Nr
NEA
IN FORMAL DRESS
Painted by John Vanderlyn, it is believed in
1815, and hung in the council chamber of the
Charleston City hall as a tribute to a native
South Carolinan. Reproduced from a photo-
graph of the original in the collection of Mrs.
Samuel G. Heiskell of Knoxville.
é >
(All pictures frory Marquis James’ “Andrew
Jackson, the Border aptain,” courtesy the
Bobbs-Merrill company.)
4
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
N A December day in 1814 a Brit-
army, sent in a fi * ¢
1 of ships to
the come
’ reos
can forces de-
been working
them, so help me God!
Then followed his i
December 23 which held
even thoug!
result was des
later—on January 8 1815. when thi emphatie
leader won one of t}
victories in all history, a victory which paved the
way to the White Youse for him and 1
pu
RREOGHRA re
astounding
wit on the
calendar of the American people n red letter day
which calls for remembering the name of An-
drew Jackson,
That emphatic declaration quoted above has a
peculiar siz Notice, if you please, that
“Old Hickory” not say “WE will
hem.” He sald “I will smash them.” And that
t
smash
gives point to the e chosen by a recent blog.
rapher for his book—*"Andrew Jackson, the Bore
der Captain,” by Marquis James, published by the
Bobbs-Merrill company. For the essence of the
border spirit was individualism, a supreme self-
confidence on the part of the borderer (or the
frontiersman, If you prefer that name) In his
ability to do what he set out to do. And only
the man who had that supreme self-confidence,
that “will to win,” could hope to be a “border
captain,” a leader of borderers.
The extent to which Jackson had it is In-
dicated by James, in telling of his preparations
for smashing the British before that historic
January 8, as follows: “The inexorable Jack-
sonian will was unleashed-—an instrument by
which he belleved he could accomplish anything,
Had Charles Dickinson shot him through the
brain Andrew Jackson counted on the power of
sheer resolve to sustain him long enough to kill
his adversary. This mood possessed him now.
His determination was formed to fight below
New Orleans; if beaten there, to fight in New
Orleans: If beaten there, to fight above New
Orleans—to fight until no living thing could
withstand his ineradicable Impulse to victory.
This was fury, but of the cool, calculating sort.”
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this
“new portrait” of Jackson is that It paints him
fs an aristocrat. “Andrew Jackson an aristo-
erat? Impossible!” you exclaim, because you be.
Heve the school history tradition of him as the
typieal exponent of the frontier democracy. But
the fact Is that he was both a frontiersman and
an aristocrat. He was born on the Carolina
frontier in the home of his uncle, James Craw-
ford, whence his mother had gone after the death
of his father,
James Crawford was one of the wealthiest
men of that part of the country. A large num-
ber of slaves tilled his flelds and ran his grist.
mill and distillery. Even finer was the adjoining
plantation of Robert Crawford, his brother, who
was called Esquire because of his leadership In
local affairs. The first 17 years of Jackson's
life were spent in the home of James Crawford
and that of Robert Crawford was a “second
home” to him, he was there so much. So he was
no mere hackwoodsman, for he “belonged to all
the aristocracy there was in the Back-Country.”
Given the best education obtainable—and that
was more than the majority of the typleal fron.
tiersmen had-—his interests were pointed toward
things classical and he might possibly have gone
into the ministry, as his mother had planned for
him, had not the Revolution intervened. Very
early he showed aristocratic tendencies. He
loved good company and he loved good horses,
He engaged in horse racing and cock fighting,
two typleal interests of the Colonial gentleman.
When he went down to Charleston to receive a
modest inheritance, he proceeded to get rid of
it in a gentlemanly way among the gentility
of that old Southern town, who accepted him as
one of them.
Then he studied law at Salisbury and becams
a leading social light In that frontier settle
a
rr
#
i
Ra
A PRESENTATION PORTRAIT
A miniature on ivory done at New Orleans
in 1815 by Jean Francois Vallee, a Frenchman
under the spell of the Napoleonic traditiem.
of 1 portunities there were fo
Learning
tt ;
roung a nd the mountains “he
toward Tennessee with the comfortable
ance of the | ' { 1 '¥ general an
fees,
faction
who acq
hair-trig h resulted in an
is, and
the region
litary lead.
appalling nami
gathered to hi
in the form of nolitieal off
ership. He had a period in both the house and
senate of the United States. He became a major
general In the militia Without
struggle or hardship he a
power.”
state
undue
iuired both place and
Thus one reviewer of Marquis James’
blography.
If Jackson had aristocratic leanings in his
youth, they became all the more apparent in his
manhood. Within a few years after he had come
to Tennessee he was a wealthy man with even
greater riches in sight. At one time or another
he owned outright or in partnership more than
100000 acres of land At different times he
owned a distillery, a tavern and licensed ordl-
nary, a boat yard, a race course, a large trading
establishment with three stores In Tennessee
and agents in New Orleans and Philadelphia and
he was a stockholder in the Nashville bank,
the first in Tennessee.
He lived In a fine house on a model planta-
tion called Hunter's Hill and that, as well as his
later homes, the two “Hermitages” were very
much a "gentleman's country seat” But Jack
son was not as good a business man as he was
a fine gentleman. All of his enterprises except
the race track and the bank lost money. Soon
he became so involved In debt that he had to,
sell Hunter's Hill to pay out and he moved into
a blockhouse which became the first “Hermitage.”
Then it was discovered that he had sold sete
tlers a large tract of land to which he did not
possess a clear title, and that threatened to take
the last dollar he owned. A crafty lawyer told
him how he could find a legal loophole through
which he could evade responsibility. Jackson's
reply was typical of the man. He declared that
he would protect the settlers’ titles if it made
him a pauper. Fortunately for him he was able
to protect them without impoverishing himself,
It was such traits of character uy these which
helped make him a “border captain” Whatever
faults he may have had, there was never any
question of his personal integrity. Particularly
was this true of him as a judge during his early
career in Tennessee, Of this James writes: “His
record is clean. Barring a little finesse in In-
dian matters, which was customary, no hint of
irregularity renders the dim beginnings of his
career of a color with those of a few of our
other western Immortals, On the bench Jackson
was rectitude embodied, His law library was pre-
sentable and his acquaintance with It ample for
the time and place, No written decision by him
is known, that practice being inaugurated by
Jackeon's suceessor, John Overton. But tradi
tion preserves the essence of his frequent charge
te Juries. ‘Do what is RIGHT between these par
ties. That is what the law always MEANS."
Just as he was a jeader in civil life, so he be.
came an outstanding military leader, conscious
of the fact that “the leader must sacrifice him
solf for his people.” Bo when the War of 1812
broke out there was every good reason why An-
drew Jackson should have remained at the
Hermitage, enjoying the honors that already
had come to him and the companienship of his
i
RACHEL JACKSON
A miniature on ivory which Jackson wore
about his neck for thirty years. Painted by
Anna C. Peale in Washington, December, 1815.
beloved Rachel
price for the right to en
Certainly he md paid a }
, FIsKir
life time me in challenges to duels and In
duels themselve her good name from
slanderous whispe
wma Jor-gen-
¢
Even though he
i years before
3
eral of
here was no compelling
he Tennessee
Rachel and march
stantiy
division of 2.50
offered
make # successful invasion
days But his offer was
not been for Governor Blot
signed his commission as ma
ed States volunteers he mig
the war at all
Through the machination of Gen. James Wilk
was one, all of Jackson's Torts to serve
country
the news came of the Creek
massacre at Fort Mims In Al
son started on the campaign which was to
him his first military Bat early
campaign difficult Before he could
8 decisive victory over the Creeks,
enlistment of the majority of the volunteers un
der his command expired and the men prepared
were about to come to nanght
Horie
glory
ies arose,
reinforcements to take thelr places
Then “Governor Blount threw up the sponse
advising the evacuation of Fort Strother and a
retreat to Tennesse, !
Join the dismal file of funking military chieftains
whose crowded march into the limbo had dis
tinguished our management of the wir Ones
Hl-calculated step and Andrew
born, Hampton, lzard. Chandler,
list could be lengthened”
So Jackson wrote a letter to Blount: “Arouse
from yr. leathargy—despise fawning smiles or
snarling frowns—with energy exercise yr. fune-
tions-—the campaign must rapidly progress or
«+» +» JT. country ruined. Call out the full quota
execute the orders of the Secy. of War, arrest
the officer who omits his duty, . . . and let popu
larity perish for the moment. Save Moblle—syve
the Territory—save yr. frontier from becoming
drenched in blood. . . . What retrograde under
these circumstances? 1 will perish first”
That was in December, 1813, A year later,
faced with a similar situation of impending dis
aster (although redconts, not redsking were the
enemy this time) Jackson was duplicating his
“I will perish first,” with the statement “I will
smash them, so help me God !” Smash the Creeks
he did at Tohopeka or the Great Horsehoe Bend
and Jackson's return to Tennessee was a tri-
umphal progress. A year later he also smashed
the British and “to a country that had almost
completely lost faith in itself, to a country that
had almost learned to cringe, this news came
like a reprieve to a man upon the gallows, It
was literally crazed with Joy, and in its delirlum
it flung the name of Andrew Jackson sgainst the
stars” h
Later to an suggestion that he might become a
candidate for Presidenf he replied, “Do. yon
think I am such a dd fool? No, sir; 1 know
what I am fit for. 1 ean command a body of
men in a rough way, but 1 am not fit to be Pres.
fdont.” Thirteen years later American demoe-
racy thought differently. So it sent this border
captain to the White House, :
© by Western Newspaper Union,
OTHER NRA’S
For merchants: No Rulnous Ae.
counts,
For showgoers: No lank
For church clubs: No Haey Anec-
dotes,
For snappish
marks Acidulous
For the wets: No Hotten Aleohol,
For girls next door: &®o Raucous
Arias Boston Traoscript,
Actors,
couples ; No {e-
Only Explanation
fit
hogvewelel
» Elsie. 1
wish we had a real baby
wheel it around In my go-eart.”
“How What made
you think of that?”
sweet, dear,
“Well, you see, the dolls are al
vays getting broken when the bug
gy tips over.
Safe at Last
there to
in pris
thought
in the
there are
middle of {0 see
burglars In the pliuce.-
London Humorist,
Just Comfortable
Lodger
pounding at
come
been really ary
don Humorist,
Dad Knows Everythin
“ad, what's a post-graqduat
“Yer” he
to be taken
broken nose
ed shoulder
3
No Wonder
i 1
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“Bene who has
views (slang)
extreme politieal
Solution
LA RB
is @ great Hotel”
Tevy