I drew a caricature of Andrew Jackson recently. I wound up giving him a tougher look than you see in his portraits circa 1835.
He became frail in later life, which is when those portraits were painted. He had a fiery temper, and in his prime, as an army general, was nicknamed “Old Hickory,” after the wood known for its strength and toughness.
After reading about him, I decided he needed a sterner eyebrow.
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was the seventh president of the United States (1829-1837).
Today, he’s probably remembered for two things: beating the British at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and being the guy on the $20 bill.
He led a colorful and tempestuous life. Here are a few highlights.
1. He was Irish. His parents were both Irish immigrants.
2. He’s the only president to have been a prisoner of war.
His father died in a logging accident shortly before he was born. During the Revolutionary War, he joined a local militia at age 13 and served as a courier.
He and his brother Robert were captured by the British in 1781. A British officer slashed Jackson’s left hand and face when Jackson refused to polish his boots.
The brothers were released as part of a prisoner exchange, but both his brother and mother died shortly thereafter. He was orphaned at 14.
3. He killed a man in a duel in 1806.
Charles Dickinson was a Tennessee lawyer with a reputation as an expert marksman. He accused Jackson of reneging on a bet. After a further exchange of insults, Jackson challenged Dickinson to a duel.
Dickinson fired first, hitting Jackson in the chest. Jackson put his hand over the wound and stayed standing long enough to fire his pistol and fatally wound Dickinson. Jackson carried the bullet near his heart for the rest of his life.
4. Jackson rose to national fame when he defeated a much bigger British force at New Orleans in January, 1815. It was the final battle in the War of 1812.
The great irony: the battle took place two weeks after Britain and the U.S. had signed a peace treaty in Belgium. Neither side had gotten the news.
5. Jackson is generally acknowledged as the first “people’s president,” meaning he wasn’t a political insider, a member of the East Coast elite.
A huge crowd descended on Washington to cheer their hero at his inauguration in 1829. Things got a little rowdy.
Margaret Smith, a society matron at the time, describes the scene at the White House:
“But what a scene did we witness!… the whole house had been inundated by the rabble mob… Cut glass and china to the amount of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle to get the refreshments…
Ladies fainted, men were seen with bloody noses and such a scene of confusion took place as is impossible to describe…
“Ladies and gentlemen only had been expected… not the people en masse. But it was the People’s day, and the People’s President and the People would rule.”
I have a feeling Hillary Clinton would have called them deplorables.
6. Jackson had a pet parrot named Poll. He bought the parrot, an African Gray, in 1827. Parrots can live 50 years or more, and Poll was still alive and well when Jackson died in 1845.
The funeral was held at The Hermitage, Jackson’s home in Tennessee. Poll was in attendance, and he cursed and swore
so loudly, he had to be removed.
The Reverend William Menefee Norment described the incident:
“Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing… and had to be carried from the house…
(the bird) let loose perfect gusts of cuss words… (people were) horrified and awed at the bird’s lack of reverence.”
7. Jackson survived the first-ever attempted assassination of a president.
Jackson attended a congressman’s funeral in the Capitol Building on January 30, 1835. As he exited the building, a house painter named Richard Lawrence pulled a derringer single-shot pistol and fired at Jackson from only feet away. The cap of the pistol detonated, but the powder failed to ignite and discharge the bullet.
He pulled a second pistol, which also misfired. Jackson, who was 67 years old and frail from illness and injuries, charged Lawrence and beat him with his cane. Bystanders tackled Lawrence, and the president was hustled away.
“The pistols were examined,” U.S. Senator Thomas Hart Benton later wrote, “and found to be well loaded and fired afterwards without fail, carrying their bullets true, and driving them through inch boards at thirty feet.”
One theory: it was a damp and misty day, and the dampness may have prevented the powder in the pistols from igniting. The odds of both guns misfiring is estimated to be about 125,000 to 1.
8. Jackson distrusted banks, and after being reelected in 1832, he killed off what was then the National Bank by vetoing legislation to renew its charter.
He also distrusted paper money because he’d once accepted paper notes when he sold some land. The buyers went bankrupt, and the notes became worthless. He never accepted paper money again.
He’d be livid to think he wound up on the $20 bill.
A few personal reflections:
My grandmother was an Irish immigrant. No fiery temper, though. She was as sweet as all the pies she used to bake.
Jackson grew up without a father, was a prisoner of war, got slashed with a sword, and was orphaned at 14.
He would have had no counseling as we know it today. I’m sure his childhood experiences scarred him for life.
We don’t duel with pistols anymore. Nowadays, we use social media to kill (cancel) people. Since it’s bloodless killing, we can pretend we’re civilized.
The fact that the Battle of New Orleans was fought after a peace treaty was signed is one of the few things I remember from my eighth grade American History class.
Without the battle that made him a national hero, it’s unlikely there would have been a Jackson presidency.
History would have been different. Life is a strange and tenuous business.
There have always been elites who believe they were born
to rule. True today more than ever. It affects how you treat people. And people notice.
Hooray for Poll the Parrot! I’m no fan of bad language. I am, however, a big fan of the absurdities of life.
To think the weather may have prevented an assassination.
I guess damp, rainy days have their place. 125,000 to 1. Hmm… the luck of the Irish, maybe?
Once bitten, twice shy. A bad experience with paper money killed off the National Bank which helped cause a 5-year depression after Jackson left office.
Bad experiences create biases, and we all have them. Part of the invisible baggage we carry around. We should stop and take inventory more often.
