US Presidents For Dummies

by Marcus Stadelmann

  It is unclear exactly where Jackson was born, though Jackson referred to himself as a South Carolinian. Lancaster County, South Carolina and Union County, North Carolina dispute whether Jackson was born in their respective counties. In 1979, local officials in the two counties decided to settle the matter with an annual football game. They play the “Old Hickory Classic,” and whoever wins gets the rights to claim Jackson’s nativity for that year. It is true that his mother gave birth to him in 1767 in a log cabin a few days after Jackson’s father died. Young Andrew received a fairly poor education in a frontier school, and he barely knew how to read and write.

  When the Revolutionary War broke out, Jackson was ready to fight. He joined the South Carolina militia when he was just 13. He was captured by the British, and during his captivity, he refused to clean the boots of a British officer. The officer struck him across the face with a saber, scarring Jackson for life. Life got even worse for the young Jackson: Both his mother and brother caught small pox and died by the time Jackson was 14.

  Jackson moved to Charleston in 1781, where he studied law. In 1787, the North Carolina bar admitted Jackson, and he began his legal career. Bored by his job, he moved west to open a law practice in Nashville. Jackson made a name for himself and became the solicitor- general for the region.

  Going to war

  In 1812, the United States and Britain went to war. Britain aligned itself with several Native American tribes that were also hostile to the United States. One of these tribes, the Creek, massacred 250 settlers in the Mississippi territory. Jackson organized a militia and went after the Native Americans. He found them in 1814. As a gesture of goodwill, he let all the women and children go free. Then he attacked the men, killing more than 800 Creek warriors. Later, he forced the Creek to sign a treaty with the U.S. government, ceding over half of present-day Alabama to the United States.

  Impressed, President Madison appointed Jackson major-general in 1814 and sent him south to defend New Orleans. Jackson organized one of the most unique militias in U.S. history. He recruited frontiersmen, pirates, slaves, Frenchmen, and whomever else he could find. When the British launched a frontal assault on January 8, 1815, Jackson was ready. In the battle of New Orleans, Jackson’s militia killed over 2,000 British soldiers, while losing only 8 men. Jackson was a national hero. (He found out later that he didn’t need to fight that battle — by the time it had taken place, the war was over.)

  Saved by a political enemy

  President Madison named Jackson commander of the army of the southern district where the Seminole tribe, residing in Spanish-controlled Florida, made constant raids into U.S. territory. In 1817, President Monroe instructed Jackson to do whatever was necessary to stop the raids. Jackson pursued the Seminoles into Florida and wiped them out. He also executed two British citizens accused of inciting the Seminoles to make raids against U.S. settlers.

  Both Spain and Britain complained bitterly about Jackson’s behavior. Even some members of Monroe’s cabinet wanted to send Jackson to jail. However, one — just one — member of the cabinet defended Jackson. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, negotiating with Spain for the sale of Florida to the United States, blamed the Spanish for the debacle, arguing that it was Spain’s responsibility to keep the Seminoles in order. He suggested that Spain make amendment by selling Florida to the United States. Adams prevailed, Jackson’s reputation rose, and the United States bought Florida from Spain.

  Even though John Quincy Adams saved Jackson’s job in 1818, the two became bitter enemies. Adams beat Jackson in a bitterly contested election for the presidency in 1824, and Jackson beat Adams four years later. Jackson blamed Adams and his supporters for the death of his wife, while Adams considered Jackson unfit for the presidency. To quote Adams, Jackson was “. . . a barbarian who could not write a sentence of grammar and hardly could spell his name.”

  Suffering through the Stolen Election of 1824

  After acquiring Florida from Spain, President Monroe appointed Jackson governor of Florida. Jackson wasn’t happy in the job — he left office after serving for just four months. He returned home to Tennessee and was appointed to the U.S. Senate for the second time in 1823. A group of Jackson’s supporters were planning to have him run for president, and a national-level office was the first step.

  Many members of Congress disliked Jackson, and he had no real political base. However, the average citizen identified with his impoverished background, the rough times he experienced, and the hard work he put in. Jackson didn’t care about the wealthy elite in the North and South. His dream was to serve the common man.

  By the time Jackson ran for the presidency in 1824, the electoral process had changed. Previously, state legislatures decided who won the state, and many states had given this power to the people. Further, the property requirements necessary to vote had disappeared, giving every white male the vote in most states. Jackson won the states where the people selected the president but lost most of the states where the state legislatures picked the president.

  In the 1824 election, Jackson came in first, winning the popular vote and 99 Electoral College votes. But it wasn’t enough. With no candidate winning a majority (131) of the Electoral College votes, the election went to the House of Representatives, where each state had one vote. The Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, who came in fourth in the presidential race, threw his support behind John Quincy Adams who had come in second. With Clay’s support, Adams won the presidency.

  So, despite coming in first and winning the popular vote, Jackson lost the presidency. When the new president appointed former opponent Henry Clay as his secretary of state, Jackson and his supporters cried foul, accusing Adams of a corrupt bargain. Bitter over their candidate’s loss, Jackson’s supporters left the Republican Party and formed the Jacksonian Democrats. The party platform represented the common man and called for

  Liberalizing electoral laws

  Opposing tariffs (because the average person wanted to buy cheap foreign goods)

  Favoring states’ rights over the federal government

  Dueling for his lady’s honor

  Andrew Jackson, while living in Nashville, met and married the love of his life, Rachel Donelson Robards. Their marriage was a happy but tragic one.

  Rachel was married but separated from her husband when she met Jackson. Jackson and Rachel married in 1791, believing that her husband had signed divorce papers. When Jackson found out that Rachel was still legally married to her former husband when she and Jackson got married, he married her again in 1793.

  Unfortunately, the scandal followed Jackson throughout his political career. Jackson was very sensitive about the issue, and he often challenged men he believed had insulted his wife to duel.

  During his 1828 campaign for the presidency, Jackson’s marriage became a campaign issue. Pamphlets attacking Rachel were distributed. Rachel’s distress over the pamphlets contributed to the heart attack that killed her. Jackson blamed his opponent and never got over Rachel’s death.

  President Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)

  After the bitter experience of losing the presidency in 1824, Jackson, shown in Figure 6-1, challenged the incumbent President Adams — this time with a new political party behind him. He ran as a candidate of the people, painting Adams as a candidate of the wealthy. He especially focused on the Tariff of Abominations, which hurt the average citizen by increasing duties on imports. Adams never had a chance. When the vote was in, Jackson received 178 electoral votes to Adams’s 83.

  Figure 6-1: Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States.

  Courtesy of the Library of Congress

  Andrew Jackson was truly a president of the people. He believed that government needed to look after the people who needed the most help — poor, hard-working U.S. citizens. He wanted to be a president for the poor rather than the rich. At the same time, if you were a friend or a supporter of Jackson, you could expect handsome rewards.

  And
rew Jackson took the rewarding of political friends to new heights. He believed in the spoils system, which refers to the system of rewarding political friends and supporters with public jobs. (See the “The spoils system” sidebar in Chapter 11 for more on this.)

  Jackson’s inauguration almost resulted in the destruction of the White House. He opened the White House for a reception for the “common man,” who, after consuming too much alcohol, roamed through the presidential mansion destroying everything in sight. Jackson snuck out of a window to avoid the chaos and spent inauguration night in a hotel.

  Dealing with states’ rights and tariffs

  Andrew Jackson’s first great political challenge occurred in the early 1830s. He urged Congress to eliminate the Tariff of Abominations, which levied high duties on foreign goods. In 1832, Congress lowered the tariff but didn’t abolish it, giving Southern states reason to complain.

  South Carolina pushed specifically for nullification of the tariff and passed an ordinance of nullification in 1833, declaring the federal tariff void in that state. In addition, South Carolina proclaimed that if the federal government wouldn’t allow it to nullify the tariffs, it would secede.

  Although Jackson supported states rights, he saw this as an act of treason. He told the state’s leaders that he would do whatever was necessary to preserve the Union — including using force. Ironically, his old enemy Henry Clay came to the rescue. Clay proposed a new tariff that was acceptable to everyone, including the Southern states. South Carolina repealed its ordinance of nullification, and a civil war was narrowly avoided.

  Hating banks

  Throughout his life, Jackson hated banks. He considered them unnecessary and felt that they only cheated average citizens. In particular, he despised the National Bank of the United States. If it was necessary to have banks, Jackson believed that states, not the federal government, should control them.

  The charter of the National Bank was not up for renewal until 1836. But the banks supporters, mostly National Republicans, introduced legislation to renew it early — a horrible political move, as it turned out. Congress passed the bill renewing the charter in 1832, but it faced a president openly opposed to it. To no one’s surprise, Jackson vetoed the bill. (Jackson was not afraid to use his veto powers. In fact, he cast more vetoes than all of his predecessors combined.) Jackson decided to go after the bank itself, believing that the bank was a center of corruption and that the man in charge, Nicholas Biddle, used the bank to give rich friends low- or no-interest loans. Jackson curtailed the bank’s functions, refusing to put more money into it. He withdrew money from the bank and put it into state banks.

  In 1834, the Senate censured Jackson for his actions, but because the House voted to support him, the Senate’s censure didn’t faze him at all. The National Bank reacted by calling in loans it had given to state banks. The attempt to punish Jackson by limiting the supply of money in the United States forced the country into a recession. Jackson blamed the National Bank and its supporters, and the public backed him. With Jackson opposed to the National Bank, Congress did not renew the Bank’s charter, and it went under in 1836.

  Jackson’s hatred for the National Bank resulted in economic chaos. He put most of the federal money into state banks, and they in turn loaned out the money. These smaller banks didn’t have gold and silver reserves to back up their loans. Inflation set in, and paper money became worthless. In 1836, Jackson proclaimed that public lands could only be paid for with gold and silver. This resulted in the panic of 1837, which I discuss in the next chapter.

  The sale of public land in the western parts of the United States led to a big budget surplus. Jackson used this surplus to pay off the national debt, making him the only president in U.S. history to do so.

  Forcing Native Americans west

  The most controversial policies of the Jackson administration were ones directed toward Native Americans. Jackson developed an intense dislike for Native American tribes after he experienced the brutality of several tribes early in his military career. As president, he supported the forced resettlement of many tribes.

  When the state of Georgia insisted that the Cherokee nation abide by the laws of Georgia, as well as hand over its lands to the state, Jackson didn’t interfere. He believed that the United States needed to expand. He also believed that if Native Americans stood in the way of the expansion, they needed to be removed. He officially claimed that the federal government had no jurisdiction over state matters in this case and refused to aid the Cherokee.

  The Cherokee appealed to the Supreme Court. In the case of Worcester vs. Georgia in 1832, Chief Justice Marshall ruled that only the federal government, not the states, had jurisdiction over Native American tribes. So the Cherokee were bound only by federal law — not state law.

  Jackson was so upset that he said, “John Marshall made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” Without the power to enforce the decision, the Supreme Court’s ruling was ignored, and the Cherokee were removed from their homeland. The U.S. government forced the Cherokee to march 800 miles from Georgia to the tribe’s new homeland — a reservation in present day Oklahoma. Literally thousands died on the way.

  Native Americans gave Andrew Jackson the nickname “Long Knife” for his brutality towards them.

  In 1830, Congress and President Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act, and the U.S. government established the Bureau of Indian Affairs to handle all Native American issues. The Removal Act demanded the removal of many Native American tribes east of the Mississippi. When tribes refused to leave their homelands, Jackson and the military responded brutally. This brutality resulted in the Black Hawk War of 1832, when the Sac and Fox nations refused to voluntarily leave their homelands in present-day Wisconsin.

  In 1834, Congress and President Jackson decided to create a land for Native Americans to inhabit. They established the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma. Not surprisingly, most tribes weren’t eager to leave their homelands. The conflict resulted in a forced resettlement of Native Americans and in the famous Trail of Tears. Not many U.S. citizens opposed Jackson’s policies toward Native Americans. The country was ready to move westward. Some notable critics included Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. Clay even thought Jackson’s policies represented a stain on U.S. history.

  The Trail of Tears

  The divisive Indian Removal Act of 1830 provided that Native Americans move or be moved to western lands, notably the Indian Territory established in what is today Oklahoma. (Davy Crockett, a representative from Tennessee, resigned in protest when the act passed.)

  The Cherokee Nation, long established in Georgia, fought the act, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court decided in Worcester versus Georgia that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign and not subject to the provisions of the Indian Removal Act — they would have to agree to move.

  Though the majority of Cherokee were opposed to moving, in 1835, leaders of a faction of the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty with the U.S. government agreeing to removal from Georgia to the new Indian Territory in Oklahoma. The treaty was ratified by one vote in the Senate and General John Wool was ordered to begin the move. He resigned his commission rather than do so, but in 1838 General Winfield Scott and 7,000 troops began rounding up Cherokee citizens in makeshift forts before forcing them to travel, mostly on foot, 1,000 miles to Oklahoma.

  Lack of food and the indifference of Scott and his troops contributed to the deaths of more than 4,000 of the approximately 15,000 Cherokee who were compelled to move from their homeland, and the march from Georgia to Oklahoma became known as the Trail of Tears.

  Getting tough with France

  The Jackson era didn’t bring much to the realm of foreign policy, with one major exception. In 1831, France, acting in accordance with international law, agreed to pay for the damages it caused to U.S. ships during the Napoleonic Wars. (The French plundered American ships during the Napoleonic Wars.) France didn’t make good on this promise unt
il 1834, when Jackson cut off diplomatic relations with France and threatened to seize all French property in the United States. France finally caved in and paid the damages.

  Cruising towards reelection

  The election of 1832 is a landmark election in U.S. history for one major reason — party conventions, not members of Congress, chose the candidates for the presidency. The convention system replaced “King Caucus,” which allowed the parties in Congress to nominate candidates.

  The election itself was no cliffhanger. Andrew Jackson was the nominee for the Democratic Party. Henry Clay got the nod from the opposing party, the National Republicans (which would become the Whigs by 1834). Jackson slaughtered Clay in the voting booth. Jackson ended up winning 219 Electoral College votes to Clay’s 49.

  Deciding what to do with Texas

  The question of what to do with Texas rattled several presidents. John Quincy Adams tried to buy it from Mexico, but the Mexicans refused his $1 million offer. Andrew Jackson upped the ante to $5 million, but Mexico still wouldn’t bite. Texas turned into a major headache for Jackson.