackson and Dickenson would be satisfied only by the death of the other.

"Are you ready, gentlemen", Overton said.

"Ready", said Dickenson.

"Yes sir", from Jackson.

"Fire!"

~~~

Early one May morning in 1806, a young man from Caroline County sighted down the barrel of a flintlock duelling pistol and fired the shot that could have changed the course of American history.

The young man's name was Charles Dickenson and his target was Andrew Jackson, future victor of the Battle Of New Orleans and seventh president of the United States.

In 1806, Andrew Jackson, frontier soldier, lawyer and judge, had retired from public life to farm his plantation and take up his chief hobby, horse-breeding. At that time some of the finest horses in this country were bred and reared by the landowners of the Eastern Shore, and Jackson found his way here on several occasions in search of stock to improve his herd. It is said that he was a guest at Daffin House, near Hillsboro, and he met Charles Dickenson on one of these trips, or perhaps in Tennessee where Dickenson's in-laws lived.

Charles Dickenson was a large landowner and a man of some wealth, and like Jackson, he was interested in good horseflesh. He was also a slave-trader, and was thought to deal in kidnapped free Negroes as well. He might even have had some commerce with the notorious Patty Cannon, although her heyday came years after Dickenson was dead.

However, it was that Jackson had met Dickenson, the meeting was an unlucky one. Both men had a good deal in common; they were versed in the law, Dickenson having read under John Marshall, and they were sporting men who dearly loved a horse-race. Both were also short-tempered, arrogant and sensitive of their good names.

Jackson had a fine stallion named Truxton, generally thought to be one of the best horses in Tennessee at the time. Many breeder's wanted Truxton's blood in their foals, and Jackson received a considerable portion of his income from stud fees. This bothered Jackson's neighbor, Capt. Joseph Erwin, Dickenson's father-in-law, who was losing the breeding business of his stallion, Ploughboy, to Jackson's famous beast.

Backed by Dickenson, Erwin ran Tanner, another of his horses, against Truxton in a race covered by $5000, a vast sum in those days. Truxton beat Erwin's horse, so Erwin decided to try Ploughboy against Truxton. The race was set for the fall meeting of 1805 and both sides covered a $2000 bet. In case one horse didn't make the race, a forfeit of $800 was arranged.

When race day came, Erwin's horse was discovered to be lamed so badly he could not run. The race was called off and Jackson collected his forfeit. Erwin and Dickenson tried to pay Jackson off in unmatured personal notes, which on the frontier were like post-dated checks. Jackson asked for at least half in notes instantly collectable, and Dickenson paid them to him.

But the story got around that Jackson had claimed that Erwin and Dickenson had tried to trick him, which both denied. There was already hard feeling between Jackson and Dickenson; Dickenson had made some nasty remarks about Mrs. Jackson, a gentle lady with an interesting past, and Jackson was notoriously sensitive to references to his wife's past and quick to attack anyone who commented on it. Jackson was not satisfied with Dickenson's half-hearted apologies or the excuse that he was drunk when he insulted Mrs. Jackson. Dickenson wasn't especially eager to make peace; his losses to Jackson at the track were considerable.

One of Dickenson's young friends cast aspersions on Jackson's courage and honor in a letter, but Jackson's reply to him was addressed to Dickenson. Dickenson replied with a dare to challenge him to fight, then left for New Orleans on business. Ignored, Dickenson's young friend swore he'd been insulted and challenged Jackson to duel with him. Jackson laughed that off too, but took the first chance he had to beat him with his cane, an insult of the worst kind to anyone who thought of himself as a gentleman.

In those days, there were no libel laws, and frontier newspapers were kind of a public quarrelling ground, so Dickenson's and Jackson's supporters began calling names in print.

Jackson took two columns in Nashville's only newspaper to call Dickenson a "worthless, drunken, blackguard scoundrel", amoung other things.

In the meantime another race had been arranged between Jackson's and Erwin's mighty stallions. The stakes were $3000 between the rival owners. On race day, Jackson's horse was seen to have a swollen leg and the odds were against him. Jackson refused to forfeit, and his horse won an upset victory over Erwin's. The news of Dickenson's quarrel with Jackson had built tremendous interest in the race; Erwin saw himself publicly humiliated.

Suddenly, Dickenson returned to Nashville. A friend brought Jackson a copy of an item Dickenson planned for the next issue of the paper. It announced that Jackson, "the Major-General of the Mero District is a worthless scoundrel, a patroon and a coward". The only reply suitable in Tennessee at that time to remarks like these was a challenge.

It took a week before the final arrangements could be made,but, on the morning of May 29, Dickenson rose early, said goodbye to his wife, who was expecting a child, and rode off for the Kentucky border with his friends to meet Jackson.

Duelling was illegal in Tennessee, so both duelling parties had a day's ride and an overnight stay ahead before they met. Dickenson was in a cheerful frame of mind, and amused himself on the trip by shooting cards his man-servant put up ahead of the riders. Jackson's party rode along in gloom; they were afraid their principal was as good as dead for Dickenson was a crack shot and Jackson was a slow and a mediocre marksman. Diickenson had been seen to snap-shoot four bullets one after the other, into a small target from 24 feet, grouping his shots so tightly that the bullet holes touched. Jackson had once fired a brace of pistols point-blank at a rushing Indian, missed, and was forced to brain the man with a pistol butt. In Nashville, Dickenson had offered to wager that he would kill Jackson with his first shot.

The duelling ground was across the Red River at Harrison's Mills, Kentucky, and the two parties met there before the sun was over the trees on May 30. While Jackson and Dickenson glared at one another at a distance, their seconds carefully loaded the pistols. There was a matched pair belonging to Jackson, plain as duellers should be, with nine-inch barrels and a shockingly big .70-calibre bore. One-ounce soft lead balls, carefully patched, were rammed down the smooth barrels on top of light charges of FFFg black powder, the flintlocks primed and the loaded weapons inspected by the seconds before they were offered to Dickenson and Jackson.

.---> The two men stood facing one another in the thin morning light, pistols held half-cocked down at their sides. General Overton, Jackson's old friend and second, called the shot.

Instantly, Dickenson raised his pistol, cocking it as it came up. He found the large brass coat button over Jackson's heart in his sights and fired. Dickenson's view of his target was covered by the smoke of his shot for an instant, but bystanders saw a puff of dust fly from Jackson's coat and saw him clutch at his chest with his left hand. He was still on his feet when Dickenson could see through the smoke.

"My God, have I missed him?" Dickenson stepped back in shock.

The seconds shouted him back to the mark, and Jackson was taking aim. Whatever else he was, Dickenson was no coward. Still holding his empty pistol, he folded his arms and stared Jackson's pistol in the eye. Jackson pulled the trigger, but the pistol's hammer stopped at half-cock. Jackson cocked it again and fired. Dickenson fell with a ragged wound torn clear through his middle by the soft bullet.

After one look at the damage, Dickenson's friend knew he wouldn't last out the day.

Jackson walked stiffly back to his horse, claiming that Dickenson "pinked me", but Overton saw that his boot was filled with blood. "I don't want these people to know", he said, looking at Dickenson's group. Jackson's doctor found that Dickenson's shot had been dead on it's mark; the brass coat button was gone. Jackson's life had been saved by the loose fit of his coat over his lean body. The bullet lodged so close to his heart that Jackson's doctor was afraid to remove it. Presumably, he carried it to the White House and his grave.

As for Charles Dickenson, there was nothing the doctors of that day could do to save him, and little they could do to ease his pain. He died that evening around ten. He was 27.

~~~

That was an old-school Democrat, duelling to defend against charges of adultery.

Really old-school.

[SAMWolf]

Evening Phil Dragoo.

Never heard of Frederick Jackson Turner, interesting theories. I can relate to leaving the crowded cities though.

So Hillary and Jackson have eliminating the Electoral College in common.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night SAM

Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
He sounds too blue to fly
The midnight train is whining low
I'm so lonesome I could cry..................

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy. Great song, haven't heard that in a long time. Brings back some memories.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[stainlessbanner]

I'm a couple of days late, but I really like this thread. It spells out states rights/soveriegn/home rule vs. centralized bank, subsidies, etc. We see the last attempt to preserve states rights with Jackson defeating Clay, but Lincoln would later implement Clay's American System.

There are legendary stories of Old Hickory in Florida where he hunted and fought the natives. I especially like this quote:

'The Bible is the rock on which our Republic rests.'

[colorado tanker]

"the Era of Good Feelings"

That was the time after the Federalist Party fell apart and before the foundation of the Whig Party. Although divided into factions, there was only one major party, the Democratic-Republican Party founded by Jefferson. Before this, however, the fighting between the Federalists and Democrats was vicious, so I suppose there's some hope the country could come to its senses again in the future since the Democrats of today seem determined to be stupid about every issue.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks for the information tanker. I had no idea when it was and had yet to search it out.

[colorado tanker]

You're welcome, Snippy. The Era was over by Jackson's presidency. Jackson, even more than Jefferson, was the founder of the modern Democratic party, based upon an alliance between urban workers and agrarian populists. It's interesting that since the party split over Vietnam it's been losing both of those groups and becoming increasingly elitist.

[colorado tanker]

Here's an interesting fact about President Jackson. He took away the soldier's liquor ration. I knew a Democrat had to be behind that. :)

"From the time of the Revolutionary War through the Civil War, the basis of all Army troop feeding, whether in camp, on the march, or during combat operations was the garrison ration. It consisted of an allotment of bread, meat, occasionally vegetables and a beverage.

"Initially the beverage was alcohol and the patriot soldiers under General George Washington welcomed their allowance of rum, whiskey, and other assorted "spirits” which included one quart of cider or spruce beer per soldier per week. A colonel could receive as much as a half-gallon of spirits a week.

"In March 1819, an extra gill of whiskey or spirits was allowed per day to noncommissioned officers, musicians and privates engaged in the building of fortifications, in surveys, road construction, and other constant labor, of not less than ten days.

"Noting the "harmful effects" of including alcohol in the military diet, the Surgeon General, and later Secretary of War John C. Calhoun began to lobby against its inclusion in the ration. The struggle over this issue continued throughout the 1820s -- just as a full-scale Temperance Movement was gaining momentum on the national scene. But no actions were taken to remove alcohol from the daily rations.

"Then it happened. President Andrew Jackson, a War of 1812 veteran, impatient with Congress, took matters into his own hands, and signed an Executive Order on October 25, 1832, dictating that coffee and sugar were to be substituted for the allowance of rum, whiskey, or brandy."

"This Executive Order made the spirit ration an extra issue, subject to the discretion of the President. Army General Order No.100, 1832 directed that an issue of coffee and sugar, at the rate of 4 pounds of coffee and 8 pounds of sugar per 100 rations, would be substituted for alcohol. Since then coffee has remained a vital component of the U.S. Army soldier’s field ration."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1004049/posts

[SAMWolf]

Glad you liked the thread. Jackson was pretty much overlooked in my education up in Illinois. For some reason they concentrated on Lincoln up there. ;-)

[SAMWolf]

He took away the soldier's liquor ration. I knew a Democrat had to be behind that. :)

I saw that on the Army Coffee thread.