ANDREW JACKSON CHANGED HISTORY'S COURSE

THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON: 250 YEARS LATER

Series, People that Changed the Course of History (Ocala, FL: Atlantic Pub. Group, c 2016)

BY DANIELLE THORNE

Rev. by Hugh Murray

Danielle Thorne has written a short book aimed at young adults, but the question she raises in this series is one all should ponder, - “People that changed the Course of History.” 250 years after his birth, is Andrew Jackson worthy to be included in this series?

Her biography demonstrates, but should have stressed more, that our notions of the “wild West” - Texas, Montana, California, Colorado, Wyoming, those notions, those values, those battles with savages of various colors, occurred in the 'wild west' of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, etc. Indians massacring white settlers, settlers slaughtering Indians, both sides suspicious of the other. But in the early wild West in the lands to become Tennessee and Kentucky, white men were hot headed (many still are), and a few words might be deemed an insult and a duel could, and sometimes did result. Thorne notes that seconds in duels could try to resolve the disputes, sometimes with both antagonists shooting up in the air, allowing both duelists to save face, and perhaps their lives. But sometimes the duels were resolved in blood, and Andrew Jackson nearly lost an arm (in the end, he gained a bullet in that limb), and Jackson also killed an opponent in one such duel.

Because of the many films depicting the American West our images of such gunfights at the corral or at high noon or in hundreds of other films and early popular television series, we rarely think of the same attitudes and activities occurring in the early wild west of North Carolina or Kentucky. The recurring themes lasted as long as there was a frontier. The more formal duels of Hamilton and Burr and Jackson and Charles Dickinson may have been replaced by simpler rules – or no rules, but the basic theme remained the same.

Another point was the brutalities and meanness of the wars on what is now American soil. But in the case of the British against the colonial rebels, there is the general question of how does any occupying army treat rebels who oppose them? Americans may recall TV news of American soldiers in Vietnam setting afire the huts of peasants believed to be Vietcong. Older films portray Nazi occupiers of Italy who might kill 10 or more civilians for each German soldier slain by underground resisters. Yet, it is still a shock to read how a British officer treats a teenage Andrew Jackson and his aunt Jane when the Redcoats are informed that they are a rebel household. Jackson and his aunt watch as the British broke every one of her dishes and broke every leg on her furniture. But when the officer commanded Jackson to wipe the mud from his boots, the youth refused. The officer's reply was swift – he raised his sword to slash it down on Jackson's head. The boy raised his arm to deflect the blow, suffering a deep wound to his hand, yet still receiving a swipe to the face that would leave a scar. However, in the country of occupiers, Jane's home was not burnt, she was not raped, and Andrew would live on to fight again with hatred of the British seared into his scars.

Because the author's intended audience is young adults, she will occasionally include a definition unnecessary for adults, but sometimes her writing is simply perplexing, as ,”Weatherford led that attack on the massacre on the settlement,...”(72) which could be interpreted in opposite ways, and the rest of the sentence is even more confusing. Or “At this time [the election of 1828], a candidate had to win the majority of electoral votes,...”(98) As it is still the case that a candidate must win the majority of electoral votes, her writing here is again confusing. Similarly, when discussing Jackson's problems with his Cabinet, she includes a Fast Fact telling that the President appoints the cabinet and meets with the leaders of various departments, and they consist of the “heads of ...Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security,...”(106) As none of these positions existed during the Jackson Presidency, why not simply list those in Jackson's Cabinet to avoid confusion?

In her discussion of the background to the outbreak of the War of 1812 Thorne totally neglects to mention that many Americans hoped to conquer Canada with the onset of the war.(84) Thorne shows a modern blinder when she writes concerning those who were clearly very religious, like Jackson, and what she perceives as the contradiction of them being both religious and slave owners. “Slavery...raised guilty questions to men in the South, like Jackson, who considered themselves religious.”(135) While many discovered in their religion grounds to condemn slavery, Thorne seems unaware that slavery is mentioned in the Bible, never condemned by Jesus, and a runaway was urged to return to his master by Paul. Many in the South (and elsewhere) saw no contradiction between slavery and Christianity.

More troubling to the modern is Jackson's views on race. During the General's appeal for support to defend New Orleans from the British, Jackson included an appeal to the Free Men of Color (and to pirates, too). He included friendly Indians in his campaign against the hostile (Creek) Red Sticks, and was happy to receive it. But when it came to removing, even the “civilized” Indians from Georgia and Alabama westward to what would become Indian Territory (today's Oklahoma), “Jackson made his feelings very clear. He called them savage and barbaric...their governments were 'crude institutions.'”(137) Thorne quotes historian Robert Remini: “Jackson believed that Indians belonged to a lower order of humanity and that the federal government had the right to deal with them as it saw fit.”(137) Thorne concludes that Jackson “felt America and the white man were more important than people of other colors.”(146)

Strangely, Thorne does not mention the very influential Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger in her text or her bibliography. Of course, Thorne does recognize Jackson's importance in US history. Not only did he put together a rag-tag army in winter 1814-15 that would defeat overwhelmingly the British veterans of the Napoleonic wars, but the British outnumbered his forces 3 to 1. Yet, the British casualties were catastrophic, and included their commander, General Edward Pakenham. With the British failure to capture New Orleans, their empire lost all hope of wresting New Orleans from the US, of blocking American expansion to the Mississippi River and beyond, and of promoting further Indian resistance to American settlement and growth. Thus Jackson's victory allowed the natural thrust of American progress to swell over the mountains down the rivers and valleys and solidify. Moreover, Jackson's exploits in Florida crushed Indian resistance there and halted Anglo-Spanish schemes to disrupt the American south and southwest expansion.

Rightly hailed as a hero after his New Orleans victory, Jackson would enter national politics. One may find that Schlesinger exaggerated when he portrayed Jackson's Presidency as the New Deal of the 19^th century, but Thorne conceded he ended the era of the aristocratic Virginia dynasties.(95) Jackson roused many more Americans to enter the electorate and essentially re-create a sector of Jefferson's Democratic Republican Party as the Democratic Party. While his personality and policies were popular with a majority of the people, there were some who detested him, calling him tyrant and king. While President, a sailor slapped Jackson, and another man shot a pistol at him, but it misfired.(121)

Jackson not only created the modern Democratic Party, with his position on forced Indian resettlement and being a slave owner, it was clear he viewed America basically as a white man's country and the Democratic Party as the party of the white race. That seemed so evident that decades later, in the election of 1868, the Democrats' official campaign song included lyrics: “We are the white man's party.”

For decades Democrats honored their founders with Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinners – speeches and fundraisers. These were major annual events held throughout the country. But as “anti-racism,” and later, “anti-whitism,” became centerpieces of the post-1960s progressive Democratic Party, both Jefferson and Jackson have been lambasted as slave owners. Both are now deemed as embarrassments to many of the new Democratic Party leadership.

Finally, there is one episode that should have been included in this book. In 1840 Jackson returned to New Orleans for the 25^th anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans, and laid a corner stone for a monument. Jackson died in 1845, and in 1851 Place d'Armes was renamed Jackson Square. In 1856 an equestrian statue of Jackson was placed at the center of the Jackson Square in the New Orleans French Quarter. Several identical statues were created. However, I am convinced that the photograph of the Jackson statue in Thorne's book (133) is NOT the one in New Orleans. Moreover, during the Civil War, the Confederates were far less successful in defending New Orleans than had been Jackson, and early in the war, April 1862, the largest city of the Confederacy fell to the Union naval forces under Southern-born David Farragut. The city was occupied by Yankees, and many ladies, to show their disapproval, spit on the Union soldiers. The Yankee general in charge of the Union occupation, Benjamin Butler, then issued an order that any ladies who insulted his troops were to be treated as women of the streets (prostitutes). Reaction was swift. The author of the order was now called “Beast” Butler, vilified throughout the South and in Europe. He had also forced ships coming upriver to wait to insure they were not carrying yellow fever, and there was no epidemic during Butler's reign. Modifying them only slightly, he also added a few words by Jackson to the base of the statue in Jackson Square. During the 1830s, when John Calhoun favored nullification and there was talk of secession of states from the Union, Jackson, slave owner, strongly opposed the dissolution of the nation. And said so. His words were added to the statue during the Yankee occupation to annoy the rebels - “The Union must and shall be preserved.” (Today, the Left wing in New Orleans seeks to remove the Jackson statue.)

For a short book Thorne was able to discuss complex issues like Jackson's hostility toward the National Bank; his preference for state banks, maneuvers by politicians on both sides and the national economic consequences. Thorne explains these difficult concepts simply. She is good at condensing many topics about the growing nation during the Jackson era. One she might have elaborated – what happened to the sailor who slapped the President or to the man who tried to shoot him.

Overall, Thorne has written a short, general appraisal of why Andrew Jackson does indeed deserve to be included in this series of people who changed the course of history.