Show A XA ap pp k 4 1 1 1 1 11 ip 0 fit n 4 jp al na Z rix wi 4 Z VA ar Z N k 4 M IN ell 4 4 mazva tc by ELMO SCOTT WATSON FHE HE present session of congress has seen the introduction of an almost unparalleled number of resolutions and bills appropriating money for the erection of monuments memorials nod and markers to in various parts part s of the country and the americans who are to lie be thus honored if the bins pass range all the way from i presidents revolutionary war heroes and civil war leaders down to vice presidents and other comparatively obscure individuals one of the most interesting memorials thus proposed Is the plan for a plaza of presidents in nashville tenn since this one project will honor the memory of three presidents one of the three ts Is so well known and Is so BO often included in the list of truly great presidents that it would seem impossible to add anything to his hia fame with another memorial but the other two neither of whom Is nearly so well known as the first have certain claims to Ird importance in our history which should make their names better known to all americans under the terms of a bill offered by represent byrns of tennessee the federal government will be asked to contribute toward the of this plaza of presidents in nashville on which statues of andrew jackson james IL polk and andrew johnson will be placed the state of tennessee would donate to the plan and the use of the whole fund to in building the memorial would be wiper supervised by the secretary of war and the governor of tennessee As stated above it would seem almost im am possible to add anything to the fame of andrew jackson for this picturesque figure has so im pressed itself upon the consciousness of the american people that the mere mention of the name old hickory brings to our minds as definite aind clear cut a picture as do the names of the father of ills his country and the great emancipator en anci pator ills his name and tits his part in amerlean american history have been perpetuated in a dozen different ways there Is scarcely a state in the union that does not have a town city or county named Jack jackson sun the famous and much criticized from an artistic viewpoint rocking horse of him in lafayette square over the white house lg Is one of the best known landmarks in the national nat ionni capital the anniversary of his famous battle with the british Is ig a red letter day on the calendar of thousands of americans rind jacksonian democracy ll Is tha ilia fundamental principle of the political faith of one of the two great political parties in this country his home the hermitage near nashville Is more than just a state landmark it Is a national shrine second only to mount blount vernon in historic interest to which thousands pay a visit of homage each year and only the other oilier day the name of andrew jackson dead these 73 years wits was heard beard again throughout the land when before a group gathered in statuary hall in the alie capitol in wash ing inston ton andrew jackson IV descendant of old korys adopted son pulled a cord which unveiled a statue of his famous namesake it was Tennes sees gift to the federal government of the likeness of one of her two greatest sons and this gift was accepted on behalf of the whole nation by president coolidge the carr career of james K polli polk a man vastly different from andrew jackson la Is never nevertheless nii nn interesting one like jackson he be was u i 1 Tennesse eun from north carolina polk was born barn in Bleck mecklenburg lenburg county N 0 in no such hardships had bad attended his youth as had bad characterized the early life of old hickory in terms of formal schooling he was a much better educated man having been graduated from the university of north carolina A man of considerable sid ald erable ability he rose rapidly in the political world he be was a member of the louse house of representatives senta tives for 14 years and served as speaker in the house from 1835 to 1839 it la Is interesting to note that lie he was the only speaker of the house of reprise representatives nta tives wio who ever became dent following his servie service in congress he was elected governor of tennessee an office which he held for one term of two years considering the importance of the events during tits his administration as president and the part pan which lie he had in shaping those events it Is all the more remarkable that he was the first dark horse candidate and that his becoming president was more or less of an accident A brief review of the political history preceding his election Is necessary to give a proper perspective on these facts when andrew jackson was ready to lay down the reigns of power which lie he had held field for eight years lie he decided that martin van buren of new york who had helped manage his second campaign and who was later his secretary of state should be his sue assor All although hough the whigs under the leadership ot of gen NYI elham llam henry harrlson harrison had put up 0 9 valiant fight in il the campaign of 1830 van buren baren was elected and the jacksonian Jacks onlan democracy was wa destined to rule for four years more in the white house rut but the campaign of 1840 was wag a different matter with their shouts of tippecanoe and tyler too the W klings hags swung into their famous log cabin and hard cider ram cam laign with an afi enthusiasm tant had find rarely be fore been displayed and the popular appeal of this military hero the same sort of appeal that had helped elect jackson enabled harrlson harrison to defeat the little magician van buren and put the whigs in power for the first time in history then harrison died soan boon after taking inking orace arid john tyler the me vice president who had been elected as a whig but who soon proved that lit was not a dyed in the wool whig in principle became president As the campaign of 1814 1844 18 14 ap approached preached pro ached it was apparent that tyler would noi be the whig candidate but that that mantle would fall upon henry clay jacksons old enemy enem who had cast envious eyes at the white house since 1824 van buren was the logical demo bratle candidate but hla his opposition to the alon of texas which shared with the dispute over the oregon bo boundary the honors tor for being the leading political questions of the day w wn destined to lose the nomination for him when the democratic Demra tic convention met in balti more it was apparent that van vain huron buren would have a majority of the delegates an and d then the see second and morning of the meeting the celebrated celebrate i t o thirds majority rule was passed after what seemed a hopeless deadlock between van buren and lewis pass cass van burans Dur tens name came was withdrawn then followed the first convention stampede in american history and james jamak K polk of tennessee who bad been a prominent can didace for vice president was nominated as the th first dark horse nor nominee ninee for the presidency in an exciting campaign in which the annexation of texas and the dispute over oregon with the th first faint cries of 1154 51 40 or fight 1 being abeln raised polk defeated clay and took office with the promise that he would not seek nor accept the office again one of the two presidents who made that promise and kept his word although polk was almost unknown when he went into the white house he soon showed that he was waa in some sort a man of iron ile he wanted california for the united states and laid his plans to get it despite the popular clamor about oregon polk had no intention of embroiling the country in a war with two countries tor for he saw that war with mexico was inevitable while many historians have declared that the war with mexico was unjustifiable and have severely criticized polk for the role he played in that affair others have ju justified stifled his course on the grounds of the manifest destiny of this nation at any rate history has written down james I 1 K poll as the president under whose administration more square miles were added to the territory of the united states than any other executive except jefferson by tits his purchase of louisiana if it was polk who gave to the united states california and the great southwest by conquest and the oregon country by compro comero mise the third president who will all be honored if the plaza of presidents den ts project goes through Is one who has BufTer ea much injustice from history andrew johnson who rose to the white louse from the obscurity of a tailors shop in eastern tennessee was like jackson ond and polk born in north carolina of him filin it has been said hla his early poverty was deeper than Lincol ns his family as aa obscure tits lila educational opportunities far less ile he was in boyhood a white slave and ills his master advertised for him when lie he ran away as though lie he were a ingro re lie learned to read and write after ills his marriage a few years later itter was waa the one man in congress speaking intelligently telli gently and forcefully on a constructive policy lie lia had espoused lie he was a tailor and us lie ile worked lie he was read to by k a youth lie lind had employed for the purpose during the civil war at the request of prest dent lincoln he gave up his sent seat in the senate to become military governor of tennessee and in 1804 lie he was chosen as the vice presidential running mate for lincoln in an effort to hold the border states ile he hemme became president upon lin coans assassination and when he tried to carry out the reconstruction policies which lincoln had intended to follow tie he was bitterly assailed by the radicals who mho were determined to grind the defeated south into the dust in punishment tor for its secession johnsons Jolin sona determination to follow the generous policy which lincoln find planned brought down upon film an avalanche of hatred which Is difficult for present day americans to understand and an impeachment trial at which happily for the country countr r ile he was acquitted research rese has done much to revise the hie once popular estimate of this most maligned president and if as one re recent ent biographer ha hail p said sald ile he was the most courageous and consistent statesman of his dily no american ever wore richly deserved what he was given the ling flag as a winding sheet find and a copy capy of the constitution HS as a pillow then no I 1 one of the three residents presidents whose memory will I 1 be honored in the proposed plaza of presidents I 1 Is more worthy of that honor man andrew I 1 johnson Toh |