7. ANDREW JACKSON 1829-1837
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 officeholding. 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.
