Andrew Jackson was born in the colony of South Carolina on 15 March 1867
three weeks after his father’s death.
His mother Elizabeth wanted him to be a minister, and she helped him
get education where he could learn some Greek and Latin.
He was brought up as a Christian, and he only went to church occasionally.
He read the Bible and the Vicar of Wakefield.
Elizabeth urged Andrew and his brother Hugh to get military training,
and they joined the South Carolina militia in 1780.
Andrew and his brother Robert became couriers, and they were captured in April 1781.
Andrew wrote about his time as a prisoner of war and how he was exchanged
with help from Elizabeth who served American prisoners on British ships.
Robert died of cholera, and Andrew survived.
He was grateful for how his mother taught him.
He went to a school in 1782 and began teaching in North Carolina in 1783.
He bought land in 1785.
Andrew helped protect the community by fighting hostile Indians.
Four commissioners made a treaty with the Cherokees
at the Hopewell plantation in November 1785.
Andrew Jackson studied law, and he became an attorney in November 1787.
He quarreled with Col. Avery, and they fought a duel that hurt neither one.
In October 1788 Jackson moved to Nashville, Tennessee,
and on November 3 he became a judge.
On 13 February 1789 he wrote to Brigadier General Daniel Smith
about making peace with Indians.
President George Washington made General Smith in 1790
Secretary of the old Southwest Territory.
In February 1791 Jackson became Attorney General in the Mero District,
and in September 1792 he was elected Judge Advocate for the Davidson County militia.
Treaties were made with Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.
Governor William Blount advised Secretary of War Henry Knox
to rely on Judge Advocate Jackson.
He fell in love with Rachel Donelson, and after they heard of her divorce,
they married in January 1794.
John McKee lived with Cherokees, and on May 16 Jackson wrote to him
about making peace with Southern Indians.
That year Jackson paid property tax on his ten slaves,
and he made land deals with his partner John Overton in 1795.
Jackson was elected a delegate to the Tennessee
Constitutional Convention that met in January 1796.
He wrote a Remonstrance to the Assembly of Tennessee in April.
In June Tennessee became the sixteenth state in the Union.
Jackson was elected to the only Tennessee seat in the U. S. House of Representatives,
and in November he lost an election to be the Major General of the Tennessee Militia.
Jackson warned President Washington and War Secretary Knox
that 1,200 Indians had attacked the militia in 1793.
In January 1797 Jackson wrote a report for the U. S. Congress on frontier violence,
and he wrote letters to Major General Sevier.
In September 1797 the Tennessee Legislature
elected Jackson to the United States Senate.
In December he provided a report on land fraud in Nashville.
In January 1798 he wrote letters to the Indian Commissioner
James Robertson and his friends Overton and Robert Hays.
In February he wrote to Speaker William Blount of the Tennessee Senate.
Jackson opposed policies of President John Adams
and resigned from the U. S. Senate in April 1798.
Governor John Sevier chose Jackson to be
Tennessee’s Superior Court Judge in June 1798,
and he held that position for six years.
In September Jackson organized the first Masonic Lodge in Nashville.
In February 1802 Jackson defeated Governor Sevier
to become Major General of the Tennessee Militia.
Jackson was also an agent for the sale of 85,000 acres of land by Duck River.
He helped promote Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in July 1803.
Jackson exposed Governor Sevier’s corrupt warrants,
and in August he wrote to President Thomas Jefferson who wrote back in September.
Jackson had boats built for a possible war against Spain,
and he wrote to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in November.
In July 1804 Jackson resigned as a judge
to operate a store with John Coffee and John Hutchings.
Aaron Burr visited Jackson in August 1805.
In a duel on 30 May 1806 Jackson was shot in the chest and killed the other man,
and the bullet stayed near his heart for the rest of his life.
In October 1806 he wrote to the Generals in the Tennessee Militia,
and on November 12 he wrote to Governor Claiborne of the Orleans Territory.
Jackson also wrote a short letter to President Jefferson.
Jackson offered to provide ships for Burr, and
after a jury acquitted Burr, Jackson sent the ships to him.
Jackson considered General Wilkinson a traitor.
President Jefferson wrote to Jackson in December.
In early January Jackson began preparing to oppose the Burr conspiracy,
and he wrote a long letter to Governor Claiborne.
Jackson wrote a letter defending himself against charges he had helped Burr’s conspiracy.
President Jefferson had Burr arrested in February 1807,
and Jackson wrote to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn on March 17.
Jackson wrote to President Jefferson about national defense on 20 April 1808.
Tennessee’s Governor John Sevier wrote a long letter to Jackson on 12 January 1809,
and four days later Jackson made a speech to citizens in Nashville.
Major General Jackson issued orders in February.
He wrote to the new Governor of Tennessee Willie Blount in February 1810.
Jackson sent out Division Orders to James Winchester in November 1811,
and he also wrote to Governor William H. Harrison in the Indiana Territory.
In January 1812 Jackson had 20 taxable slaves,
and on March 7 he called “Volunteers to Arms.”
He wrote to Governor Blount again in June and discussed the Creeks, Cherokees,
and Chickasaws, and he asked for 2,500 volunteers.
He wrote to the Chickasaw Chief George Colbert on June 5.
One week later the U. S. Congress declared war against Britain,
and Jackson wrote to Governor Blount again.
Jackson sent out division orders in August.
Gov. Blount wrote to Jackson and told him to organize regiments.
Jackson informed soldiers of the policies.
Blount advised Jackson not to injure peaceful Indians.
At the end of 1812 Jackson issued General Orders regarding Martial Law.
In January 1813 Major General Jackson directed his army
of over one thousand men toward New Orleans.
He wrote to President James Madison on March 15 and discussed various issues.
On that day he also wrote a short letter to
James Wilkinson and a longer one to Gov. Blount.
Jackson’s army camped near Natchez.
Jackson in September supported Carroll in a duel against the Bentons.
Jackson was seriously wounded, and he would not let doctors amputate his arm.
That bullet remained in his body for 20 years.
After the Creeks attacked settlers, Jackson issued General Orders.
Governor Blount ordered Jackson to raise two thousand men,
and he was authorized to call out 3,500.
General Jackson took command of the forces at Fayetteville in October,
and he asked for more men.
Jackson sent 200 cavalry to attack a Creek village, and Cherokees scouted for them.
Col. Dyer had his men steal cattle and other food before burning the town.
On November 3 General John Coffee’s Brigade
defeated another Creek village with few casualties.
Jackson informed Gov. Blount that they had avenged the massacre at Fort Mims.
Jackson and his wife Rachel adopted the orphan boy Lyncoya,
and they made him a member of their family.
On November 9 Jackson led an attack on Creeks called “Red Sticks” near Talladega.
He sent a long report to Governor Blount.
Jackson and others acquired 45,000 acres in northern Alabama.
He believed the tribes could not survive where they were,
and he promised them land in the territories.
Jackson sent lengthy reports to Governor Blount.
In January 1814 about 800 more troops joined them.
Jackson by March had 2,000 infantry, 700 cavalry and some 600 warriors on their side
from the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks.
They defeated the Red Sticks at Horseshoe Bend on March 27.
In April the Creeks fled toward the south.
Jackson called for a meeting with Creek chiefs at Fort Jackson in July,
and they signed a treaty on August 9.
Friendly Creeks ceded 23 million acres while others went to Florida.
Jackson got the Chickasaws to give up much land in October.
Spain lost part of East and West Florida to the United States in 1810 and 1813.
Jackson was near Mobile in August, and he wrote to Governor Claiborne of Louisiana
and Gonzalez Manrique, the Spanish Governor of West Florida.
From Mobile he wrote to Secretary of State James Monroe on September 5.
Major General Andrew Jackson on September 21 issued
a Proclamation to the People of Louisiana and on the same day another one
to the Free Colored Inhabitants of Louisiana.
Monroe wrote back to Jackson with instructions.
Jackson in October 1814 explained to Monroe why he acted
without waiting for government orders, and he suggested improvements.
Jackson addressed his troops in New Orleans on 18 December 1814.
More than 2,000 militia from Kentucky arrived on 4 January 1815.
Jackson reported to Monroe how they were
defending New Orleans from the attacking British.
On January 25 he asked for 5,000 regular troops.
Jackson in February advised Monroe that they needed to protect Mobile.
Jackson also corresponded with the new Secretary of War Alexander J. Dallas.
After defeating the British at New Orleans,
the victorious Jackson made a farewell speech on March 21.
By September 4 Jackson was in Nashville, and
he sent an address to the Creeks as his “Friends and Brothers.”
Jackson wrote to the new Secretary of War William H. Crawford on 17 December 1815.
In January and February 1816 General John Coffee wrote to Major General Jackson
about how he was drawing lines for borders with Cherokees.
Jackson wrote to South Carolina’s Governor David R. Williams on February 9, and
four days later Jackson wrote to Coffee and urged him to write to the other commissioners.
Secretary of War Crawford wrote to General Jackson on March 15.
Jackson from New Orleans on April 8 wrote to General Gaines about Pensacola,
and on April 23 Jackson wrote to the Pensacola Commandant Mauricio de Zuñiga.
Jackson went home to his Hermitage and wrote to President James Monroe
on May 12 about the Cherokees’ convention, and he made a treaty with the Creeks
that opened land for the United States.
Jackson criticized Secretary of War Crawford.
On June 4 Captain Ferdinand Amelung wrote
to Jackson that Pensacola was not defended.
Jackson from Nashville on June 10, 13 and 16 wrote to Secretary of War Crawford
about the Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Cherokees.
On July 8 Jackson wrote a longer letter to Secretary of State James Monroe
and praised the work of General Coffee.
Jackson, David Meriwether and Jesse Franklin were made Commissioners
to negotiate with Cherokees and the Chickasaws,
and Jackson wrote to General Coffee on July 19.
Troops and Creeks led by Generals Jackson and Gaines
defeated Choctaws and slaves at the Negro Fort on July 27.
Jackson at the Chickasaw Council House on September 19 wrote to General Coffee.
The next day Jackson completed a treaty with the Chickasaws.
On October 23 Jackson began writing a series of letters to Secretary of State Monroe,
and the U. S. Senate ratified the treaties with the tribes by the end of the year 1816.
General Jackson wrote to the Acting Secretary of War
George Graham on 14 January 1817.
Jackson was helping his nephew Andrew Jackson Donelson become educated,
and he graduated from West Point in 1817.
On March 4 Jackson in a letter congratulated President Monroe who was beginning
his first term, and on March 18 Jackson commended Monroe for choosing
the capable John Quincy Adams as the new Secretary of State.
On April 18 seven Cherokee chiefs living by the Arkansas River
wrote to General Jackson and Col. Meigs who was the Indian Agent
to the Cherokees from 1801 to 1823.
General Jackson from Nashville issued a Division Order on 22 April 1817.
Col. Meigs wrote to General Jackson on May 24.
Jackson on June 21 wrote to General Coffee and Col. Robert Butler.
More than 3,000 Cherokees had crossed the Mississippi River
and settled by the Arkansas River by 1817.
Jackson on July 4 spoke to the Cherokees at their Council House about
the treaty the Commissioners had negotiated that the Cherokees signed on July 8.
They ceded two million acres in Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to the United States
in exchange for that amount of land west of the Mississippi River.
Jackson explained the treaty to General Coffee in his letter on July 13.
Also in 1817 Jackson’s friend John Eaton published The Life of Andrew Jackson.
That year Jackson sold forty slaves for $24,000.
On October 5 President Monroe wrote a long letter to Jackson,
and he replied on October 22.
John C. Calhoun became Secretary of War on December 8, and he directed
General Gaines to remove Seminoles from ceded land that
began the First Seminole War on December 26.
On that day Secretary of War Calhoun wrote a letter to General Jackson.
General Coffee had a road built from Nashville to New Orleans
that was begun in June 1817 and completed in January 1819.
On 6 January 1818 General Jackson wrote another letter to President Monroe,
and he confirmed the effort to take Amelia Island.
Jackson proposed that he could take over both East and West Florida in 60 days.
Calhoun’s orders reached Jackson on January 11, and the next day
he wrote to Calhoun that he did not have a recent report from General Gaines.
Jackson noted that he had told Georgia’s Governor
to keep a thousand men in the field under General Gaines.
Jackson asked for Topographical information on the Seminoles.
On January 21 Major General Jackson wrote to President Monroe how he was
preparing for conflict and that he would implement the President’s order the next day.
Jackson led 1,000 militia, and 46 days later they reached Fort Scott.
On January 30 Monroe ordered that Spanish troops were not to be attacked,
but Secretary Calhoun never sent that order.
Secretary of State Adams was negotiating with Spain on the Floridas.
Jackson’s army on March 14 found 50 fresh scalps at Fort Fowltown.
Jackson ordered the fort rebuilt as Fort Gadsden.
In April the Creek Chief William McIntosh led 1,400 Creek warriors,
and they captured 238 Seminoles at Red Ground and then burned the town.
On April 6 the Spaniards surrendered their St. Mark’s Fort.
General Jackson sent a report to Secretary of War Calhoun on April 8.
Two Seminole chiefs were tricked into surrendering and were hanged on that day.
Jackson moved his army east and with McIntosh’s warriors they defeated enemy Creeks.
Jackson ordered over 300 houses burned, and they stole the livestock.
On April 20 Jackson wrote to Calhoun about St. Marks.
When Chehaw allies were killed by mistake,
Jackson gave Chehaws $8,000 as compensation.
Jackson insisted that only his orders were to be followed.
Governor Rabun of Georgia was upset that Jackson
had taken the Georgia militia without his consent.
General Gaines tried Ambrister and Arbuthnot by court martial,
and they were convicted and executed.
Jackson had left 200 troops at St. Mark’s,
and he led 1,200 soldiers back to Fort Gadsden.
On 5 May 1818 General Jackson sent a
detailed report to Secretary of War Calhoun.
On May 13 President Monroe and his Cabinet decided that
Americans could stay in Florida until Spain had garrisons.
Seminoles supported the invasion of West Florida,
and the Spanish Governor Masot surrendered on May 26.
President Monroe ordered Spanish officers restored
because the U. S. Congress had not declared war.
Jackson persuaded the Chickasaws to sell one third of Tennessee,
and the U. S. Senate censured Jackson.
He learned that Seminoles were gathering at Pensacola,
and he invaded West Florida and attacked Pensacola on May 24.
Governor Masot surrendered the fort on May 28,
and Jackson sent him and the garrison to Havana.
He appointed Col. William King governor, and on June 2 General Jackson
proclaimed that the Seminole War was over; he notified Monroe that
Americans had occupied the forts of St. Mark’s, Gadsden, and Barrancas.
His June 2 letter was sent from Fort Montgomery.
Newspapers exposed the killing of the British Arbuthnot and Ambrister.
Monroe and his Cabinet met on July 15,
and only John Quincy Adams supported Jackson.
Monroe restored Spanish authority in Florida
and wrote to General Jackson on July 19.
Jackson sent reports to President Monroe on August 10 and 19.
Georgia’s Governor Rabun wrote to Jackson on September 1,
and Alabama’s Governor William W. Bibb
sent a letter to General Jackson on October 1.
Jackson negotiated a treaty in which the Chickasaws sold much land,
and it was signed on October 19; Secretary of War Calhoun praised the cession,
and the United States Senate finally ratified that treaty on 6 January 1819.
Jackson’s friend Sam Houston had been living with the Cherokees for three years,
and in 1818 he was made a federal agent to help emigrating Cherokees.
On 10 January 1819 the House of Representatives Speaker Henry Clay
spoke for two hours criticizing the behavior of General Jackson.
On January 30 the U. S. Congress ratified the Anglo-American Convention
that gave back Pensacola and St. Mark’s Fort to Spain.
On February 5 General Jackson wrote a lengthy letter
to Secretary of War Calhoun justifying his actions.
The United States continued to occupy Fort Gadsden.
On February 8 the U. S. House of Representatives voted to reject the charges
made against General Jackson, though the United States Senate censured him.
A treaty between the United States and Spain was signed on February 22,
and the U. S. Senate finally ratified it on 19 February 1821.
John McKee was an agent who helped the Cherokees and the Choctaws,
and Jackson wrote to him on 22 April 1819.
In that spring President Monroe toured the South and then met Andrew Jackson
in Nashville and let him join the tour in Kentucky.
On July 5 Jackson and seven others at Lexington gave a letter to President Monroe
who sent it to Secretary Calhoun.
On August 13 McKee sent a letter to General Jackson from the Choctaw Council.
Jackson on September 25 wrote to William Williams about the Chickasaw Treaty.
Former President Thomas Jefferson wrote to General Jackson on November 22.
Andrew Jackson wrote to President Monroe on November 29
and complained about Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford.
In January 1820 Major General Jackson was concerned about
threats from Spain and wrote to President Monroe.
Jackson wrote Secretary of War Calhoun on June 19 and again on the next day,
and he urged the United States to take possession of Florida.
In the summer Jackson went to Tennessee’s capital Murfreesboro
to oppose a state bank, and he was concerned that the government
was too weak to handle the Indian tribes.
On September 28 General Jackson visited the Choctaw Treaty Ground,
and on October 3 he wrote a letter to Choctaws.
Major General Jackson from his headquarters at Nashville on 1 January 1821
wrote to President James Monroe about the Floridas and the state of Missouri.
On January 8 Creeks’ delegates ceded some tribal land in Georgia.
General Jackson wrote another letter to President Monroe on January 12.
Jackson met with a delegation of Cherokees on January 18 and
shook hands with them and wished them happiness.
On the same day Jackson wrote to Secretary of War Calhoun about the Cherokees,
Creeks, and Choctaws, and he urged them to trade their land for territory in Arkansas.
On February 11 Jackson wrote to Monroe and declined to be governor of a territory.
Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote to
Jackson on March 12 and urged him to be the Governor of the Florida Territory,
and on March 23 Adams explained that
East and West Florida had been ceded to the United States,
and he addressed his letter to “Governor Jackson.”
Jackson and his wife Rachel left Nashville on April 14
and went to New Orleans on April 22.
Two days later Jackson wrote a letter to Secretary Adams
and discussed how he could get funds for the Floridas.
Jackson resigned his army commission on June 1,
and he wrote to Adams again on July 17.
The next day Jackson wrote to General John Coffee from Pensacola.
Jackson governed Florida from March until the end of the 1821.
He respected the rights of all freemen,
though he wanted the 3,899 natives to leave Florida in 1822.
Jackson wrote again to Adams on 26 August 1821 and
enclosed controversial documents that he summarized.
Governor Jackson talked to Indian Chiefs at Pensacola on September 20,
and the text was published.
Secretary of War Calhoun on September 28 selected Jackson and Captain Bell
to be agents to the Seminoles, though Bell was suspended.
Jackson wrote a short letter to President Monroe and assured him that
East Florida would be governed well.
Jackson returned to Nashville on November 7.
He resigned six days later, and Monroe accepted it on December 1.
Jackson completed a 7-page report to Secretary of State Adams on November 22.
Jackson wrote to President Monroe on 22 January 1822
about what was in the news about his governorship.
On January 31 Jackson from his Hermitage wrote to
Secretary of State Adams to clear up loose ends.
On February 6 he wrote a short letter to retired Thomas Jefferson.
Jackson wrote a rather long letter to President Monroe
on March 19 about writings by the Judge Fromentine.
On May 3 Jackson wrote about politics in a letter to Col. Gadsden,
and he gave advice to his nephew Andrew Jackson Donelson on May 20.
Jackson was for equal rights for all freemen including Indians,
though he treated them like they were dependents.
The historian James Parton who wrote the Life of Jackson
in three volumes noted that Major William B. Lewis
was the closest advisor to President Jackson.
On June 28 Jackson wrote in a private letter to War Secretary Calhoun
about the problems with Treasury Secretary William Crawford.
On July 27 a caucus in both houses of the Tennessee Legislature
endorsed Andrew Jackson for President.
On August 3 Sam Houston from Tennessee’s capital at Murfreesboro
wrote a substantial letter to Jackson noting those nominations.
On 10 January 1823 Andrew Jackson wrote a letter
to his friend John Coffee and discussed the farming of cotton.
Jackson in a letter to President Monroe on February 19 explained
why he would not accept being the ambassador to Mexico.
On March 10 Jackson wrote to John Coffee about electoral politics
and the problems of Crawford and Henry Clay.
Jackson on March 15 discussed the Mexico issue in a letter to John Quincy Adams.
Secretary of War Calhoun wrote to Andrew Jackson
on March 30 on political subjects.
Col. Gadsden in St. Augustine on July 30 wrote
a letter to Andrew Jackson about current politics.
On July 31 Secretary of War Calhoun wrote to Jackson on Clay and Crawford.
On August 12 Jackson responded to Calhoun’s letter and discussed how the
Commissioners treat with the Indians in Florida.
Jackson on August 30 was elected Vice President of the Nashville Bible Society.
The Quaker Benjamin Lundy had published Genius of Universal Emancipation
in January 1821, and he wrote to Jackson about political issues on 4 September 1823.
He asked if Jackson was a friend of “universal liberty.”
On September 18 the U. S. Commissioners negotiated with the Seminoles,
and they signed the Moultrie Creek Treaty.
The Tennessee Legislature elected Jackson their
United States Senator again on 1 October 1823.
On October 5 Jackson wrote to General John Coffee about getting votes.
Jackson wrote to President Monroe on October 10 about various current issues.
On 2 December 1823 President Monroe in his Annual Message to Congress
explained the Monroe Doctrine that advises European powers
not to interfere with the western hemisphere.
Jackson went to Washington and took his seat
in the United States Senate on December 5.
On 16 January 1824 the Maine Legislature
nominated John Quincy Adams for President.
The Congressional caucus endorsed William H. Crawford on February 14.
The next day Jackson wrote a letter to John Coffee and noted that
Crawford got 64 votes out of 66, and the other two were sick or dead.
Jackson stated that he had become a philosopher,
and he warned that liberties could be destroyed.
Yet he still had confidence in the people.
On February 22 Jackson wrote to his friend William Berkeley Lewis,
and he discussed a letter he had written to Monroe in 1816 or 1817
that had got into the wrong hands.
He confirmed that they are all Federalists and Republicans.
Also on February 22 President Monroe wrote to Senator Jackson,
and he discussed what a President should be.
He wrote that he had worked to reduce party spirit to enable republican government.
The Nashville Republican began publishing on February 28,
and they favored Jackson for President.
On March 4 the Pennsylvania Convention of Democratic Republicans at Harrisburg
chose Andrew Jackson for President.
On that day Secretary Calhoun suspended his campaign for President
and decided to run for Vice President.
Although Americans and the British had agreed to end the slave trade,
the United States Senate had not yet ratified it.
On March 16 the Congress gave Jackson a medal
for his success in the War of 1812,
and he wrote to Monroe on that day.
It reminded him of the war and the difficulty he had
defending New Orleans from the British invasion.
On 31 March 1824 Jackson in a letter to his friend Lewis
considered what will happen with Crawford and Clay.
On April 25 Jackson wrote a letter to explain his views on tariffs,
and on May 7 he confided with Lewis on his tariff policy.
Revenue from tariffs could help remove the national debt.
His vote helped the Senate amend and pass the tariff bill on May 13,
and the U.S. Congress made it the law on May 22.
Eaton published a new edition of The Life of Andrew Jackson in 1824.
In the 1824 elections Andrew Jackson won
the most votes, the most electors, and the most states.
Besides Jackson and Adams, Henry Clay and William Crawford
were also candidates, and Jackson did not have a majority.
An amendment to the Constitution required the top three candidates from
the Electoral College voting to be voted on in the House of Representatives
with each state having one vote until one candidate had a majority.
There Henry Clay helped John Quincy Adams defeat Jackson and become President.
When Adams nominated Henry Clay for Secretary of State,
Jackson criticized it as a “corrupt bargain.”
Jackson also criticized the United States Bank
for giving money to the Adams campaign.
On September 10 Jackson wrote a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette.
When Adams chose Henry Clay to be Secretary of States,
Jackson called it a “corrupt bargain.”
Tennessee had elected Jackson to the United States Senate in October 1823,
and he took his seat again on 7 December 1824.
Senator Jackson voted to ratify the convention with Russia
on the Northwest borders
on 5 January 1825, and he wrote to General John Coffee about the election.
Jackson also voted for several treaties with Indian tribes.
On February 7 Jackson wrote to his friend Major William B. Lewis about the election.
John C. Calhoun had been elected Vice President.
The Senate ratified the treaty that ceded Creek land in the state of Georgia.
Jackson voted for the bill that increased the benefits of those who fought the Seminoles.
On February 20 Jackson wrote a long letter
to Lewis about the deal Adams and Clay made.
On February 21 Senator Jackson made a speech supporting relief for Mountain Rangers.
Clay called Jackson a “Military Chieftain,”
and Jackson wrote to Samuel Swartwout about that on February 22.
Two days later Jackson supported extending the Cumberland Road to Ohio.
On February 25 the Nashville Gazette supported Jackson for President in 1828.
Jackson left Washington on March 10 and visited Cincinnati.
He returned home to his Hermitage on April 13.
On May 30 he agreed to help Presbyterians find land
for a theological seminary in the West,
and in September he was elected Vice President of the Nashville Bible Society.
The Tennessee General Assembly nominated him
for President of the United States on October 7.
Five days later he spoke to them and explained why he resigned from the U. S. Senate.
He suggested changes in the U. S. Constitution to prevent corruption.
Jackson on 3 March 1826 wrote to U. S. Senator John Branch from North Carolina,
and on March 20 he sent a short note to Sam Houston about Panama.
Jackson also wrote on April 8 to Congressman James Buchanan from Pennsylvania.
On June 4 Vice President John C. Calhoun wrote to Jackson on power and freedom.
Jackson on July 26 wrote a letter to Richard Keith Call who had represented
the Florida Territory in the U. S. House of Representatives for two years,
and Jackson lamented the death of Thomas Jefferson on July 4.
On July 29 he wrote about the Chickasaws, Creeks, and Choctaws in a letter
to John Dabney Terrell, who had been President of the Alabama Senate for two years.
Jackson wrote to John Coffee again on August 20 and on September 4 to
Ebenezer Harlow Cummins who had written to Jackson on August 10.
On September 5 Jackson wrote to Richard Keith Call again on issues of justice.
On October 23 Jackson wrote to Sam Houston about how New Orleans was saved.
Jackson asked for peace in another letter to Mr. Call on November 21.
Jackson on 7 February 1827 wrote a long letter to Hugh L. White about
former President James Monroe and how Jackson fought the British at New Orleans.
On September 4 Jackson wrote to journalist Amos Kendall
who became a lawyer in Kentucky.
The United States’ Telegraph Extra was founded in Washington
on 1 March 1828, and they supported Jackson.
His adopted son Lyncoya died of tuberculosis on June 1.
Jackson took him in after his Creek parents were killed
in the Battle of Tallushatchee on 3 November 1813.
Jackson wrote to John Branch again on 24 June 1828.
On July 4 John Henry Eaton published the third edition of his
Life of Major General Andrew Jackson.
Books and articles were criticizing Jackson
for having supported Aaron Burr’s conspiracy,
for trading slaves, for having married Rachel before her divorce was final,
and for his military career.
On August 5 Jackson in a letter to his friend William B. Lewis wrote
about a negro boy who had worked in his store.
In the election results announced on December 3 Andrew Jackson defeated
President John Quincy Adams by about 138,000 popular votes
and in the Electoral College with 178 to 83 for Adams.
John C. Calhoun was re-elected Vice President.
Jackson’s wife Rachel died of a heart attack on 22 December 1828.
Andrew Jackson came to Washington on 11 February 1829,
and he wrote to Martin Van Buren on February 14.
Jackson wore black in mourning at his inauguration
as the seventh President of the United States on 4 March 1829.
He bowed to the crowd of 20,000 people as the sun came out.
His 10-minute speech was filled with reforms to manage public revenue.
He promised “humane and considerate attention” to the rights of Indian tribes.
Hundreds of people came to the White House with mud on their shoes.
Duff Green’s United States Telegraph predicted that Jackson would
use patronage to “REWARD HIS FRIENDS AND PUNISH HIS ENEMIES.”
The American economy was in a depression.
Jackson appointed John H. Eaton Secretary of War.
President Jackson got rid of Postmaster General John Mc Lean
by appointing him to the Supreme Court.
Jackson replaced him with William Barry who used patronage.
Martin Van Buren had just become Governor of New York,
and he agreed to be Secretary of State.
Jackson selected Samuel D. Ingham from Pennsylvania to be
Treasury Secretary and John Branch as Secretary of the Navy.
Jackson appointed John M. Berrien of Georgia to be Attorney General
because he supported Indian removal. Jackson’s nephew A. J. Donelson
became his private secretary and his wife Emily served as hostess.
Unofficial advisors were called his “kitchen cabinet,” and they included several
prominent newspaper editors such as Duff Green, Amos Kendall, and Francis Blair.
In response to pirate attacks Jackson on March 16 sent two ships to patrol Cuba’s coast.
He wrote to his friend General John Coffee on March 19.
Van Buren gave Jackson liberal advice, and Jackson
wrote to Van Buren about patronage on March 31.
Jackson in his first year replaced 252 of 612 officers he controlled
and 919 federal officials that included 432 postmasters,
25 collectors, 13 district attorneys, and 9 marshals.
President Jefferson in 1801 had acted similarly to remove
federalists chosen by President John Adams.
Jefferson and Jackson both wanted democratic government,
and both can be considered the major founders of the Democratic Party.
Jeremy Bentham advised rotating officers.
Jackson named Amos Kendall to audit the Treasury Department,
and at the end of 1829 they found that about $280,000 was missing.
Removing two customs agents saved $51,271 in the first year.
Replacing thieves saved about $1,000,000 in the Navy Department in one year.
Jackson also dismissed drunkards, and he emphasized honesty and liberty.
The Working Men’s Party had begun at Philadelphia in 1828, and they opposed
more banks and too much paper credit.
Journalists compiled a report on the banking system,
and they criticized the excessive “artificial inequality of wealth and power.”
Tennessee Governor Sam Houston resigned on April 16 and returned
to live with Cherokees who made him their agent in Washington.
On May 13 President Jackson wrote a letter to T. L. Miller with many suggestions.
Jackson sent Secretary of State Van Buren to buy
Texas from Mexico for $5 million in August.
On September 15 President Vicente Guerrero’s Decree abolished slavery in Mexico,
and in October his government asked the American envoy to withdraw from Texas.
Guerrero on December 2 allowed slavery in Texas.
At that time Jackson owned at least one hundred slaves.
Jackson agreed with the First Amendment that protects religious liberty
while preventing government interference in religion.
Van Buren became Jackson’s closest advisor and his likely successor.
By the end of 1829 President Jackson had strong allies in both houses of Congress.
He sent them his 20-page Annual Message to Congress on 6 December 1829.
He recognized 24 “sovereign states” with 12 million people.
He affirmed the “general welfare and progressive improvement.”
In foreign relations he hoped their democracy
would be a positive influence on other nations.
He hoped the peace with Britain would last.
He also expected justice from France.
The relationship with Spain was improving.
The territorial limits with Russia had been arranged.
He hoped that Russia’s peace with Turkey would improve American commerce.
Trade with Austria was increasing,
and diplomatic relations with Portugal were resumed.
They were negotiating with Denmark.
Southern republics in the western hemisphere could have a better future
as Spain accepted peace with their former colonies.
Communication with Mexico was improving.
Jackson wanted to replace the Electoral College
with a more democratic system of elections.
He believed that integrity could replace improper motives.
Corruption should have no place in an efficient government.
He suggested that they modify tariffs.
Agriculture is fundamental for the country.
President Jackson in his Message also reported on the government’s finances.
The year had reduced the debt by $12,405,006,
and he hoped to extinguish the national debt in his first term.
He was grateful for the providence of God,
and he valued the principles of written constitutions.
He warned against illicit trade.
Treasury Department records were being examined.
He recommended the Military Academy to develop moral and intellectual character.
He discussed the destiny of the Indian tribes and the situation in the South.
He believed “Emigration should be voluntary.”
In peace time only enough ships to protect commerce were needed.
Mail helps to spread knowledge.
Jackson noted that the charter of the United States Bank would expire in 1836.
He concluded by advising the guidance of Almighty God
with reliance on merciful providence.
In foreign relations Jackson believed in not asking for anything that is not clearly right
while not submitting to anything that is wrong.
The United States Senate began discussing the sale of public land
on 29 December 1829 and continued to do so for five months.
On 27 January 1830 President Jackson asked the members of his Cabinet
to be in harmony with Secretary of War Major John Eaton or withdraw.
Petitions began coming in from New England.
Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster spoke for two days,
and he did not accept states nullifying federal laws.
Southerners including Vice President Calhoun argued for states’ rights.
On 6 April the Mexican Congress prohibited colonists and slaves
from the United States in Texas.
On May 29 the Jacksonians supported the Preemption Act to protect settlers
who could buy 160 acres for $200 after cultivating public land for one year.
Rumors spread that Vice President Calhoun was running for President,
and Jackson gave more attention to Martin Van Buren.
President Jackson approved funds for the Cumberland Road.
The six previous Presidents had vetoed only nine bills.
Jackson had already vetoed four, and on May 27 he sent his
very long “Veto Messages” to the House of Representatives
explaining why he was rejecting their proposals.
He believed his major responsibility was acting for the good of the public.
He discussed federal legislation for improvements of
inland navigation and the construction of highways.
He said he might veto works already authorized by States.
He noted that duties on tea, coffee, and cocoa,
and some internal improvements may be beyond the General Government.
He advised that when the national debt has been paid off,
then the federal government could do more.
He respected the will of the people.
On that day his administration approved funds for the interstate Cumberland Road,
and he vetoed three bills that would cost too much.
On 5 October 1830 President Jackson announced opening American ports
to British ships coming from the British West Indies.
His friend Francis Blair began publishing the Globe on December 7.
President Jackson asked Biddle’s Bank to merge with the United States Treasury
so that it would stop loaning money or buying property.
He reported that the United States currently had 330 state banks that were
circulating $61 million in bank notes including $13 million by the United States Bank.
He predicted that after 1831 immigration into the United States
would never be less than 30,000 people a year.
President Jackson presented his Second Annual Message to Congress
on 6 December 1830, and he discussed his government in 29 pages.
The Creeks called Andrew Jackson “Sharp Knife,”
and on 23 March 1829 he wrote to them to preserve peace in Georgia,
and he asked them to hand over whoever murdered Elijah Wells.
He called them ”Friends & Brothers” and appealed to the Great Spirit.
He said he spoke the truth, and he referred to them as “my children.”
He wrote that “peaceful mother earth” was “stained by the blood.”
The murderers must be punished to maintain justice.
He noted that part of their nation had moved across the Mississippi River,
and he urged those in Georgia to go there too.
He promised they would be given land and would not be bothered by white brothers.
He warned that white children in Alabama were also taking over their land.
The Creek nation could be united beyond the Mississippi.
In 1829 about 1,200 Creeks had migrated to the Arkansas River.
On September 19 Sam Houston from the Cherokee Nation in Arkansas
wrote a long letter to President Jackson, and he described their problems in Arkansas.
A petition for the Indians was circulated and given
to the U. S. Congress on 9 February 1830.
President Jackson in June ordered that their annuities were to be divided
by all the individuals instead of being given to the chiefs.
Western Creeks were already growing corn and wheat.
The Indian Removal bill in Congress proposed moving about 60,000
Cherokees, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles west of the Mississippi River.
The Cherokee Phoenix demanded justice,
and David Crockett said the bill was oppressive.
The Removal bill was approved by the U. S. Senate
and then by the House of Representatives on May 26.
President Jackson’s signature made it law,
and it promised “perpetual title” to land for the Cherokees.
The Act also included $500,000 for provisions.
Jackson’s attempt to prevent speculators from buying 85%
of the land from Cherokees staying in Georgia failed.
Many Cherokees refused to go, and in July their Legislative Council asked
President Jackson for protection from the white settlers.
The Cherokee Chief John Ross hired the law firm of William Wirt
who had been U. S. Attorney General from 1817 to March 1829.
The lawyer Jeremiah Evarts also worked for Cherokee rights in Georgia,
and he began publishing “William Penn” essays in August 1830.
He referred to the Hopewell Treaty of 1785
and the compact demanding Cherokee removal in 1802.
Evarts noted that 16 treaties had been ratified by the United States from 1785 to 1819.
The spurious Indian Spring Treaty with the Creeks on 12 February 1825
claimed that all of Georgia belonged to the United States.
On 25 August 1830 President Jackson wrote about his plans to move
southern tribes west of the Mississippi River in a letter to Major William B. Lewis.
He noted that many Choctaws and Chickasaws were doing so,
though the Creeks and Cherokees refused to meet with him.
On 15 September 1830 Secretary of War Eaton and General Coffee met
with Choctaw chiefs at Dancing Creek, and they signed a treaty on September 27.
Choctaws planned to migrate in 1831, 1832, and 1833.
President Jackson in his Annual Message to Congress
on 6 December 1830 included his ideas on Indian removal.
He also presented a plan to the U. S. Senate on 20 December 1830,
and they ratified it 35 to 12 on 25 February 1831.
The Choctaws’ request for guidance by General Gibson was denied,
and Jackson did not know about their suffering until their journey was over.
Jackson also in February told the U. S. Senate that he would not enforce
the 1802 Indian Intercourse Act that protected Cherokee land from intruders.
On March 18 in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice
John Marshall ruled that Cherokees were not a sovereign nation
nor were they subject to state laws.
He claimed they were “domestic dependent nations” and wards of the United States.
Cherokees hoped this would protect their rights.
President Jackson accepted that dependence theory in his letter
to Secretary of State John H. Eaton and Secretary of War Lewis Cass,
though he referred to their “quasi independence of state authority.”
Yet he considered that absurd within Territorial limits.
Wirt made an appeal for Indians, and on 23 March 1832
the U. S. Supreme Court
in Worcester v. Georgia ruled the Georgia law was unconstitutional.
President Jackson refused to enforce the Court’s judgment, saying,
“John Marshall has rendered his decision; now let him enforce it.”
On December 3 Jackson noted that a western removal helped bring
an end to the Black Hawk War and their destruction.
When Black Hawk was released in July 1833, Jackson urged him
to tour the East to study civilization and to “bury the tomahawk” and live in peace.
President Jackson on December 24 transmitted the names of seven treaties
made with
the Seminoles on 9 May 1832, with Cherokees and with Creeks on 14 February 1833,
assigned a tract of land to Seminoles on 28 March 1833,
made an agreement with the Apalachicola on 18 June 1833, a treaty with Ottoes
and Missourians on 21 September 1833, and a treaty with Pawnees
on the Platt and Loup Fork on 9 October 1833.
On 20 June 1834 the United States Congress proclaimed that “Indian Country”
west of the Mississippi River excluded the states of
Missouri and Louisiana and the Arkansas Territory.
On June 30 the Indian Affairs Department began administering Indian land west
of the Arkansas Territory that would eventually become the Oklahoma Territory.
President Jackson sent Rev. John Schermerhorn to negotiate a treaty with Cherokee chiefs
at New Echota, Georgia, and on December 29 some chiefs agreed to trade land
in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee for $5 million and 7 million acres by the Red River.
That treaty was controversial as some 12,000 Cherokees signed a resolution against it,
and 3,250 Cherokees in North Carolina petitioned the U. S. Senate to discard the treaty.
Sam Houston wrote to President Jackson on 11 September 1835
and asked him to keep the Creeks out of Texas and send them to the Indian Territory.
Jackson discussed the Indian tribes in the Territory
in his Annual Message to Congress on December 7.
On 15 April 1836 Stephen Austin wrote to President Jackson and asked him
for military support in Texas. Jackson wrote that he considered that rash and premature.
The U. S. Senate ratified the New Echota Treaty 31 to 15 on 23 May 1836.
President Jackson sent General John E. Wool to the Cherokees.
Other U. S. forces were fighting the Seminoles in Florida while armed forces
were trying to drive Creeks out of Alabama.
General Wool tried to mediate between Jackson and the Cherokee Chief John Ross.
The Second Creek War was in the Chattahoochee Valley,
and U. S. forces were sent there on May 19.
After an old chief was captured, thousands surrendered and were imprisoned.
Creeks were defeated again in June, and on July 2 many were chained.
On July 14 2,498 Creeks with 800 warriors were sent to New Orleans
on two riverboats and then up the Mississippi River to Little Rock.
Jackson wrote to his friend Sam Houston on September 4
and discussed the situation of Texas and Mexico.
Andrew Jackson had been critical of the United States Bank for not regarding
the Constitution, for increasing federal power, and for giving the wealthy financial control.
Yet when he became President in 1829, he asked Congress to consider
renewing the Charter of the Second Bank of the United States.
The powerful Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives
approved a new charter for the National Bank in April 1830.
On 19 January 1831 President Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to the
Marquis de Lafayette and recognized him as a “champion of liberty.”
On February 2 Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri made a speech giving
several reasons for not renewing the charter of the U. S. Bank, and he said
the Bank
was “too great and powerful to be tolerated in a government of free and equal laws.”
Benton gave ten reasons why he opposed the National Bank.
Malayan thieves took over the merchant ship Friendship,
and on February 7 they killed two American merchant sailors on Sumatra.
Merchants complained to President Jackson
and eventually he sent 260 American marines on the USS Potomac.
Jackson expressed his spiritual perspective on Christianity
in a letter to William B. Conway on 4 April 1831.
That month Secretary of State Van Buren decided to resign,
and he urged Eaton to do that in a letter on April 8.
In early February 1832 the American marines killed about 450 people
at Quallah Batoo even though they did not know who had killed the Americans.
On February 17 Vice President John Calhoun published a pamphlet
with his “Address to the People of the United States” which was also published in
Duff Green’s Telegraph and included his letters to and from Jackson
during the Seminole War which also defeated the Spaniards in that part of Florida.
The Globe criticized Calhoun for causing mischief,
and Jackson felt the Vice President was ruining him.
Calhoun on March 2 went to see John Quincy Adams
who rejected him for being a nullifier.
Jackson wrote a letter in response to Van Buren resigning on 12 April 1831
and then one to Treasury Secretary Ingham who resigned on April 19.
Jackson then persuaded the other cabinet officers
to resign except for the Postmaster-General Barry.
Legal expert Roger Taney became Attorney General and a close advisor.
Jackson wanted to pay off the national debt by the end of his first term.
Louis McLane had been the Minister to Britain.
He knew about finances and proposed a plan to retire the debt.
Jackson made him Treasury Secretary on 8 August 1831.
President Jackson on June 14 had written to a Citizens Committee from Charleston
a letter to inspire “good will and patriotism.”
Martin Van Buren asked to be the minister to Britain.
Jackson appointed him while Congress was on a recess;
he served in England
for only eight months because Vice President Calhoun
broke a tie in the Senate to reject his nomination.
President Jackson organized the Democratic Party’s first presidential
convention in Baltimore in May 21-23, and he was re-nominated unanimously.
Van Buren easily got more than two thirds to be nominated for Vice President.
Duff Green criticized Jackson’s friends as advisors, and the
U. S. Bank President Nicholas Biddle called them the “Kitchen Cabinet.”
On July 26 John C. Calhoun in his Fort Hill Address
argued that states could nullify federal laws.
The Anti-Masonic Party in September nominated William Wirt for President,
and in
December 1831 National Republicans nominated Henry Clay.
Biddle’s bank loaned Clay $5,000.
The U. S. Senate on December 6 approved a new treaty with the French
who promised to pay their $5 million debt.
On December 6 Jackson in his annual message to Congress
mentioned his recent achievements in foreign policy.
Differences with Spain had been settled in February; a treaty with Austria had
opened up trade; and relations with Great Britain had improved.
The minister William C. Rives had negotiated a settlement of the French debt to the U. S.
as $4.6 million to be paid over four years with 4% interest.
Jackson’s administration also obtained $12,500,000 in indemnities
from other nations that John Quincy Adams had not been able to collect.
The United States had been excluded from the Black Sea,
but Turkey agreed to a treaty that granted most-favored-nation status.
A similar treaty was signed with Russia on December 18.
On the 12th John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives had
submitted petitions to ban slavery in the District of Columbia.
Jackson also noted the progress on removing Chickasaws and Choctaws from the
state of Mississippi and western Alabama, and he hoped it would be completed in 1832.
He also described what was happening with Indian tribes in Ohio and Indiana.
He expected they would get support from philanthropists and Christian education.
He reported that revenue for the year would be about $27,700,000 while expenditures
would only be $14,700,000, and they were able to reduce the debt by $16,500,000.
He recommended liberal reforms to protect and increase human liberty.
Jackson proposed amending the Constitution so that the President and Vice President
could be elected by the people.
He asked Congress to improve conditions in the District of Columbia.
He also advised extending the judicial system to the new states of
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
Finally he concluded by asking for ways to improve the Bank of the United States.
At the end he invoked divine power to inspire them.
President Jackson wrote to Martin Van Buren
on December 6 and a longer letter on the 17th.
Nicholas Biddle had been President of the United States Bank since 1823,
and Jackson
had accused him of funding the presidential campaign of John Quincy Adams in 1824.
The United States Bank had been chartered to 1836, and in January 1832
its President Nicholas Biddle and National Republicans asked for the charter to be renewed.
On February 23 the House of Representatives set up a committee to investigate the Bank.
That month the Congress declined to nominate Van Buren for Vice President,
and President Jackson planned a Democratic convention in May.
Virginians had been debating whether to abolish slavery since 1829, and in 1832
Thomas Dew wrote a review of the debates and defended the economics of slavery.
After a Congressman accused Sam Houston of cheating on a deal involving Indians,
Houston on April 13 hit him with a club.
Houston was fined $500, and Jackson paid it for him.
On May 9 U. S. Senators by one vote decided not to repeal postage on newspapers.
Democrats held their first convention from May 21 to 23 and agreed on a two-thirds
vote for nominating, and delegates from each state could only vote for one candidate.
Jackson was nominated again by acclamation, and his choice for Van Buren
as Vice President easily got two-thirds of the delegates.
Van Buren came back to Washington on July 8 and
supported Jackson’s opposition to the U. S. Bank.
Jackson said in self-defense said he would kill the Bank.
Former President Jefferson and Jackson both believed that the U. S. Bank
was unconstitutional, and on July 10 he vetoed the renewal of its charter.
That Bank had $35 million and had issued about 40% of the circulating bank notes.
Jackson was upset that foreigners had shares in the Bank worth $8,405,500.
He was concerned that westerners wealthy in land had little in stock in the U. S. Bank,
and they had debts to those in the East and to foreign investors.
The U. S. Bank included 25 branch offices.
Biddle could destroy other banks, but he was conservative.
Biddle accepted deposits, and he gave loans to editors who elected politicians.
President Jackson urged people to accept his hard-money position,
and he believed that paper currency exploited them.
Many banks issued notes, and they could be easily counterfeited.
Some people did not like bank charters printing currency.
Yet the U. S. Bank helped local banks be responsible.
President Jackson’s Cabinet helped him write his 15-page “Veto Message”
that he sent to the U. S. Senate on 10 July 1832 to explain the reasons for his vetoes.
Senator Daniel Webster on the next day criticized Jackson for imposing his opinions
on the Constitution, and on July 13 the Senate was unable
to get two thirds to overcome his vetoes.
In the election Biddle spent $100,000 trying and failing to defeat Jackson.
The Congress on July 14 approved more tariffs while lowering the rates of 1824.
South Carolina depended on cotton and slave labor, and they protested this tariff.
Vice President John C. Calhoun supported Governor James Hamilton and the nullifiers,
and they defeated Unionists in the next election.
President Jackson heard of a mutiny by military officers, and on
September 17 he ordered federal troops to go to South Carolina in October.
The South Carolina Legislature met in a special session called by Governor Hamilton,
and they approved a nullification convention at Columbia on November 19.
Five days later their Ordinance of Nullification declared the tariffs of 1828 and 1832
unconstitutional and nullified in South Carolina starting in February 1833.
They threatened to secede if the federal government used force against them.
Robert Y. Hayne was elected Governor of South Carolina,
and he asked that 25,000 volunteers be trained.
Calhoun was elected a U. S. Senator,
and he resigned as Vice President on 28 December 1832.
South Carolina medals called Calhoun the “First President of the Southern Confederacy.”
President Jackson in his Proclamation to the People of South Carolina
declared on December 10: “Disunion by armed force is treason.”
On that day South Carolina accused Jackson of concentrating power as
the chief executive, and they asserted the right to secede.
Andrew Jackson was called “Hickory,” and Kendall organized Hickory Clubs.
President Jackson in 1832 was able to reduce the national debt
from $24,322,235 to $7,001,699.
State debts were increasing by 660% from 1830 to 1838.
In the 1832 elections Jackson won 54% of the popular votes, and on December 5
the Electoral College gave him 219 votes to 49 for the National Republican Henry Clay.
Martin Van Buren with 189 electoral votes became Vice President.
On 4 December 1832 President Jackson presented his 15-page Annual Message
to Congress that explained his reforms and governmental policies.
He noted that merchants had shipped 80,000 tons of goods in the previous year,
and imports and exports were worth $40 million.
He believed this commerce was “mutually beneficial,” and some went to Havana.
He discussed diplomacy in Europe.
The Government of Central America was expelling the violent party.
He hoped to increase trade with the Republic of Chile and the State of Peru.
Tariffs helped the Treasury acquire about $28 million.
$18 million was used to pay down the debt and its interest,
and other expenditures were only about $16 million.
Manufactures were improving the domestic economy.
He noted that in some sections of the nation wealth was being concentrated in few hands.
Universal goodness was preserving peace.
He explained what was occurring with the United States Bank.
Western states were now paying more money into the Treasury.
He preferred a system that is compatible with the Constitution.
Jackson was cautious about internal improvements
so that the public debt could be reduced.
He reported that some native tribes were migrating to land west of the Mississippi River.
The judiciary was imperfect because only three of the nine
Western and Southwestern States had circuit courts.
The exceptions with circuit courts were Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee while
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana only had district courts.
He concluded his message, “That the Almighty Ruler of the Universe may so direct our
deliberations and overrule our acts as to make us instrumental in securing a result
so dear to mankind is my most earnest and sincere prayer.”
In January 1833 the tariff bill proposed by Gulian C. Verplanck
of New York in the U. S. House of Representatives would reduce custom duties.
President Jackson on January 16 sent his 22-page Message
to Congress that proposed his Force Bill.
In this very long message he described what was likely to happen if South Carolina
seceded from the United States, and he explained how he might handle the crisis.
The writing of William Gouge suggested how to reduce speculation and rising prices.
Senator Calhoun called Jackson’s Force Bill “Bloody”
and a declaration of war against South Carolina.
After he and his supporters walked out, the Senate passed the Force Bill 32 to 1.
On 1 March 1833 the House of Representatives approved it 148 to 48.
In his Second Inaugural Address on March 4 President Andrew Jackson expressed
his gratitude to the American people, and he discussed current events and
how his foreign policy would serve to raise the character of “the nations of the earth.”
He promised again to do justice and not to submit to wrong from anyone.
He emphasized that he would preserve the rights
of the “States and the integrity of the Union.”
He warned that destroying the states would impact the “local concerns of the people.”
He would exercise his constitutional powers
so that the rights of the States will be preserved.
The union is essential for independence and liberty.
Internal trade between the States is beneficial.
Dissolution of the Union would be harmful to
good government, peace, plenty, and happiness.
He promised to encourage economy in government expenditures.
Finally he prayed that the “Almighty Being” would continue to
inspire citizens and preserve us from all kinds of dangers.
Francis Blair warned President Jackson that Nicholas Biddle was using money
in the U. S. Bank to tear down government, and
Jackson decided to remove the deposits in his bank.
Amos Kendall said he would support that, and he assured the President
that state banks would accept the money.
On September 18 President Jackson read a 12-page document to his Cabinet.
He assured them that kings were falling because of the age of intelligence.
He noted that people are afraid of wealthy combinations, though political institutions
can prevent that and secure the freedom of citizens.
Jackson was still concerned that the U. S. Bank still had too much power.
Treasury Secretary William J. Duane refused to resign, and on September 23 Jackson
appointed the U. S. Attorney General Roger Taney to replace Duane temporarily.
In October the President stopped depositing funds in the U. S. Bank,
and Taney
transferred $2.3 million to state banks; rivals of the Democrats called them “pet banks.”
In the last five years the ratio of paper money to specie had nearly tripled.
Taney’s report that criticized Biddle was contested in the U. S. Senate.
President Jackson refused to cooperate with Henry Clay who
on December 26 suggested they censure Jackson.
Senators Calhoun and Webster supported that while
the Missouri Senator Benton defended the President.
The number of deposit banks more than tripled in the fall of 1833; in January 1834
they had $9 million in federal deposits, and the U. S. Bank had only $4 million.
Duff Green turned his Telegraph against President Jackson,
and in December 1833 the son of Jackson’s friend Francis Blair severely beat Green.
On December 3 Jackson presented a very long Annual Message to the U. S. Congress.
He discussed financial issues and his friendly foreign policy.
He reported on finances and noted that in the current year the U. S. Treasury
had receipts over $32 million, and the expenditures were about $25 million.
He discussed the situation with various Indian tribes,
and aggression by the Sac and Fox had ended.
Several treaties enabled the United States to reclaim more territory
as some southern tribes moved to the West.
The Post Office improved communication throughout the nation,
and its income was covering its expenses.
He proposed amending the Constitution so that the President and Vice President
could be elected directly by the people,
and he suggested limiting them to one term of four or six years.
He had reduced the national debt to $4,760,082, and he hoped to eliminate it in 1834.
On 4 December 1833 President Jackson sent a long
“Veto Message to the United States Senate.
He discussed the sale of public lands and reviewed their history from 1777 to 1832,
and he concluded by asking for improvements “compatible with the Constitution.”
On 3 January 1834 President Andrew Jackson wrote a letter to Vice President
Martin
Van Buren and discussed current political issues, and he affirmed that he serves the Lord.
He suggested that the friends of his administration could
form a committee to report on facts they could discuss.
He was concerned about corruption, and he urged the Congress to act.
He was worried that his opponents might get two-thirds in order to overcome his veto.
A conflict among workers on strike led the Maryland legislature to request
intervention by the federal government on January 28.
Jackson acted the next day, and he was the first U. S. President
to send federal troops to stop civil disorder.
Also in January Secretary of War Lewis directed Biddle to send
funds for veterans’ pensions to the U. S. Treasury. Biddle refused,
and the payments to veterans were suspended.
The House and the Senate were divided on this issue.
President Jackson on 4 February 1834 complained that the U. S. Bank
was holding on to books, papers, and funds.
Spain made a treaty with the United States on February 17 and agreed
to pay $600,000 which was half of what the United States expected.
On March 28 Henry Clay’s censure resolution on the Bank issue
against Jackson was passed by the U. S. Senate.
Jackson’s ally James K. Polk of Tennessee was Chairman of the House
Ways and Means Committee, and his four resolutions on the Bank passed 134-82 on
renewal of the charter, 118-105 on keeping deposits in state banks,
and 175-42 for investigating the U. S. Bank.
The President Jackson with help from Taney wrote an extraordinary 24-page
protest to the United States Senate which ordered that it not be entered on their Journal.
Jackson explained how the U. S. Constitution needs to be followed
that included sixteen resolutions.
President Jackson wrote to the journalist Amos Kendall in April, and he noted that
Presidents Washington and John Adams each removed a man,
and James Madison removed his Cabinet.
Jackson discussed the problems in the Senate on the U. S. Bank.
A rumor from Baltimore threatened to raise 5,000 troops to attack Jackson,
and he warned them that he would hang them.
In 1834 Jackson received death threats in February, April, and October.
Jackson and Treasury Secretary Taney worked on currency reforms in April.
Taney sent the report to the House Ways and Means Committee,
and the Senate refused to confirm Taney as Treasury Secretary.
Woodbury replaced him on July 1.
New York’s former Mayor Philip Hone was the first to call Jackson an “imperial President,”
and Daniel Webster used the term on April 15.
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, and others opposed to Jackson organized the Whig Party.
Jacksonians liked the low prices for land in northern Mississippi.
Jackson’s request that state legislatures replace their senators who voted to
censure him resulted in 15 of the 26 not being re-elected during his second term.
Jackson and his followers were concerned that the powerful and wealthy
used the U. S. Bank to let the few steal from the many.
On 1 December 1834 President Jackson sent his 26-page Sixth Annual Message
to Congress that mostly discussed foreign policy,
and he especially criticized what the French did from 1800 to 1817.
Yet they were finally able to sign a treaty in Paris on 4 July 1831
when the French agreed to pay off its debt to the United States.
Yet the French refused to do so on 15 May 1834.
After much discussion of finances, Jackson concluded by noting how the United States
debt which had risen to $127 million after the War of 1812 and was $58.4 million
when Jackson became President finally had been paid off in 1834,
leaving $440,000 in the Treasury.
Jackson on December 12 asked France to pay its debt acquired during the
Napoleonic Wars because the United States had lowered its duties on French wine.
In early January 1835 the United States Government paid its last installment on its debt,
and Andrew Jackson celebrated that and the anniversary of the victory
against British forces at New Orleans on January 8.
On that day a report by the U. S. House of Representatives warned that money
in the United States Treasury was suffering from forgery and perjury.
On 30 January 1835 a man from England attempted to shoot President Jackson
with two pistols, and they both misfired.
Jackson with his cane was stopped in an effort to kill the assassin,
who was found not guilty because of insanity on April 11
and was put in a mental hospital for the remainder of his life.
On 9 June 1834 a report by the U. S. Senate had exposed
a deficit of $500,000 in the United States Post Office.
Democrats in Congress filed a report with documentary evidence on 11 April 1835.
Secretary of the Treasury Woodbury in March 1835 had stopped deposit banks
from accepting bank notes worth less than $5 as payments.
Sale of public land had never exceeded $5 million in a year.
Yet a land boom provided $15 million in 1835 and would bring in $25 million in 1836.
Loans and discounts were $47 million in January 1835
and would rise to $65 million in February 1836.
On 1 May 1835 Amos Kendall became Postmaster General, and a surplus
of over $100,000 by August was able to pay off debts.
France made a payment on its debt to the United States on May 10.
The Democrats national convention, which began on May 20 with 615 delegates,
by acclamation nominated Vice President Martin Van Buren for President.
They formed a committee to publicize the party’s policies and Jackson’s reforms.
President Jackson sent troops to stop a race riot at Washington in August,
but they did not protect free blacks.
U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall died on July 6.
In the last stage of Jackson’s presidency he nominated five men for the U. S. Supreme Court.
Jackson criticized the “agrarianism” of the Locofocos and cancelled their
New York Post’s federal printing contract. Jackson in December criticized abolitionists.
In the 1834-35 elections Democrats by retaining 143 seats defeated the
National Republicans who gained 12 seats but still had only 75 seats.
On 7 December 1835 President Andrew Jackson presented
his 30-page Annual Message to Congress.
He began by noting that much of the Congress was new and that he
would be replaced in 1837 along with some of those in Congress.
Their country was prosperous and had integrity and independence.
By being true to themselves they could work for a peaceful future.
A Democratic system is based on the will of the people
and is different than the nations of the Old World.
Self-government is a great principle.
He suggested they examine their agriculture, manufactures, and commerce,
and he was grateful for Divine Providence.
He emphasized the principles of justice for the country they loved.
Foreign relations had not changed much since his message in the previous year.
Relations with Britain had improved, and he noted that they
renewed diplomacy with Portugal and the Two Sicilies.
They were still struggling to work things out with Spain.
The U. S. Congress was regulating trade with Cuba.
Florida was developing. He reported that commercial relations with Austria, Prussia,
Sweden, and Denmark were favorable, and they were renewing relations with Russia.
The Congress had been working on commerce with Holland,
and they were trading with Belgium.
Relations with North Africa were friendly.
Commissioners were still working on boundaries with Mexico.
The United States had diplomats working with governments in Central and South America,
and there were some revolutions.
He was still waiting for some payments from France
which had been overwhelmed by a united Europe.
He reviewed recent relations with France including a treaty in February 1832.
He wrote much about the situation with France.
A communication was sent to France in January 1835, and improvement occurred in April.
Diplomats were still waiting for installments from France.
The public debt of the U. S. was redeemed the previous year.
In August 1835 Jackson wrote to Postmaster-General Amos Kendal
about mob-law in the South over controversial mail.
The U. S. Treasury at the end of the current year had about $19,000,000,
and the estimate of expenditures for 1836 was about twenty million.
He expected revenues might decrease in the next seven years.
Sale of public lands in the current year had brought in $11 million.
The charter of the U. S. Bank was going to expire on 3 March 1836.
Finances were flourishing in various branches of industry,
and a branch mint was established in North Carolina.
He suggested first principles to see what was preventing
legislation in Congress and the States.
In the previous four years the U. S. Bank was competing against the government,
and he discussed banking problems.
He reported on the current status of the Army and the Navy,
and he noted the report of the Secretary of War.
He wrote about the duties of the Engineer Corps.
He described his plan for removing aboriginal people
to country west of the Mississippi River.
Some arrangements of annuities provided over $30 for each member of the tribes.
He suggested the Indians establish their own political communities.
The Postmaster-General’s department reported increasing revenues.
Jackson commended those who were establishing states without slaves.
He urged the Congress to pay attention to the District of Columbia.
He concluded by expressing his hope that legislative measures
would meet the interests of their beloved nation.
On 20 January 1836 Venezuelans made a treaty
of peace and commerce with the United States.
Expanding the money supply stimulated the economy to grow from fall 1834 to spring 1837.
On 23 March 1836 the United States Mint began
using Franklin Beale’s steam press to produce coins.
Jackson did not like banks, yet in the last five years
of his administration their numbers doubled.
His attempt to use coins to replace paper money was limited
because people found paper money more convenient.
Biddle got a state charter from Pennsylvania for the U. S. Bank in February 1836.
The Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren for President in 1836,
and the new Whig Party chose General William Henry Harrison who broke tradition
by campaigning with John Tyler of Virginia for Vice President.
Jacksonian Democrats had over 400 newspapers,
and the government gave them printing contracts.
President Jackson told Postmaster-General Kendall that he did not have to deliver
a thousand anti-slavery pamphlets except to subscribers.
At the end of 1836 the U. S. Treasury had a surplus of $17 million, and
29 pet banks and others were circulating $108 million in paper money.
The General Land Office reported that 20 million acres were sold in 1836.
During the year federal deposits increased by 50%.
Speculators were borrowing paper money, and fraud increased.
President Jackson acted in July.
As cotton reduced the fertility of the soil, people moved west.
George McDuffie criticized the 40% tariffs on cotton,
and cotton growers had their income reduced by 20%.
From 1834 to 1837 wholesale prices in the United States rose 50%,
and retail prices went up even more.
From August 1836 to July 1837 large banks in New York City
lost over $10 million in federal deposits as their species reserves fell
from $5.9 million in August 1835 to $1.5 million by May 1837.
During the eight years of the Jackson administration American exports doubled.
Imports were $37 million in 1829, and they rose to $150 million in 1836.
Postmaster-General Kendall paid off old debts
by spring 1836 and then proposed reforms.
In July both houses of Congress passed resolutions favoring the recognition of Texas.
The 1835 census had counted 52,240 Arkansans, which was enough for a state.
Arkansas with slavery was admitted to the Union on 15 June 1836.
Mexico’s President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna wrote from Columbia, Texa
to President Andrew Jackson on July 4.
President Jackson in a letter to Amos Kendall on August 12 explained his policy of
neutrality in regard to the conflict between Mexico and Texas,
and Jackson also
wrote General Samuel Houston on September 4
that included a letter for Mexico’s General Santa Anna.
In the November election the total popular vote increased to 58%.
Democrat Martin Van Buren received 51% of the votes
and won in the Electoral College 170 to 73.
Whigs were divided because they had four candidates running for President.
In November Jackson suffered a massive hemorrhage and a fit of coughing.
A doctor bled him, and he lost more than 60 ounces of blood
and gradually recovered over several weeks.
President Jackson in his 8th and last Annual Message to Congress
presented them with 24 pages on 5 December 1836.
He was grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe,
and he asked others to unite with him.
The United States and Britain were still negotiating
the Northeast boundary by the state of Maine.
He reported restored diplomatic relations with France.
He had better relations with Russia, Austria, Prussia, Naples, Sweden, and Denmark.
Issues still remained with Spain, Holland, and Belgium.
The United States and Mexico were struggling over Texas.
Commercial treaties were aiding enterprising merchants.
Diplomats made a treaty with the Emperor of Morocco.
The U. S. Treasury reported receipts of $47,691,898 in the present year
while expenditures were less than $32 million.
About 60% of all duties on imports were paid in New York City.
Jackson discussed what to do with the surplus of $30,000,000.
He noted that the National Bank found that paper currency could be used instead of gold.
Valuable gold coins were exported to foreign countries.
Much of Jackson’s Message was about finances.
He did mention that the military was busy fighting hostile Seminoles and Creeks.
The conflict with the Creeks was resolved soon after Congress adjourned.
Jackson’s policy was expressed in the report of the Secretary of War.
The Post Office Department reported increasing revenues.
Jackson admitted his infirm health, and he was ready to retire.
On 16 January 1837 the United States Senate repealed
their censure of Andrew Jackson.
On January 19 President Jackson invited Mexico’s General Santa Anna for dinner at the
White House and offered him 6 million pesos for recognizing the independence of Texas;
but Santa Anna declined that and went back to Vera Cruz.
The U. S. Congress voted to recognize the republic of Texas on March 1.
On January 26 Congress admitted the free state of Michigan so that
there were an equal number of free states and slave states.
President Jackson had appointed Roger Taney to be Chief Justice of the
U. S. Supreme Court, and on February 11 Taney joined the majority in
ruling that state banks were allowed to issue paper money.
The next day Taney’s vote in a 4 to 3 decision enabled the Massachusetts legislature
to collect tolls on a bridge so that they could make improvements.
Jackson in January had also written a Memorandum for his close friend
Major
William B. Lewis about a confidential letter that he had written in 1819 to President Monroe.
On March 3 the U. S. Congress approved the Judiciary Act of 1837 that added
two more justices to give the Supreme Court 9 justices
and two more circuit courts of appeal for western states.
On that day President Jackson recognized the Republic of Texas as an independent nation,
and he appointed Alceé La Branche of Louisiana as Chargé d’affaires.
On his last day as President on 4 March 1837 Jackson presented his Farewell Address
in 15 pages that described the prosperity of the United States during his presidency,
and he also advised applying ethical and democratic principles.
Andrew Jackson’s health was declining,
and in the next six years he corresponded with many friends.
On March 22 he wrote a letter to President Martin Van Buren about Republican Democracy.
He criticized speculators for chartering the Bank with $15 million,
and he explained that this caused an economic bubble in New Orleans.
He wrote a longer letter to President Van Buren on March 30,
and he criticized various banks.
President Martin Van Buren on April 24 wrote back to Jackson about his delicate situation.
On 10 May 1837 a run on the banks caused deflated
wages and prices in a depression that lasted until 1844.
Jackson wrote to Van Buren about this on May 12. Van Buren responded on May 23.
Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury on June 4 sent Jackson a confidential letter.
On June 6 Jackson discussed the financial disaster in another letter to President Van Buren.
Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote eight letters to Jackson
between 3 July 1837 and 1 January 1845.
Major William B. Lewis on 6 October 1839 wrote a long letter to Jackson on politics,
and Jackson sent him a long response on October 19.
Lewis on 6 November 1839 sent to Jackson a private letter from Lewis Cass in France.
General William Henry Harrison for President and John Tyler for Vice President
defeated President Van Buren in the 1840 election, and Van Buren reflected
on that loss in a letter to Jackson on November 10.
Harrison died after one month as President, and President Tyler
wrote to Jackson on 20 September 1842.
Sam Houston was President of Texas, and on 31 January 1843 he wrote a letter to his
friend Jackson in which he expressed his hope for peace with the Indians and Mexico.
Andrew Jackson wrote a short letter to President Tyler on 16 February 1844.
Also on that day Sam Houston from Washington, Texas wrote
a long letter to Andrew Jackson about annexing Texas.
Jackson on March 1 wrote a letter to Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna,
the President of the Republic of Mexico, about captured prisoners.
On June 29 Jackson wrote about Texas and Oregon to the presidential
candidate James K. Polk, who was also from Tennessee.
Andrew Jackson’s father died before he was born on 15 March 1867.
His mother Elizabeth raised him as a Christian, and his favorite books
were the Bible and the Vicar of Wakefield.
He got military training in 1780 and became a prisoner of war in 1781.
His schooling included Greek and Latin, and he began teaching in 1783.
He fought to protect settlers from hostile Indians.
He studied law and became an attorney in 1787.
He moved to Nashville and became a judge in November 1788.
In February 1789 he wrote to General Daniel Smith about making peace with Indians.
Jackson became a local Attorney General in 1791 and was elected
a Judge Advocate in 1792, and he worked on treaties with Indian nations.
He had ten slaves and bought land with a partner in 1795.
Jackson became a delegate at the Tennessee Constitutional Convention in January 1796.
When Tennessee became a state, Jackson was elected their only member of the
United States House of Representatives in 1796.
The Tennessee legislature elected him to the U. S. Senate in 1797,
but he opposed President Adams and resigned in April 1798.
Jackson became a Superior Court Judge in Tennessee and served for six years;
he also was elected a Major General in the Tennessee militia in 1802.
Jackson was in involved in Aaron Burr’s conspiracy from August 1805 to 1807
and then he realized how bad it was.
On 30 May 1806 Jackson received a bullet that remained next to his heart
for the rest of his life, and in that duel he killed Charles Dickinson.
During the War of 1812 Major General Jackson
fought against the Creeks, the Spanish, and the British.
In 1813 he adopted the native orphan Lyncoya.
Jackson led forces that captured Pensacola in November 1814
and defeated the British at New Orleans in January 1815.
In September 1816 General Jackson negotiated treaties
with the Cherokees and then the Chickasaws.
In March 1817 Jackson commended Monroe for choosing
the capable John Quincy Adams as the new Secretary of State.
Jackson signed another treaty with the Cherokees in July.
During his command in the Seminole War he invaded Spanish Florida in 1818.
With his army and some Indian allies Jackson defeated the Creeks.
Some Chehaw allies were killed by mistake,
and Jackson gave Chehaws $8,000 as compensation.
In May some Seminoles supported Jackson in West Florida,
and Jackson occupied Pensacola.
Jackson was appointed a governor in June, and he proclaimed the end of the Seminole War.
In October Jackson began writing a series of letters to Secretary of State Monroe,
and the U. S. Senate ratified treaties with the tribes by the end of the year.
Jackson had signed another treaty with the Chickasaws in October
and a treaty with the Choctaws one year later.
In November 1818 Secretary of State John Quincy Adams wrote
a 21-page “Defense of General Jackson’s Conduct in the Seminole War.”
Jackson had negotiated a treaty with the Chickasaws in October,
and the U. S. Senate ratified it in January 1819.
Jackson’s friend Sam Houston was made a federal agent,
and he helped emigrating Cherokees.
The United States and Spain made a treaty in February,
and the United States Senate ratified it two years later.
In January 1820 Jackson urged President Monroe to take over Florida.
Jackson met with the Choctaws in September,
and he wrote them a letter to improve relations in October.
In January 1821 Creeks ceded some land, and Jackson met with Cherokees.
John Quincy Adams in March persuaded Jackson to become the governor
of the Florida Territory, and he did that until the end of the year.
He respected the rights of the Seminoles and urged them to migrate.
In 1822 Jackson wrote letters to President Monroe and to Secretary Adams.
In February 1823 Jackson declined to be ambassador to Mexico.
The Tennessee Legislature elected Jackson a U. S. Senator in October,
and he voted for a tariff in May 1824.
He believed that tariffs could help pay off the national debt.
In the 1824 election Jackson won the most popular votes, the most Electoral votes,
and the most states; but with four main candidates he did not have a majority.
Candidate Henry Clay helped John Quincy Adams
get elected by the House of Representatives.
Jackson resigned his seat in the U. S. Senate in October 1825.
Jackson was easily elected President in the 1828 election,
and John C. Calhoun of South Carolina was elected Vice President.
New York’s Governor Martin Van Buren had supported Jackson,
who appointed him Secretary of State.
President Jackson was faced with a depression; he chose his Cabinet officers,
and Van Buren gave him liberal advice.
Jackson was intent on saving money to help pay off the national debt.
Jackson had a hundred slaves, and he made sure they were treated humanely.
In his Annual Message to Congress on 6 December 1829
he recognized 24 sovereign states with 12 million people.
He worked to promote the general welfare, and relations with Spain improved.
Diplomats helped improve commerce with Russia,
Turkey, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, and Spain.
He modified tariffs and emphasized agriculture.
He was grateful for God’s providence, and he supported constitutional principles.
He urged the Military Academy to teach ethics and character.
Mail helped spread knowledge.
He opposed the U. S. Bank which he believed helped the wealthy and not the poor.
His foreign policy was to do what is right and not submit to what was wrong.
He approved the Preemption Act that protected settlers in Texas
He wrote a long message to explain his four vetoes as he rejected bills that cost too much.
He sent long Annual Messages to Congress in December each year to explain his policies.
In 1829 about 1,200 Creeks migrated to the Arkansas River.
He helped the natives by giving the annuities to individuals instead of only to the chiefs.
President Jackson’s 1830 Indian Removal Act aimed to move about 60,000 Cherokees,
Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles west of the Mississippi River.
The Act included $500,000 for provisions.
Choctaws in Mississippi and Chickasaws north of them made treaties
with the United States, and most migrated west in the 1830s.
Creeks had sold their land in Georgia in 1825 and moved to Alabama.
Most left there by 1837 as some died in Alabama during the Second Creek War of 1836.
Some people lost their lives during the transition of moving from
their ancestral homelands west to land in what later became Oklahoma.
Jackson met with Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Cherokees,
and he made treaties with them.
Choctaws migrated in 1831, 1832, and 1833.
President Jackson refused to enforce the Court’s judgment in Worcester v. Georgia
that the Georgia law was unconstitutional because he wanted the Cherokees to move
to the Indian Territory for their own good on land equal to what they had in Georgia.
Jackson observed that western removal had helped to end the Black Hawk War.
In December 1833 Jackson sent treaties made
with several Indian nations to the U. S. Senate.
Differing opinions made a treaty with the Cherokees very controversial.
Sam Houston advised President Jackson to keep the Creeks out of Texas.
Jackson’s administration tried to improve life for people,
and he aimed to transform the government with those who agreed with him.
In 1832 a protectionist tariff provoked nullification of it in South Carolina.
When the state seceded, Jackson sent the U. S. Army to stop what he called “treason.”
A military confrontation was avoided as Henry Clay passed compromise tariffs.
Jackson used vetoes to increase the power of the federal government,
and he began the “imperial” presidency.
He blocked renewal of the U. S. Bank and tried reforms to control the rich and powerful.
Jackson’s first term improved transportation and reduced the national debt
while stimulating the economy, and Jacksonian Democrats re-elected him
over the National Republican Clay.
The Whig Party emerged; yet Democrats regained the Senate in 1834.
Jackson worked to make the United States more democratic,
and he tried to reduce financial advantages used by the rich.
President Jackson organized the first Democratic Convention, and they decided
that two-thirds were needed to nominate someone for President and for Vice President.
Jackson was re-nominated, and Martin Van Buren was chosen to run for Vice President.
Jackson continued to give his detailed Annual Messages
to Congress in each of his eight years.
In December 1831 he emphasized foreign policy.
In his first term he reduced the debt by $16,500,000.
In February 1832 the U. S. Congress began investigating the U. S. Bank.
Jackson warned that paper currency harmed the poor, and he explained his veto in July.
Vice President Calhoun opposed Unionists, and to quell a mutiny
Jackson sent federal troops to South Carolina in October.
A nullification convention met in November and opposed tariffs.
They adopted the Ordinance of Nullification and threatened to secede.
President Jackson issued his Proclamation to the People of South Carolina
on December 10 declaring “Disunion by armed force is treason.”
He described in detail if South Carolina seceded.
Jackson was easily re-elected as President in the 1832 election.
In January 1833 President Jackson sent a long message to Congress describing
the negative consequences that would occur if South Carolina seceded.
The Congress supported him by passing the Force Bill in March.
In his Second Inaugural Address Jackson spoke
about “States and the integrity of the Union.”
He persuaded his Cabinet to remove deposits from the U. S. Bank that were harming
the government and the people, and this helped the local deposit banks to get
$9 million in federal deposits compared to the U. S. Bank’s $4 million.
In a very long Message to Congress in December Jackson
explained financial issues and his friendly foreign policy.
James K. Polk of Tennessee became an ally of Jackson,
and they overcame the opposition of Henry Clay and the U. S. Senate.
Jackson faced death threats in 1834.
Jackson sent a comprehensive interpretation of the Constitution
in his 24-page “Protest” to the Senate.
Treasury Secretary Taney worked on currency reforms in April.
Jackson warned that the wealthy were using the U. S. Bank to steal from the many.
Jackson and his diplomats were attempting to get France
to pay off its debt to the United States.
In January 1835 Jackson celebrated making the
last installment payment on the national debt.
Jackson was able to nominate five men for the U. S. Supreme Court
as the number of justices was increased to nine.
In December he sent another long Message to Congress that emphasized
foreign policy and the banking problems.
He urged Indians to form political communities.
In 1836 coins replaced paper currency. Democrats nominated Martin Van Buren,
and he was easily elected President.
The Jacksonian Democrats had more than 400 newspapers.
During Jackson’s eight years both exports and imports greatly increased.
Also Postmaster-General Kendall paid off debts by 1836 and then proposed reforms.
In his last Annual Message in December Jackson thanked the Supreme Ruler of the
Universe and asked others to join him.
He explained financial issues.
As a slaveholder Jackson tolerated and promoted that horrendous institution
with his Supreme Court nominations, and he opposed abolitionists.
In April 1836 Jackson was neutral to avoid war
and declined to send military forces to Texas.
When a Second Creek War broke out in May, and Jackson sent military forces
to end the fighting between the white settlers and the remaining Creeks.
Although he believed that the Cherokees needed to be removed from the gold fields
of Georgia to avoid their extermination, he could have defended their rights
with the military power which he had often used against Indians.
He decided that migration to land west of the Mississippi River
was better than the violent conflicts with aggressive white men.
During Jackson’s presidency 45,960 Indians were removed west of the Mississippi,
and from 1789 to 1838 the U. S. Government relocated an estimated 81,282 Indians.
President Jackson persuaded the Congress to provide a substantial fund
to provide supplies for those emigrating.
The worst migration when 6,000 Cherokees died on the Trail of Tears in 1838-39
was when Martin Van Buren was President.
During his two terms Jackson reduced the national debt by about $58 million.
He is the only President who eliminated the national debt, and at the end
of his presidency the debt was at an all-time low of under $337,000.
The long messages he sent to Congress every year of his presidency explained his policies
and efforts to make democracy work well for everyone,
and he opposed policies that aided the wealthy and the powerful.
I rank Andrew Jackson #5.
Andrew Jackson to 1812
Andrew Jackson & Wars 1813-15
Andrew Jackson & Indian Wars 1816-20
Andrew Jackson 1821-24
Andrew Jackson 1825-28
President Jackson in 1829
President Jackson & Indians 1829-36
President Jackson in 1830
President Jackson in 1831
Jackson’s Veto & Banks in 1832
President Jackson in 1833
President Jackson in 1834
President Jackson in 1835
President Jackson in 1836
Andrew Jackson 1837-45
Andrew Jackson Summary & Evaluation
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