BIOGRAPHY
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More nearly than any of his predecessors, Andrew Jackson was
elected by popular vote; as President he sought to act as the direct
representative of the common man.
Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767, he
received sporadic education. But in his late teens he read law for about two
years, and he became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee. Fiercely jealous
of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an
unjustified slur on his wife Rachel.
Jackson prospered sufficiently to buy slaves and to build a
mansion, the Hermitage, near Nashville. He was the first man elected from
Tennessee to the House of Representatives, and he served briefly in the Senate.
A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero when he
defeated the British at New Orleans.
In 1824 some state political factions rallied around Jackson; by
1828 enough had joined "Old Hickory" to win numerous state elections and control
of the Federal administration in Washington.
In his first Annual Message to Congress, Jackson recommended
eliminating the Electoral College. He also tried to democratize Federal
officeholding. Already state machines were being built on patronage, and a New
York Senator openly proclaimed "that to the victors belong the spoils. . . .
"
Jackson took a milder view. Decrying officeholders who seemed to
enjoy life tenure, he believed Government duties could be "so plain and simple"
that offices should rotate among deserving applicants.
As national politics polarized around Jackson and his opposition,
two parties grew out of the old Republican Party--the Democratic Republicans, or
Democrats, adhering to Jackson; and the National Republicans, or Whigs, opposing
him.
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and other Whig leaders proclaimed
themselves defenders of popular liberties against the usurpation of Jackson.
Hostile cartoonists portrayed him as King Andrew I.
Behind their accusations lay the fact that Jackson, unlike
previous Presidents, did not defer to Congress in policy-making but used his
power of the veto and his party leadership to assume command.
The greatest party battle centered around the Second Bank of the
United States, a private corporation but virtually a Government-sponsored
monopoly. When Jackson appeared hostile toward it, the Bank threw its power
against him.
Clay and Webster, who had acted as attorneys for the Bank, led the
fight for its recharter in Congress. "The bank," Jackson told Martin Van Buren,
"is trying to kill me, but I will kill it!" Jackson, in vetoing the
recharter bill, charged the Bank with undue economic privilege.
His views won approval from the American electorate; in 1832 he
polled more than 56 percent of the popular vote and almost five times as many
electoral votes as Clay.
Jackson met head-on the challenge of John C. Calhoun, leader of
forces trying to rid themselves of a high protective tariff.
When South Carolina undertook to nullify the tariff, Jackson
ordered armed forces to Charleston and privately threatened to hang Calhoun.
Violence seemed imminent until Clay negotiated a compromise: tariffs were
lowered and South Carolina dropped nullification.
In January of 1832, while the President was dining with friends at
the White House, someone whispered to him that the Senate had rejected the
nomination of Martin Van Buren as Minister to England. Jackson jumped to his
feet and exclaimed, "By the Eternal! I'll smash them!" So he did. His favorite,
Van Buren, became Vice President, and succeeded to the Presidency when "Old
Hickory" retired to the Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.
Biography from www.whitehouse.gov
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