Andrew
Jackson
Seventh
President of the United States
More nearly than any of his
predecessors, Andrew Jackson was elected by popular vote; as President he
sought to act as the direct representative of the common man. Born in a
backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767, he received sporadic
education. But in his late teens he read law for about two years, and he
became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee. Fiercely jealous of his
honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an
unjustified slur on his wife Rachel.
Jackson prospered sufficiently to buy slaves and to build a mansion, the
Hermitage, near Nashville. He was the first man elected from Tennessee to the
House of Representatives, and he served briefly in the Senate. A major
general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero when he defeated
the British at New Orleans.
In 1824 some state political factions rallied around Jackson; by 1828 enough
had joined "Old Hickory" to win numerous state elections and control
of the Federal administration in Washington. In his first Annual Message
to Congress, Jackson recommended eliminating the Electoral College. He also
tried to democratize Federal office holding. Already state machines were
being built on patronage, and a New York Senator openly proclaimed "that
to the victors belong the spoils. . . . " Jackson took a milder view.
Decrying officeholders who seemed to enjoy life tenure, he believed Government
duties could be "so plain and simple" that offices should rotate
among deserving applicants. As national politics polarized around
Jackson and his opposition, two parties grew out of the old Republican
Party--the Democratic Republicans, or Democrats, adhering to Jackson; and the
National Republicans, or Whigs, opposing him. Henry Clay, Daniel
Webster, and other Whig leaders proclaimed themselves defenders of popular
liberties against the usurpation of Jackson. Hostile cartoonists
portrayed him as King Andrew I. Behind their accusations lay the fact
that Jackson, unlike previous Presidents, did not defer to Congress in
policy-making but used his power of the veto and his party leadership to
assume command. The greatest party battle centered around the Second
Bank of the United States, a private corporation but virtually a
Government-sponsored monopoly. When Jackson appeared hostile toward it, the
Bank threw its power against him. Clay and Webster, who had acted as
attorneys for the Bank, led the fight for its recharter in Congress. "The
bank," Jackson told Martin Van Buren, "is trying to kill me, but
I will kill it!" Jackson, in vetoing the recharter bill, charged the
Bank with undue economic privilege. His views won approval from the
American electorate; in 1832 he polled more than 56 percent of the popular
vote and almost five times as many electoral votes as Clay. Jackson met
head-on the challenge of John C. Calhoun, leader of forces trying to rid
themselves of a high protective tariff. When South Carolina undertook to
nullify the tariff, Jackson ordered armed forces to Charleston and privately
threatened to hang Calhoun. Violence seemed imminent until Clay
negotiated a compromise: tariffs were lowered and South Carolina dropped
nullification. In January of 1832, while the President was dining with
friends at the White House, someone whispered to him that the Senate had
rejected the nomination of Martin Van Buren as Minister to England.
Jackson jumped to his feet and exclaimed, "By the Eternal! I'll smash
them!" So he did. His favorite, Van Buren, became Vice President, and
succeeded to the Presidency when "Old Hickory" retired to the
Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.
