I don’t mean to besmirch the character of Old Hickory any more than has been done down through the years, but from my bad memory of just that one book, I believe it was his own idea. And further, the man’s wife was actually onboard the ship. I think she had come along to enjoy the slapping down of the pesky and uncouth Americans. Keep in mind that Old Hickory bore the scar on his face from a British officers saber, going back to his youth. When the Brits showed up in their ships, Jackson said, “they will not sleep one night on American soil!”
And just as a refresher, as we review our illustrious past, and before the SHTF, I would also like to add, about Andrew Jackson, that he was the first of the Democratic Party to adopt the “jackass” as a symbol during a campaign for office. (This morphed into the “Donkey”.) His opponents had called him a jackass, and he adopted it and turned it back on them as a sign of his stubbornness.
Somewhat like Perry and the mugshot. But not really.
I live in a very old house outside of Boston. It had once been home to a Minuteman. It was moved to where it is now in 1840. I found an old coin, actually a “political token”, in the backyard when I had septic work done. The token was dated 1840. It has Jackson on one side, emerging from a treasure chest with a bag of money, and on the other side a jackass. It had something to do with him robbing the national treasury?