Andrew Jackson

The Age of the Common Man

The Symbol of New America

The leader of the Age of Democracy

Hero of the Common Man

Context

War of 1812 Economic Panic of

1819 Denmark Vesey Slave

Conspiracy of 1822 End of Era of Good

Feelings in 1822 1820’s - A New Democratic

Revolution

Context II - Background

Andrew Jackson was the 7th President

Born: March 15, 1767 in Waxhaw, South Carolina.

Third son of immigrant parents from northern Ireland, Andrew Jackson and Elizabeth Hutchinson

His father died in a logging accident a few weeks before he was born

Andrew Jackson

Was six feet one inches tall, slender

of build

Described as having a self-

assured bearing and a commanding

air.

Was in pain much of his adult life

from bullets left in his body

and

from dysentery which frequently

drained his strength

Jackson the Military and Political Hero

At 14 Jackson enlisted in the militia during the Revolutionary War, and served as a mounted courier

He was taken prisoner for a few weeks in April 1781, and contracted smallpox during

imprisonment.

Grolier encyclopedia: Jackson “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.”

Jackson the Hero of New Orleans

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 on Jan. 8, 1815.

British losses of almost 2,000 dead and injured. American casualties were 6 killed and 10 wounded

Battle Of New Orleans Song!

* Had continued Military success in the Seminole War of 1818-1819 which gave him wide name recognition

*Election of 1824 - Jackson had 99 electoral votes, Adams 84, Crawford 41, Clay, 37. Since there was no majority, the election went to the U.S. House of Representatives.

* Clay lobbied for Adams, Adams had won the required vote of 13 states as against 7 for Jackson and 4 for Crawford

* Was elected in 1828 and re-elected in 1832

Jackson attempts the Presidency

Jackson the President

Elected in 1828 by a highly organized Jacksonian party

His inauguration is famous for the party he thew.

A contemporary observed the “motley concourse of people” who rushed to the White House and were seen “upsetting the pails and breaking the glasses. ... Men with boots heavy with mud stood on the satin-covered chairs and sofas”

Jackson’s Presidency

The National Bank debate - a Government-sponsored monopoly of which Jackson said "is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!" Jackson, in vetoing the bank’s recharter bill, charged the Bank with undue economic privilege.

History seems to remember Jackson as a symbol of the

New Age of Democracy, and as an example of the ”Age

of the Common Man."

He died June 8, 1845 at the Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee.

So was Jackson the Hero of Democracy? Another perspective

As a child, Jackson had a penchant for drooling, which continued all his life. He would often spit excessively when he spoke.

He was violent and aggressive.

He dislike school and book learning

Jackson’s Controversial Wife

Rachel Donelson Robards was the daughter of Jackson’s landlady.

She was unhappily married to Captain Lewis Roberts.

Jackson was immediately in love and they married in 1791 under the belief that Captain Robards had received a legal divorce from the Virginia legislature.

Her first marriage, however was not dissolved until 1793.

Jackson and Robards remarried in 1794, but the charges that Jackson had “stolen” another man’s wife and lived in adultery plagued him his entire life.

More Jackson

In 1806 Jackson killed Charles Dickinson, a fellow Nashville lawyer, in a duel

Jackson owned over 100 slaves.

He once offered a reward of $50 for a runaway slave plus $10 extra dollars for every 100 lashes “to the amount of three hundred.”

He spent large amounts of money on whiskey and horses

When Jackson became president, he promptly dismissed his opponents from their federal jobs

He replaced them with those who had been loyal to him. This “spoils system” of American politics has now become tradition.

This cartoon illustrates a perception of Jackson’s unofficial "Kitchen Cabinet," a group of close friends who advised him.  Historians looking at his presidency have found him to be a poor administrator, to have strong prejudices, and a contempt for expert advice.

Jackson’s Kitchen Cabinet

Political CartoonWhat does this cartoon tell us about

perceptions of Jackson?

RememberRemember

Context

Audience

Agenda

Misuse of Presidential Power?

Jackson vetoed a dozen pieces of legislation more than the first six presidents put together

In Worchester v. Georgia the Supreme Court ruled that the State of Georgia did not have any jurisdiction over the Cherokees

On hearing of the ruling, the President is said to have replied, ‘John Marshall has made his ruling, now let him enforce it.’

President Andrew Jackson defied the decision of the court and ordered the removal, an act of defiance that established the U.S.

government’s precedent for the removal of Native Americans

Jackson and Indian Removal

Under orders from President Jackson and in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Army began enforcement of the Removal Act.

The Cherokees were rounded up in the summer of 1838 and loaded onto boats that traveled the Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers into Indian Territory. Many were held in prison camps awaiting their fate.

An estimated 4,000 died from hunger, exposure and disease.

Legacy of Andrew Jackson

By the late 1830s, the United States had become a full democracy for adult white males – but not anyone else, especially poor, immigrants, and women.

The emergence of a solid two-party system. The modern Democratic Party was founded under Jackson.

Politics for many men became a career

Sources

ONLINE:

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

http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/bio/public/jackson.htm#Childhood

http://www.nv.cc.va.us/home/nvsageh/Hist121/Part3/AgeofJackson.htm

http://www.boondocksnet.com/editions/bishop/bishop305.html

http://www.cherokee.org/Culture/HistoryPage.asp?ID=2

http://americanindian.ucr.edu/discussions/jackson/views.html

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/057_pra3.html

TEXT:

The American Promise: A History of the United States

Making a Nation: The United States and its People

Nation of Nations: A Concise Narrative of the American Republic

Constructing the American Past

Fathers & Children: Andrew Jackson and the Subjugation of the American Indian by Michael Paul Rogin

The Age of Jackson, Aurther Schlesinger, Jr.

Lecture: “How Common was the Common Man” Kristin Hoganson, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

Assignment

Based on the materials presented, in a short paper, create and defend your interpretation of Andrew Jackson. Was he hero of the common man and democracy or not?

Explain why or why not you think he has been misrepresented historically?