Thanks to YouGov for sponsoring this video. I’m Mr. Beat
On January 30, 1835, a dude who spent most of his free time painting houses attempted
to become the first known person in American history to attempt to assassinate the President
of the United States. This dude’s name was Richard Lawrence, and
he possibly suffered from a mental disorder called schizophrenia. He often would wander around having meaningless
conversations with himself. On the morning of Friday, January 30, 1835,
he sat in his paint shop with a book in his hand, laughing hysterically. Then, all of sudden, Lawrence jumped up and
said “I’ll be damned if I don’t do it.” He went to the U.S. Capitol…to the funeral
of a U.S. Representative from South Carolina named Warren Davis. He went there to shoot the President. At the end of the funeral, he found a space
near one of the capitol’s pillars and waited for the President to pass. Finally, the President came, and as he walked
by, Lawrence stepped out and fired his pistol at the President’ s back. The first bullet misfired. He quickly attempted another shot with his
second pistol, but it ALSO misfired. By this time, the 67-year old President had
begun attempting to beat the crap out of Lawrence with his walking cane. Davy Crocket, who was a U.S. Representative
of Tennessee at the time and who would die just over a year after this event at the Battle
of the Alamo, tackled Lawrence to the ground. The President kept trying to beat Lawrence
with his cane, but others pulled him back. That President was Andrew Jackson. (turns) The likelihood of both pistols misfiring,
by the way, was 125,000 to 1. (turns) Here’s the story of one of the luckiest,
but also probably the toughest, and most terrifying, presidents in American History. But first, I’m gonna tell you about YouGov. YouGov is my favorite way to take surveys
and make extra cash and rewards. I originally started using it when I was stuck
in line somewhere. I think the DMV or something, but it’s just
a great, quick way to answer questions and get rewarded for it. Often, I take YouGov surveys on the toilet. That reminds me…I probably need to clean
my phone. Anyway, YouGov is free to join and so easy
to get extra cash. It’s can be an easy side hustle. Tap my link to take surveys and earn cash
on YouGov. Thanks to YouGov for sponsoring this video. -Raised on the Frontier- Andrew Jackson was born in the Waxhaws, a
region near the present-day border of northern South Carolina and southern North Carolina…boy
that’s a bit confusing…on March 15, 1767. Andrew’s parents, Elizabeth and Andrew Jackson,
Sr., were Ulster Scots who had moved from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas two years prior. Uh yeah…they may have squatted on land when
they got there. Sadly, though, Andrew never knew his dad,
who died in a logging accident three weeks before he was born. Andrew was the youngest of three children,
having two older brothers- Hugh and Robert. After the death of their father, Elizabeth
moved the family in with her sister, Jane Crawford, and her husband and family. Elizabeth not only raised Andrew and his brothers,
but also took care of Andrew’s cousins, Jane’s eight children. To Andrew, his mother was kind of a superhero. Andrew’s family were members of the Presbyterian
church. Elizabeth wanted Andrew to be a minister and
scrounged up enough money for him to learn Latin and Greek. However, she quickly realized he wasn’t
fit for being a minister due to his wild temper and general rebelliousness. And when I say Elizabeth “scrounged” up
money, I mean she really “scrounged” up money. The family was poor. As you might have assumed, Andrew often got
into fights with other boys growing up. He often LOST fights, but always got right
back up and continued to fight. Andrew didn’t get much formal schooling. He was never really that good at writing or
spelling. After the American War of Independence broke
out, the Jacksons were definitely on the side of the rebels, aka the “Patriots.” ESPECIALLY after some Tories, aka the “Loyalists”
constantly came through the Waxhaws and terrorized residents there, burning down farms. After the Battle of Stono Ferry on June 20,
1779, Andrew’s brother Hugh died of heat stroke. The next year, at the age of just 13, Andrew
joined his other brother, Robert, and began riding with the rebels, mostly as scouts but
also delivering messages. On April 10, 1781, British soldiers took over
the Jackson’s home, destroying practically everything of value the family had. While there, they also captured Andrew and
Robert. After a British officer demanded that Andrew
clean his muddy boots, Andrew angrily refused, so the officer struck him on the head and
hand with his sword. Supposedly, Andrew dared the officer to strike
him again. The officer didn’t, but the sword had already
done quite a bit of damage. Andrew would have scars on his left hand and
head for the rest of his life. After this, British soldiers took Andrew and
Robert to a prison camp 40 miles away where they both contracted smallpox. Keith: He’s the only U.S. President ever
to be a P.O.W. Elizabeth made the journey to rescue them. She worked out a deal to get her boys released. Sadly, by that time, the boys were extremely
sick and malnourished. They barely made the journey home, with Andrew
walking barefoot and without a coat the entire way. Robert died two days after they got home. However, as you probably already knew by this
point, Andrew survived the smallpox, mostly due to Elizabeth nursing him back to health. Shortly after this, Elizabeth left Andrew
alone as she traveled to Charleston to aid the Patriot war effort by nursing sick and
injured soldiers. While there, she got cholera and died shortly
after that. Before his 15th birthday, Andrew Jackson had
lost both his parents and both his brothers. Due to his experiences during the American
War of Independence, he would HATE anything British or anything even remotely associated
with the British for the rest of his life. -A wild young man- Not only was Andrew an orphan, he was also
penniless! He lived with his uncle for a while, but soon
got news from Ireland that…oh yeah…now his grandpa had died. His grandpa left Andrew a small inheritance,
which he traveled to Charleston to pick up. However, while there he immediately spent
it all, apparently gambling most of it away. He returned to the Waxhaws and went back to
school and began teaching reading and writing to elementary school-aged kids. Well, he didn’t like being a teacher so
much, and at the age of 17, he decided he wanted to head west to become a lawyer. Now, in 1784, it was really freaking easy
to become a lawyer compared to today, especially on the frontier. Jackson studied to become one in Salisbury,
North Carolina. While there, he gained a reputation as a wild
dude who partied hard, gambled a lot, got into a lot of fights, and, even though it
was the style back then, REFUSED TO WEAR A POWDERED WIG DAD GOMIT. One time he threw a bunch of random furniture
in a fire inside a building. That must have been a really crazy party. After Jackson officially became a lawyer in
September 1787, he had a hard time finding clients and making money. However, that would soon change when his friend
John McNairy hooked him up with an opportunity west of the Appalachians, in a tiny frontier
town called Nashville. Back then, Nashville was part of western North
Carolina, but today it’s in the state of Tennessee. On the way there, Jackson stayed in the town
of Jonesborough. This is where he got into his first duel,
with another lawyer named Waightstill Avery. Jackson challenged him to a duel after Avery
supposedly talked trash about him. The duel ended with both men firing their
guns in the air. They shook hands and became friends afterward. It was also in Jonesborough that Jackson got
his first slave, who apparently was a woman his age. Ugh. That said, him getting the slave happened… kind of…ACCIDENTALLY…. You see, Jackson had provided legal services
to a client in Jonesborough, but the client didn’t have enough cash to pay him, so he
gave one of his slaves to Jackson instead. Jackson also narrowly escaped being attacked
by American Indians on his way to Nashville. Future American Indian attacks in Tennessee
were sometimes gruesome, and this greatly shaped Jackson’s perception of American
Indians. Andrew moved out here to Nashville in 1788,
soon becoming a solicitor, or chief law officer. At the time, Nashville only had like a couple
hundred people, and Jackson quickly made a name for himself in town, especially after
gaining the attention of William Blount, a Founding Father Dude and one of the most powerful
people in North Carolina. Jackson gained a reputation as a confident
and ambitious man…someone who looked you in the eyes when he talked to you…someone
who spoke softly and slowly, and someone with a calm and gentle demeanor- unless you made
him angry, that is. In those early months in Nashville, he stayed
in a boarding house owned by Rachel Stockly Donelson. Her husband, the late John Donelson, had helped
found Nashville, in fact. While there, Andrew met her daughter Rachel
Donelson Robards. Rachel Robards was married to Lewis Robards,
a land speculator, but Lewis was abusive, and by 1789 the two had separated. Around that time, Andrew and Rachel fell in
love and soon moved in with each other, even though Rachel was still technically married
to Lewis. The two even went off to Natchez, Mississippi
to illegally get married. Lewis found out all this and talked trash
about Jackson, and so, naturally, Jackson challenged Lewis to a duel. Lewis refused and moved to Kentucky. Robards only later finally granted a divorce
to Rachel on the basis of Rachel’s “infidelity.” Meanwhile, William Blount, by now the Governor
of the Southwest Territory, had appointed Jackson to be Attorney of the Mero District. Jackson also still took on other clients,
and also became a merchant. He made enough money where he started buying
up a ton of land. TENS OF THOUSANDS of acres of land, to be
precise. Ok ok ok…most of that land was bought on
credit. Still, the Jacksons gained a lot of wealth
through land investments. Oh, uh, yeah they had another, absolutely
horrible way of acquiring wealth. Slaves. Freaking slaves. In 1796, Andrew and Rachel got two more slaves
as part of a settlement related to Rachel’s dad’s estate. For the rest of the 1790s, they bought 12
more. Jackson never said slavery was good. But he never said it was bad, either. He kind of just went with the times and apparently
not too deeply about it, unfortunately. -Unlikely politician- Also in 1796? A pivotal moment in which Jackson was chosen
to attend a convention that would lead to Tennessee becoming a state. Jackson played a big role drafting a constitution
for Tennessee. He was NOT known as a good speaker, but he
still was incredibly persuasive at the convention. Believe it or not, Jackson was a big reason
why “Tennessee” became the name of the state. While other delegates favored naming the state
after a person, he insisted the state get an American Indian name. Also in 1796, Andrew bought a square mile
of land near Nashville he called Hunter’s Hill. There, he built a home for Rachel and him
where they’d live for the next several years. When he finally got into politics, Jackson
sided with the Democratic Republicans and Jefferson. It helped that he still hated Britain, and
was angry about the Jay Treaty, a deal created by Alexander Hamilton that led to peaceful
trade with the country for ten years. And as it turns out, most of the locals WANTED
Jackson in politics. On December 4, 1796, at the age of 29, he
became Tennessee’s first Congressman. It took 42 days for his first trip to Philadelphia,
the country’s capital at the time. There he immediately stood out as someone
that was kind of a rebel with no filter. He seemed to be the most outspoken critic
of the beloved George Washington. That said, Jackson hated being in Congress. On March 4, 1797, Jackson abruptly left the
House of Representatives to return home. However, after William Blount and others talked
him into it, just a few months later Jackson ran for and got elected U.S. Senator. Jackson tried…he really did…but he again
just hated being in Congress. Not only that, Thomas Jefferson called him
too emotional and said he had too much of a temper. He ultimately only lasted just over six months
in the Senate, again abruptly quitting. I guess he just wasn’t cut out for making
laws. That said, soon after he returned to Nashville,
he got elected as a justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. Still, Jackson was unhappy, and he really
wasn’t that good at being a judge. Instead, he increasingly longed to be a military
man, even though Rachel certainly didn’t want him off fighting wars. -Fighting wars- Oh he’d fight wars alright. But first, he’d have to fight a person who
had become his archenemy- John Sevier, the governor of Tennessee. It all started after Sevier wouldn’t let
Jackson become major-general of the state militia. Later, Sevier also talked trash about Jackson,
once referring to him as a “poor pitiful petty fogging lawyer” and another time accusing
him of adultery in his marriage to Rachel. Naturally, Jackson challenged Sevier to a
duel. Let me repeat that for you. HE CHALLENGED THE GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE TO
A DUEL. They met to duel on October 1, 1803. After Sevier fell off his horse and broke
his sword, Jackson called it good enough and the two became friends for the rest of their
lives. Meanwhile, Jackson had found a way to command
the Tennessee militia anyway by that time. Oh, and hey speaking of duels…after the
Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, infamously killed the aforementioned
Alexander Hamilton, in a duel a few months later, Burr became a fugitive and fled west. And guess where Burr stopped by? Andrew Jackson’s house, of course. They were friends. Jackson fed him and lodged him soon after
Burr killed Hamilton, and the two even talked about taking over Spanish land, especially
Florida. That said, Jackson was apparently shocked
to learn that Burr may have been trying to secede parts of the West from the United States. In 1804, Jackson bought a 425-acre farm, including
a bunch of enslaved people. He named it “The Hermitage.” (wide shot) It’s where I am right now, as
matter of fact. But actually, the mansion was built much later. Over the next 17 years, Andrew and Rachel
actually lived in THIS much more modest log cabin. Over the years they would expand the complex
as they acquired more wealth. And despite living in this small cabin, they
still had nine slaves at this time. Over his lifetime, Jackson would own a total
of around 300 slaves. 1804 was also the year Jackson stopped being
a judge and really got into betting on horse races. There were several times in his life where
Jackson just should have died, but didn’t. Notably, that time he got in a duel with a
dude named Charles Dickinson. Dickinson talked trash about Rachel, but actually
it may have just been miscommunication. Well, Dickinson DID accuse Andrew of cheating
at a horse racing bet. Regardless, another duel here we go. Another guy involved, Thomas Swann, apparently
wasn’t even worthy enough to Jackson for a duel and he just beat him with a cane instead. Anyway, back to Charles Dickinson. Jackson and Dickinson met on May 30, 1806. This time, though, both aimed AT each other. Jackson’s bullet hit Dickinson in the abdomen,
and he would soon die from the injury. Dickinson’s bullet missed Jackson’s heart
by little more than an inch. The bullet actually shattered itself against
Jackson’s breastbone and rib cage, but it did not threaten infection. While Jackson recovered from the injury, his
doctor decided to leave the bullet in his chest, since removing it might risk Jackson
bleeding to death. He’d suffer from chronic pain from the bullet
for the rest of his life, which, yep, stayed in his chest the rest of his life. Jackson killing Dickinson was technically
illegal at the time, but he still got away with it and was never even charged with murder. I mean, it DID hurt his reputation quite a
bit…but remember, duels were much more common back then. Some historians estimate Jackson was involved
in as many as 100 duels throughout his life. In 1807, Jackson testified before a grand
jury at Aaron Burr’s trial after Burr was charged with treason. Jackson’s testimony was pivotal in helping
Burr get cleared of all the charges. In December 1808, Andrew and Rachel adopted
one of the infant sons of Rachel’s brother, Severn. Though we don’t know for sure, it’s possible
that Andrew was sterile, possibly due to getting smallpox as a kid, which is why Rachel and
him never had any kids of their own. They named him Andrew Jackson, Jr., and Andrew,
Sr. was a pretty devoted father. To be honest, Jackson kind of spoiled his
adopted son. By 1810, Andrew Jackson was probably one of
the most famous men out of Tennessee, but few folks knew about him outside of the state. That’d most definitely change over the next
few years. In early 1812, Jackson was 44 years old and
still major general of the Tennessee militia. By that time, it seemed inevitable like the
United States would be going to war with Great Britain again. Jackson, as you might suspect by this point
in the video, was one of the earliest supporters of going to war with Britain…the most “war
hawky” of the war hawks. In fact, he tried to get a head start, before
Congress even declared war, attempting to gather 50,000 volunteer soldiers to prepare
for an invasion of Canada. Once Congress did declare war on Britain,
Jackson immediately offered the services of his militia. When the federal government finally accepted
his offer, they sent him and his soldiers to fight against the Creek Indians, a nation
allied with the British. Jackson and his troops didn’t see a whole
lot of action, and by March 1813 they were back in Nashville. By this point, his troops were fondly calling
him “Old Hickory” for not only his determined attitude, but also his willingness to suffer
alongside his soldiers. Keith: Course we’re at the Hermitage, home
of Old Hickory…that’s in the town of Old Hickory, near the town of Hermitage, on Old
Hickory Boulevard. So Old Hickory’s all over the place in this
area. Indeed, his troops generally loved him. Thomas Hart Benton, the future Senator, became
Jackson’s aid. The two got along great…that is…until
Benton’s brother, Jesse Benton, got into a duel with Jackson's Inspector General and
future Tennessee Governor, William Carroll. In that duel, Carroll asked Jackson to serve
as his second. Jackson hesitated, worried that he would upset
Thomas, but ultimately supported his friend, William. In the duel, Carroll shot Jesse Benton in
the butt, and this frankly embarrassed Thomas. After this, Jackson and Thomas Hart Benton
indeed had a falling out. After Benton publicly talked trash, this enraged
Jackson. On September 4, 1813, Jackson and some friends
bumped into both Thomas and Jesse Benton in the lobby of the City Hotel in Nashville. Cracking a riding whip, Jackson yelled, “I
am going to punish you. Defend yourself!” Well long story short, they all ended up getting
in a gun fight and Jackson got shot twice, losing A LOT of blood. Nobody died, but Jackson ALMOST did. One of the bullets had shattered his left
shoulder. His doctor wanted to amputate his arm, but
Jackson wouldn’t let him. Because of this, the doctor recommended that,
once again, the bullet should stay put. Jackson was bedridden for almost a month while
he recovered. Oh, and he and Thomas Hart Benton settled
their differences and became friends again. Meanwhile, what became known as the War of
1812 was still raging, even though it was soon now…uh…1814. Even though his shoulder was still bothering
him, Jackson led his troops to a decisive victory against the Creeks in the Battle of
Horseshoe Bend on March 27, 1814. By that time, Andrew and Rachel had adopted
two…maybe three more kids…all Creek. One was a boy they named Lyncoya. They also took another orphaned boy they named
Theodore, but he died soon after arriving at the Hermitage. Apparently a third Creek child, given the
name Charley, also stayed at the Hermitage for a bit with the Jacksons. All had Creek parents who had died during
the war. Jackson probably had a soft spot for orphans
since he was an orphan himself. By August 1814, Jackson had moved his troops
to Mobile, not so secretly hoping he could kind of just take over Spanish Florida and
claim it for the United States. He justified the potential takeover by arguing
that Britain and Spain were allies, but most at the time thought the idea was a bit crazy. Jackson indeed invaded Florida on November
7, defeating both Spanish and British forces at what became known as the Battle of Pensacola. However, soon after this Jackson learned that
the British were planning a major attack on New Orleans, a strategically important city
seen as the gateway to the Lower Mississippi River and its tributaries. He got to New Orleans on December 1, 1814,
finding the city unable to defend itself. His left arm was still mostly useless. He needed help to write and couldn’t even
feed himself properly. He was probably skinnier at this time than
at any point in his life up to that point, likely due to parasites. He treated his constant severe pain by drinking
alcohol. We later found out that Andrew had lots of
lead in his bloodstream at this time. Still, New Orleans is where his legendary
status pretty much began. He quickly took charge of the Louisiana militia. Worried about the loyalty of the city’s
Creole and Spanish residents, he instituted martial law. He quickly got busy recruiting and raising
a force to defend the city from the British, even forming an alliance with a powerful local
gang. He famously put together an untrained, ragtag
bunch which included free blacks, New Orleans aristocrats, and members of the Choctaw nation. His troops were so diverse that orders had
to be given in English, French, Spanish, and Choctaw. Not only that, he paid non-white recruits
the same salary as whites. About a month later, he had a force of 5,000
dedicated men. When the British finally arrived, the War
of 1812 was over, but no one in New Orleans knew that. On January 8, 1815, 15 days after a peace
treaty was signed between the United States and Britain, Jackson’s forces clashed with
British forces just to the east of New Orleans in the most famous battle of the war- The
Battle of New Orleans. Despite the British having superior forces
and technology, the Americans pulled off a huge upset victory. They had just 71 casualties. The British? More than 2,000. The victory dramatically raised Jackson’s
national profile. He immediately became a war hero. Well uh, not to the Creeks, who would never
get their land back. Keith: Through his military victories, particularly
through the Battle of New Orleans, not only changes his fortune…but more importantly,
America had arrived. Jackson returned here to the Hermitage after
the war was over, but now everyone seemed to want his help. The Madison administration put Jackson in
command of all troops in the southern half of the country, for crying out loud. But at least Jackson could command them from
the Hermitage, which Rachel appreciated. Over the next few years, Jackson spent much
of his time screwing over American Indians. He signed five different treaties which all
collectively took away tens of millions of acres of land from the Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee
and Chickasaw. This all tended to make the U.S. Secretary
of War at the time, William Crawford, angry, you could say since he had been dedicated
to helping American Indians KEEP their land. Soon Jackson and Crawford were enemies. Jackson truly believed that separation between
whites and American Indians offered the only chance of Indian survival. By 1817, all eyes were once again on Florida. In December, the new U.S. Secretary of War,
John Calhoun, ordered Jackson to lead a campaign to fight a group of American Indians collectively
known as the Seminoles. The Seminoles were attacking settlers along
the border between Georgia and Spanish Florida. Though Rachel objected, Andrew accepted the
order and thus began the First Seminole War. Now, keep in mind that President James Monroe
wanted Jackson just to defend Georgia. Well Jackson interpreted that as just taking
over all of Florida and seizing it from Spain. Jackson and his forces invaded Florida and
fairly easily defeated both Seminole and Spanish forces there. This apparently made Calhoun angry, as he
tried to have him censured for going against the Constitution since Congress hadn’t declared
war on Spain. A censure is just a formal disapproval. This move also turned Henry Clay, the Speaker
of the House, against Jackson. Regardless, Jackson never got in trouble,
and the United States ended up buying Florida from Spain anyway. After that war, Jackson went home yet again. In 1819, Jackson began construction on the
original Hermitage mansion that you see behind me. It took two years to complete. It became Jackson’s place of refuge, and
when he returned from Florida he had no desire to leave it ever again. Besides, by then, Jackson’s health was in
decline. His pain had gotten so bad he could barely
get around. By 1820, Jackson owned at least 48 slaves
here at the Hermitage. One time, one of them ran away and he said
whoever found them could lash them for an extra reward. Geez dude. Still, around that time the United States
had experienced its first big economic depression, and Jackson lost a lot of money after he couldn’t
sell his cotton. The federal government was even forced to
reduce its military, and forced Jackson to retire from his major general position. When people began to meet up with him and
send him messages requesting that he run for President, Jackson had absolutely no desire
to. After all, he didn’t expect to live much
longer. Heck, he felt lucky he had reached the age
of 54. But there was soon a HUGE grassroots effort
to get him to run in 1824 and it was hard for Jackson to ignore it. This grassroots movement, frankly, freaked
the Washington, D.C. elites out, which maybe also motivated Jackson to run. In 1823, Tennessee put Jackson back in the
U.S. Senate, even though he had previously turned down running for governor. -Champion of the common man- Eventually, enough people talked him into
running for President in 1824. I have a video about this election that you
can check out later if you want, but just know that this was one of the craziest presidential
elections in American history. It ended up being a four-way race between
Jackson, the Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, and the aforementioned William Crawford
and Henry Clay. Jackson had a cult-like following. His supporters passionately campaigned for
him, portraying him as an outsider to DC politics. Many of them were brand new to politics. Jackson didn’t even have to campaign. Keith: When Jackson ran, in many if not most
places you had to own property to vote. You could have been there 20 years working
like a dog, but if you did not own a piece of ground you could not vote. The election of 1824 was so crazy that there
was no clear winner after the results came in. Jackson received 99 electoral votes, more
electoral votes than any other candidate, but he didn’t get the MAJORITY of electoral
votes needed to win the election, which was 131. This means the House of Representatives had
to determine the winner out of the top three candidates- Jackson, Adams, and Crawford. Well, Henry Clay used his influence as Speaker
of the House to convince more people to vote for Adams, not Jackson, and ADAMS won the
election. Well, this REALLY angered Jackson’s supporters. After all, Jackson not only received the most
electoral votes, but he received the most votes TOTAL, with 41.4% of the popular vote
compared to Adams getting just 30.9% of the popular vote. For the next four years, Jacksonians, as Jackson
supporters came to be called, planned their revenge. And Jackson’s support only grew as he became
seen as a victim in the election of 1824. Amazingly, Jackson stayed humble in public,
not talking trash about Clay or Adams. Privately…yeah he was angry, too. He hung around in the Senate a bit longer,
but abruptly resigned again well before his term was supposed to end. By 1828, Jackson supporters were calling themselves
“Democrats,” and, with the help of a U.S. Senator from New York named Martin Van Buren,
they started the Democratic Party. Like Thomas Jefferson before him, Jackson
was often viewed by his supporters as “one of their own,” yet by this time he was definitely
an aristocrat. Keith: As the folks of the country would say,
he never forgot where he came from. And so even though he lived in a house like
this, his goal was to represent the people. Jackson’s opponents dug up all the dirt
on Jackson. Uh yeah, it was actually pretty easy for them
to do that. So many duels, so many fights, so many temper
tantrums, those six soldiers Jackson ordered executed at the end of the War of 1812. Jackson’s main opponent was President John
Quincy Adams, and they actually agreed on most issues, which is perhaps why both campaigns
got so personal. Jackson’s campaign ran on symbols, not issues. Adams became seen as “the elite insider.” Jackson, as the populist outsider. Adams supporters talked trash about how Rachel
had still been married when she first got with Andrew. This made Andrew very, very angry and Rachel
very, very stressed. Perhaps related to this, Rachel had a heart
attack after Andrew won the election. She did not live to see her husband become
president, dying on December 22, 1828. Perhaps nothing more negatively affected Jackson
in his entire life than the death of his beloved wife. He loved her more than anything. What kept him going after her death? Perhaps it was revenge. At her funeral, he said, "May God Almighty
forgive her murderers, as I know she forgave them. I never can." By murderers, he clearly meant Adams’ supporters. Eh, it’s MORE accurate to say that DUTY
carried Jackson forward after Rachel’s death. On March 4, 1829, Jacksonians flooded D.C.
for his inauguration. They rushed right up to him to shake his hand. Jackson eagerly greeted them. He probably shook around 10,000 hands that
day. Before John Quincy Adams and his family and
friends could move out, a drunken mob of Jacksonians stormed the White House and damaged thousands
of dollars worth of china. It was pure chaos, man. Adams and his crew escaped narrowly out the
back door. -A President like no other- Loyalty was important to Jackson. After he became President, he felt obligated
to give positions of power in his administration to people who had been loyal to him during
his campaigns. Referring to Jackson’s victory and his appointments
of friends to his administration, William Marcy, a U.S. Senator from New York, said
“to the victor belong the spoils.” After this, the practice of a political party
giving government jobs to its supporters became known as the spoils system, even though the
practice had been around long before Jackson. Jackson immediately started investigations
into all executive departments to look for corruption. These investigations ultimately found that
millions of dollars in today’s money was stolen from the Treasury. Strangely, John Calhoun remained as Vice President,
even though he had previously been the Vice President of Jackson’s opponent, Adams and
talked trash about him. Jackson and Calhoun got along fine…that
is, until the Petticoat affair and the Nullification Crisis. The Petticoat affair was a political scandal
in which the wives of most of Jackson’s Cabinet members and Calhoun’s wife all decided
to bully Secretary of War John Eaton’s wife, Peggy Eaton. It ultimately caused a big rift in Jackson’s
Cabinet. The Nullification Crisis was a bigger deal,
and I even made an entire video about it if you want to check THAT out. Long story short, after South Carolina tried
to nullify a tariff, or basically ignore it, Congress freaked out, but ultimately passed
a new tariff, that South Carolina STILL wanted to nullify, so Jackson was like “nope,”
and he sent the military to South Carolina to make sure that they paid the gosh darn
tariff. Keith: Now Jackson, was a southerner. He is a slave owner. But he is a Unionist. He had fought in the Revolution, and he was
not going to dishonor his service, the country, or anybody else’s service in the Revolution
by giving in to nullification. By the end of Jackson’s first term- oh oops
spoiler alert, he easily got re-elected President in 1832. Anyway, by the end of Jackson’s first term,
Calhoun had resigned and the aforementioned Martin Van Buren took his place as Veep. Oh hey, speaking of 1832, remember that lead
bullet that was stuck in his arm? No, not the bullet stuck in his chest. The one from Jesse Benton that shattered his
left shoulder. Well, as it turns out, that was what was causing
Jackson pain more than anything over the previous 19 years. Hmmm. Go figure. In 1832, Jackson let Thomas Harris, a doctor
with the U.S. Navy, finally cut the bullet out. It was an inch below Jackson’s skin. Dr. Harris squeezed Jackson’s arm, and the
bullet popped right out. It’s worth noting that Jackson didn’t
get anesthesia for the procedure, although he did apparently drink some alcohol. Jackson may have been popular, but he also
had plenty of haters. By the end of his first term there was an
entire movement against him that turned into a new political party- The Whig Party, led
by folks like Henry Clay, who by now likely hated Jackson more than any other politician. The two most controversial things Jackson
arguably did during his first term was sign the Indian Removal Act and declare war on
the Second Bank of the United States, the closest thing resembling a central bank at
the time in the country. The Indian Removal Act gave Jackson the power
to negotiate treaties to remove American Indians from their lands. And that’s exactly what Jackson did. By the end of his presidency, Jackson had
successfully pushed almost all American Indians to reservations west of the Mississippi to
mostly less desirable lands. About 70,000 people, many of them dying on
the journey westward due to disease. After the Supreme Court ruled FOR the Cherokee
to stay in Georgia in the case Worcester v. Georgia, Georgia ignored it, and Jackson didn’t
force Georgia to follow it. Regarding the Second Bank of the United States,
well Jackson viewed it as a tool for the rich. Keith: Using taxpayer money. And that, to Jackson, was just unconscionable. He favored a decentralized system that he
believed would be more favorable to farmers and small business owners. Throughout most of his second term as President,
Jackson led a political struggle today known simply as The Bank War. After Congress voted to reauthorize the Bank,
Jackson vetoed the bill, and then later removed all the Bank’s federal deposits, instead
having all the money distributed to state banks across the country. The Bank War led to Jackson being the first
president in American history to be censured. The Senate censured him on March 28, 1834
for refusing to turn over documents related to the whole ordeal. Regardless, Jackson mostly remained popular,
probably because he remained a symbol against the elites and for the “common man.” In 1835, Jackson became the only President
in American history to pay off the national debt. He was against the national debt because,
as he viewed it, it tended to favor the rich. Regarding slavery, other than sending federal
troops in to end Nat Turner’s slave rebellion, Jackson mostly didn’t bring up slavery much,
knowing it was such a divisive issue in the country. The Jackson administration was successful
at establishing several trade agreements with countries around the world. Jackson appointed five Supreme Court justices
to the Supreme Court throughout his tenure. Most were not elite-types, of course. Jackson almost certainly would have been elected
for a third term, but instead, keeping with the two-term tradition, announced his retirement,
endorsing his Veep, Martin Van Buren, to take his place. Thanks to Jackson’s popularity, Van Buren
fairly easily won the election of 1836. On the last day of his Presidency, Jackson
recognized the Republic of Texas. He later called for its annexation. After he left the Presidency, Jackson retired
here to the Hermitage. Most of the last years of his life were during
a major economic depression caused by the Panic of 1837 which most historians say Jackson
himself caused due to the Bank War. That depression certainly hurt his reputation,
and the Whigs would gain power in the coming years. Still, Jackson stayed politically influential
and outspoken until his final days. Speaking of his final days, most of the photographs
you see of him are from that time. Only like…three photos of him exist. He spent much of his final days with his family. He had survived so much crazy stuff throughout
his entire life, but his heart ultimately failed him on June 8, 1845. He was 78. -The Legacy of Old Hickory- While Andrew Jackson was and still is a polarizing
President in American history, he undoubtedly left a lasting impact on the United States. He was the first president born in poverty…the
first born west of the Appalachian Mountains. He expanded democracy. Keith: Jackson redefined what democracy meant. In fact, in most history textbooks, high school
and college, he’s really the only president who’s had an era named after him because
you’ll find a chapter, “The Age of Jacksonian Democracy.” That impacted the most people long term. His rise to power led to the development of
two brand new political parties. Jackson also strengthened the office of the
Presidency. Keith: …from being a, I won’t say exclusively
but largely ceremonial office in a way to that of an active chief executive. Heck, in some ways he even preserved the Union. Keith: I like the statement that’s in our
museum. Jackson says “I was born for a storm and
a calm does not suit me,” which is an excellent self-evaluation. Of course what he doesn’t say when he says
“I’m born for a storm,” he caused many of those storms himself. Others he didn’t back down from. Jackson would not back down. Known for his fiery personality and for being
the first president to represent the “common man,” he single handedly changed American
politics forever. For better or for worse. Nah, actually I’d say mostly for better. Sometimes we need outsiders in there to shake
things up and stick it to the elites, and Jackson indeed was a champion for the underdog. Well, the white underdogs. Hey, it was still progress. And folks forget that Jackson, even though
he WAS one of the elites by the time he ran for President, truly was a rags to riches
story. He was born in poverty and rose up, the first
President to represent the somewhat so-called American Dream. Jackson never forgot his humble
upbringing, and his populist message and commanding leadership style helped shape the American
democratic ideals that many of us take for granted today. That all said, critics called him a demagogue
who ignored the law when it was convenient. Sure, he was terrifying. He was racist….and a little crazy. But I think the United States ultimately ended
up on a better path because of him. A shout out to Ann McClane, Keith Hardison,
and all the folks here at the Hermitage in Nashville who helped me make this video. So which President should I cover next for
this series? Let me know your opinion on THE INTERNET. Keith: Well was that enough for ya? Yeah, thank you so much.
