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.